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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
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Frequency
Click Picture to Order this DVD A Techtite ReviewThe Film : Remember 1969? That was the year Rod Serling, fresh from his Twilight Zone series, offered a three-part TV movie called Night Gallery. Those were the days when a fantasy story didn't need to "explain" itself; it only needed to be entertaining. Were his Twilight Zone stories plausible? No; and therein lied their charm. Much like Frequency's movie poster, each story merely asked the question, "What IF?" : a monster on the wing of a flying plane, a toy doll who threatens a girl's mean stepfather, or a beautiful female hospital patient, who's "ugly" in a parallel world. In those days, imagination --not "reality"-- was key. 30 years later, have audiences changed? Most critics give that impression; every scriptwriter must be an expert in physics, science, astronomy, and medicine, for a story to be acceptable. Gone are the days when you could see Billy Mummy magically turn a "bad man" into a Jack-in-the-Box, and have fun watching the fantasy unfold. If this classic tale was introduced today, you would have a CNN panel of physics experts telling us that this cannot be so, and therefore we cannot enjoy the story. If you are such a realist in the laws of science, you are truly going to hate Frequency. Twilight Zone fans, however, are in for a real thrill. Frequency involves a man in 1999 who, while cleaning the house, discovers his Dad's old HAM radio. He sets it up to try it out, as a lark, and gets the surprise of his life; for whatever reason, he can use this radio to talk to his father, 30 years earlier, in 1969! How can this be? Well, the movie babbles about sun spots and what-not, though in truth, who cares? A boy who lost his fireman father when he was 6, can now warn him about that fire, and perhaps even get his father back! Complications arise, of course. Apparently, time is changed a little too much, and now, the mother's life is in danger. With the father now saved, she's able to go back to work at the hospital that night, instead of staying home in tears. This change of history allows her to, unknowingly, save the life of a John Doe patient, who's in fact a serial killer. This killer will eventually "thank" her by making her his fifth victim! Can she be saved, before this happens? Well, that's what father in 1969, and son in 1999, have to find out, together. After all, Dad is a fireman, and Son's a policeman; this serial killer doesn't stand a chance! Admittedly, fantasy or not, you do get the feeling that Frequency could've been better, with just one more script rewrite. Some "warps in time" aren't explained enough, and will lead to many scratching heads (even more than Back to the Future). When an estranged girlfriend never even met the son, in an "altered future," you're supposed to remember that the mother introduced them (with time changed, they never even met, see?). Later, the son goes to great lengths to tell his boyhood best friend, in 1969, to remember the word "Yahoo." Why? This is never explained enough. However, the rest of the film is entertaining, heart-rendering, and fun. In the end, this is a film that more than a few techno-geeks should be dragged to see, including most Star Trekkies, as well as the so called "Nitpicker's Guild" for that show. This is what classic sci-fi used to be like, in the days when a pre-WW2 Joan Collins could speak to William "Captain Kirk" Shatner at a "City on the Edge of Forever." Compare this award winning Trek TV tale to modern stories, when tech-dweebs insist that every single part of a plot must be described to them like they're 12 years old. Thanks to these guys, the Star Wars magic of The Force is suddenly a bunch of "midichlorian" technobabble hogwash. YAWN! The true art of a fantasy, after all, is to have fun! Can modern sci-fi scriptwriters learn this in time? Well...What IF? The DVD : An "animated solar gallery"...? That's certainly an addition worthy of at least a rental at Blockbuster! The curiosity alone of what such a gallery looks like should be worth a look. There's also a script-to-screen feature, with a dynamic index. Last of the amusing additions is a 5.1 isolated music score option, with composer commentary by Michael Kamen. Speaking of commentary, there's one from director Gregory Hoblit, as well as actor Noah Emmerich and writer/producer Toby Emmerich. Any relation between Noah and Toby? I think the commentary speaks for itself. However, sadly, there's no deleted scenes, outtakes, or other amusements. What a shame. I'd still recommend this DVD, though, even if only as a rental, to every science fiction fan.
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