Following on the recent heels of another Zemeckis/Hanks film, I rented the BR release of their first collaboration. Wow how the times change quickly when it comes to CG work. FG has a lot of CG and practical effects going on and the majority of it holds up. Those scenes inserting Hanks into historically legitimate footage aren’t in that majority and truly are pretty distracting. This is made more acceptable given that this isn’t a movie that you are likely to find yourself genuinely lost inside of, rather one where the viewer is expected to step outside in specific moments and to know how recent American history is being tinkered with in order to enjoy it. Still, it does make one feel a little queasy/embarrassed seeing the mouths historical figures flopping around like marionettes with horse teeth to speak the dialogue being inserted into those toothy holes. A quick viewing of Look Who’s Talking should make me feel better/terrible.
I don’t really love this movie, but I think there is a lot of clever filmmaking going on despite that fact. Previous problems aside, I admire how Zemeckis would use technology less for show and more for story, but I’ve already said this stuff in my Castaway thing. What is impressive about this release for the tech nerd is the amount of HD content included in the 2 disc set. It is irritating to me that so many BR releases these days present low quality SD special features (what a bourgeois complaint from the proletariat class, but that’s America!). The studio (and presumably Zemeckis) went all out to provide plenty of special features that take advantage of the new format. If you are a fan of this film, this is a quality re-release worth picking up. If you are the rest of the world, my apologies for the most boring post possible.
