Blink DVD > Reviews > Eyes wide shut

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Good concept for a thriller
Disadvantages:	It's become very dated

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Emma Brody (Madeline Stowe), a beautiful violinist, has been blind since she lost her sight as a child at the hands of her mother. After 20 years of being blind she has an eye transplant operation to give her sight again. Unfortunately she suffers from a side affect of the operation called "Retroactive Vision", where what she sees does not register until the next day.

One night after having got drunk, she hears a noise outside her apartment, but when she investigates, the retroactive vision kicks in and it is not until the following morning that a strange man appears in her vision.

When he neighbour is discovered murdered, she realizes that she has seen the murderer. No one believes her, except for Detective John Hallstrom (Aidan Quinn). When the murderer starts to stalk Emma, Detective Hallstrom takes it upon himself to protect her and in the process falls passionately in love with her.

This is a very interesting thriller, which uses the woman's recovering sight and her advanced sense of smell to unlock the killer's identity. Whether "Retroactive Vision" is in fact a medical condition, the concept works well to make a reasonable thriller. It may not be to the standard of Hitchcock but in its own right it is a reasonable film. The key to the film is to pay attention to the character of Emma, as it's her lack of sight and enhanced other senses that really make this film interesting.

The two stars of the film are Madeline Stowe (The Last of The Mohicans) and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall). The on screen chemistry between them is very believable and makes for some very compelling scenes. The supporting cast, although very uninteresting do help to keep the film moving at a reasonable pace.

The director of Blink is Michael Apted (Extreme Measures) and in general he has made a decent attempt at making a reasonable thriller. He has done a good job of how Emma has enhanced senses such as hearing, he does this through simple things like a stool being pushed across the floor makes a very clear noise. Where I feel the film is let down is by the sometimes over the top love scenes. I personally believe Apted was trying to compete with Basic Instinct which came out 2 years earlier. But saying that, a lot of thrillers from the late 80's and early 90's seem to have over the top sex scenes. The soundtrack for the film is also very typical of the era, with plenty of saxophone pieces and use of synthesized sounds. On top of this there are some very good pieces of folk music which reminds me of the band The Levellers.

The film was written by Dana Stevens who went on to write the screen plays for "City of Angels" and "For Love of The Game". She has also appeared in several movies such as "Nell" and "Extreme Measures".

The Cast
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Madeleine Stowe .... Emma Brody
Aidan Quinn .... Detective John Hallstrom
James Remar .... Thomas Ridgely
Peter Friedman .... Dr. Ryan Pierce
Bruce A. Young .... Lt. Mitchell
Laurie Metcalf .... Candice
Matt Roth .... Officer Crowe

Technical Details
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Certificate: 18
Length: 102 mins

Conclusion & Rating
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This is a reasonable thriller which has a good storyline and some reasonable performances. Unfortunately it has become a bit dated, and will always be over shadowed by the more popular "Basic Instinct". . If you enjoyed "Basic Instinct" there is a good chance that you will enjoy this but otherwise I would give it a miss.

The DVD currently costs £12.99 on Amazon and in my opinion this is over priced, there are a lot of better films out there for less money. Along with this the DVD has no special features which doesn't help for making it worth the money.