Phenomenon
Phenomenon is portrayed as a science fiction movie about a man who gets struck by a white light and becomes very smart. At least, that's what is portrayed in the trailers. However, the movie is actually a wonderful love story. It doesn't have many "mysterious" things as I wanted, but the movie was gentle and touching. And John Travolta's performance is wonderful.
The movie begins with George Malley (John Travolta) having his 37th birthday. After, he walks outside and gets struck by a mysterious white light. He runs inside and asks if anyone saw it. No one did. However, he beats the local Doc (Robert Duvall) at a game of chess. The town soon becomes suspicious of George and turn against him. All except his best friend Nate (Forest Whitaker), the Doc, and his love interest (Kyra Sedgwick).
The love story of the movie is the best part. It approaches it cautiously and carefully but it touches the heart as Travolta and Sedgwick fall in love. It takes a while but it is better this way. I felt a real connection between the two characters and that's why I liked it so much. The way he uses his powers to gain her trust and love is new, but he doesn't use his powers in a way that I wanted. I wanted to see him do some more and bigger things.
The worst thing about this movie is the FBI part. After Travolta replies to a morse code, the FBI show up to ask him about it. They find out about his powers and decide to do test on him. This involves a cute little sequence with Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: TNG). However, cute isn't enough. It seems like all cute movies decide to put in a stupid sequence like the FBI involvement.
The performances are good, especially by Duvall and Whitaker. But Travolta's subtlety is perfect for the movie. The same subtlety gave Tom Hanks his Oscar for Forrest Gump and Cliff Robertson his Oscar for Charly. And that's what this movie takes most after. Charly was about a stupid man who is a "mouse" for an experiment. The experiment turns him into a genius. But I think this movie is better than that one. I think it is the way the director approached the love story.
Phenomenon is rated PG-13. It has a brief nude part where Duvall moons Travolta. There is some violence, but not much. But the movie is probably to slow and boring for little kids. Teenagers probably will enjoy the mystical stuff that Travolta does. But adults will probably fall for the love theme. So, most of the viewers will probably enjoy this movie. I know I did.