Phenomenon :: essays research papers

John Travolta. Those two words used to send millions of women (and men) all about the world into a dancing frenzy back in the seventies. He could claim credit for the modern equivalent of the estrogen brigades (for the net nauseated "X-philes") of Fox Mudler and Assistant Director Skinner. But nowadays, equipped with a belly and that same disarming smile, he is proving himself to be more than a passageway fever. Together with the great cast of this latest offering from the Disney studios, Travolta lifts "Phenomenon" (tele-kinetically, no less) to a high place the mass of mediocre summer releases.For doubting thomases who thought his brilliant gun-slinging impersonation in "Pulp Fiction" was just "luck of the draw", his personation of a simpleton with nothing but heart should re-categorise Travolta from "comeback pull the leg of" to "talented actor" he did not allow "Phenomenon" to degenerate into "Forrest Gump nei ghborhood 2". The similarities are obvious a nice, simple fellow earns the opt of Lady Luck and does extraordinary things. Yet, thats all there is. "Phenomenon" packs a higher reality-density than "Gump". Countless scenes in "Gump" had me trying to pull wool over my eyeball just to stop myself from laughing at the sheer ludicrousness. Despite the detail that going to the movies is about the suspension of disbelief, it should never be equated with treating the audiences as hoards later hoards of idiots. George Malley (Travolta), on the other hand, comes across very naturally (and believably) as a small town simpleton who doesnt know what to make of his very strange birthday "present". One flash of light and he flips through calculus books in a flash. Its not heavenly intervention, but unleashing the hatchway of what the mind is truly capable of.Yet, George quickly learns that he isnt capable of something change what other people think. Smal l-town insecurities and parochialism soon turn once friends into dumber-than-simpleton fools with the exception of triplet very well casted characters. Kyra Sedgwick plays Lace, Georges love interest. The agony of having gone through the way out of her perfect family show through her smiles. Despite being intent on keeping George at arms length, head-strong Lace falls in love with George, with no small help from her two precocious kids. Gerard Dipegos choice of the two kids as parallels and inversions of the adults relationship is simply brilliant. It is the little girl who extends herself to George when Lace plays the silent, "I demand to keep my life simple" girl.