John Travolta

Kyra Sedgwick

Forest Whitaker

Robert Duvall

Jeffrey DeMunn

Richard Kiley

David Gallagher

Ashley Buccille

Tony Genaro

Sean O'Bryan

Michael Milhoan

Troy Evans

Bruce A. Young

Vyto Ruginis

Brent Spiner

Elisabeth Nunziato

Ellen Geer

James Keane

Susan Merson

James Anthony Cotton

Justin DiPego

Mark Soper

Daniel Zacapa

Cab Covay

Tony A. Mattos

Mark Valim

Carl D. Parker

Beth Kennedy

Tom Fridley

Richard Gross

Jack Chouchanian

Michael Forner

Sage Callaway

Jewel Benedict

Betsy Berryhill

Mariann V. Carothers

Claudia Crespin

Joseph A. Nicosia

Dan Partain

Isaac Reiswig

Charlie

Phedon Papamichael

Gerald Di Pego

Bruce Green

Michael Taylor

Jon Turteltaub

Charles Newirth

Jonathan D. Krane

Barbara Boyle

Debra James

Rod M. Janusch

George Bamber

Ken Ralston

David Blitstein

Martin A. Kline

Mageara Cameron

Bill Bernstein

Kathy Nelson

Jeff Cadiente

Liz Matthews

Aileen Timmers

Chris Cornwell

Robert Gray

Jody Rogers

Anita Hart

Elliot Tyson

Susan V. Kalinowski

Ron Judkins

Mark Mangini

Howell Gibbens

Gary Deaton

Michele Juskowitz

Fríða Aradóttir

Mark V. Phillips

Jay Hart

Betsy Cox

Robert J. Litt

Kimberly Guenther Durkin

Thomas Newman

Michelle Bühler

Ian Kincaid

Robert Jackson

Geoffrey Hansen

Allegra Clegg

Garreth Stover

Julia Evershade

Hallie D'Amore

Tzarina V. Edillon

Bruce Alan Miller

Alicia Accardo

David Rennie

Renee Rousselot

Robin L. Miller

Jeena M. Phelps

Michael Herbick

Zade Rosenthal

Mark Riccardi

David Cadiente

Erik Stabenau

Matt Adler

Wally Pfister

Drama

Romance

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Phenomenon

Touchstone Pictures

United States of America

Filipe Manuel Neto

**A good film, spoiled by a horrible ending.**

When I decided to watch this film, I was quite curious about its story. In fact, the film has its interest and works almost until the end. It is precisely the ending that ruins the efforts made so far. It's not the first time, and it certainly won't be the last, that I've come across a film that would have had everything to work if the screenwriter and director had had the ability to end the story as happily as they started it.

Technically, the film doesn't present anything special. Cinematography, visual and sound effects, sets, costumes, filming locations, soundtrack... it's all reasonably well executed, but it doesn't present any surprises or quality notes worth mentioning. It's just another bland, meek and nothing special film. As for the cast, it is up to us to recognize everyone's collective effort and the good performance of most of the groups. John Travolta, who is an actor that I don't like very much, manages to give us a very friendly and committed performance, creating an appealing character, who easily captures our empathy and who has the necessary charisma to stand out and captivate the audience. Alongside him are two excellent actors, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker. Both stand out for their sympathy and manage to give us two secondary characters strong enough to give the film additional interest. Kyra Sedgwick is worse off, as she doesn't seem to have any value to the film other than being a love interest.

The script has excellent premises that, although not really original, manage to have the interest they need to support the film: a completely ordinary man who lives in rural America becomes a genius after suffering an inexplicable incident on the night of his birthday with a light coming from the sky. In addition to an extraordinary ability to think and reason that allows him to solve problems quickly, he begins to read uncontrollably, learn everything and improve things around him, in an absolutely visionary way. Everything indicates that he suffered some type of incident with aliens, and this hypothesis is used for a lot of discussion in the film. When we are approaching the end, the script completely derails and gives us the most anticlimactic ending we could imagine, which not only disrespects everything that has been done but does not explain even half of what happened to that man. Worse than this, just a hard kick to our heads.

English

Phenomenon 1996 Trailer | John Travolta | Kyra Sedgwick