Review of Hawking

Introduction

The only things I know about Stephen Hawking is that he`s sold a lot of books with "A Brief History of Time", he`s wheelchair bound and he speaks with a computer synthesiser thing. I had never read his book or taken the slightest bit of interest in his work, and I didn`t know he suffered from Motor Neurone Disease. So a film about the man would hardly seem like something I`d bother with. Except that Hawking is based on events in his life and has taken a little dramatic licence to make it into an interesting drama.

Video

Hawking is presented with a 1.78:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer which generally looks good. Colours, contrast and detail are well balanced and somewhat stylised giving off some very rich colours. There are few signs of compression and apart from a little bit of dirt now and again, I couldn`t spot any other problems with the transfer.

Audio

Functional DD2.0 sound is the best way I can describe this. It`s a dialogue driven film, so this is very clear, as is the rest of the music. It`s not the sort of thing to engage rear speakers so what`s here works well.

Features

Easy to navigate menus with a few extras:

• Trailer (4:38) - The longest trailer I`ve ever seen, and something which gives away far too much!

• Clinton Seminar (1:52) - Bill Clinton hosted a series of Millennium Lectures as 2000 drew close and one of his guests was Stephen Hawking. This is an all too brief a clip however.

• Hawking Interview (1:43) - Another brief clip, this is from ITN`s news reel around the time Hawking received a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records for selling a lot of "A Brief History of Time".

All extras, as well as the main feature, have clear English subtitles.

Conclusion

After a mere 90-minutes, I`m still not that interested in Hawking`s book, but I do appreciate what he`s done for science. Yes, this is a dramatisation of events in the mans life, but it`s enough to give an impression of what he`s achieved. That aside, as a piece of drama, it moves along at a nice steady pace and it`s something I liked. You soon forget that there`s an actor playing the part of Hawking and that he will slowly degenerate with the onset of motor neurone disease. It`s hard not to feel affected watching it come on as he stumbles around trying to get to where he`s going, and to do everyday things. The acting from Benedict Cumberbatch as the scientist is very good, plus John Sessions is restrained and gives a surprisingly good supporting performance as well.

The video quality is okay, the sound works well enough, while the extras are disappointing. That said, the quality of the drama and acting are better than average, and for anyone who knows little about Stephen Hawking beyond the BT ads, you might find this a nice little drama to watch. It`s not complex and only touches upon the surface of what Hawking achieved and what his character is perhaps like, but it`s still interesting drama. If you haven`t seen it on TV, you might try and catch it the next time around.