Review of Frequency

Introduction

On one fateful night John Sullivan is given the chance to change the past, to undo a moment in history that will alter his life and memories forever.
While operating an old ham radio in 1999 John receives a signal from another timeline, the year 1969, and from his own father, a heroic firefighter. Now John can save his father from dying in a warehouse fire, but with far reaching consequences that neither of them could have imagined.
Both father and son must now fight together across time and space to stop an unthinkable crime, in a constant battle of time shifting possibilities.

Video

Some New Line discs have been a little lazily put together in the past, with elements such as Dolby Digital 5.1 giving way to the poorer Pro-Logic, plus very little or no extras. But now and again they produce some little gems on DVD, and this is one. The picture is brought to us in 16:9 anamorphic format and it`s pristine. A perfect balance of contrast, brightness and stable colour with just a slight amount of bleaching to give a gritty edge to a movie that could have looked too plastic and TV produced without.
Menus are simple easy navigable fair with nice animated backdrops and original soundtrack accompaniment.

Audio

Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Pro-Logic tracks are included, plus a very informative commentary by director Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear). The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is just fabulous, a fantastic blend of subtle rear effects and a thumping bass extension that really come into its own with the warehouse fire sequence. Like most well produced discs the orchestral score is spine chilling. The bass again jumps into action and the rear ambiance sets the mood for the different scenes magnificently.

Features

Not a great deal but what is there is worth its weight. Apart from the theatrical trailer and cast & crew biogs. there`s a short but interesting documentary feature that shows behind the scene footage and talking heads from most of the main stars. In addition there are some deleted scenes, most of which are obviously cut for movie pacing. There is one scene, where John talks to his best friend Gordie, age seven, and gives him advice on money saving and buying shares in Yahoo when he gets older. This should have been left in my opinion. A separate audio score would have been nice and a screenplay, as Toby Emmerich`s original script is reffered to on numerous occasions throughout the commentary.

Conclusion

A very entertaining movie, in an age when some of the more recent offerings seem to be losing the plot. A mix of humor and chilling suspense are used to good effect. Dennis Quaid does his usual best to ham it up to the max, and almost re visits Jerry Lee Lewis with some of his mannerisms.
Newcomer Jim Cavizel (John) supplies a great emotional performance, someone to watch for in the future.
The disc, although not DTS and no THX stamp of approval is, I believe, reference quality and good demo disc material. A shining star in the dim galaxy of New Line DVDs.