Director: Walter Hill (as Thomas Lee)
Cast: James Spader, Angela Bassett, Peter Facinelli
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10
Synopsis:
In the farthest reaches of space, something has been waiting…
Beyond comprehension, beyond imagination and beyond the deepest regions of this galaxy… life as we know it is about to end! James Spader (The Blacklist), Angela Bassett (American Horror Story) , Lou Diamond Phillips (Bats), Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), Peter Facinelli (Twilight) and Robin Tunney (The Craft) star in this terrifying sci-fi thriller.
In the farthest reaches of deep space, the medical vessel Nightingale keeps a lonely vigil for those in trouble. When a frantic cry for help pierces the void, the crew responds with a near fatal, hyperspace dimension jump into the gravitational pull of a dying star. The disabled ship rescues a shuttlecraft containing a mysterious survivor and a strange alien artifact. Now the crew must unravel a chilling secret and escape the nearby imploding star before the rapidly forming supernova blasts them and the entire galaxy into oblivion!
‘Supernova’ takes place in the future, in the farthest reaches of space. It follows the crew members of the medical rescue ship Nightingale who after floating for some time untroubled must respond to a distress call. Upon using a matter transport technology to jump to the allotted spot, they arrive after a near fatal accident which causes one of the crew their lives. Unfortunately for the rest of them, this is only the beginning. Soon they rescue an unknown individual who seems to be harboring a number of secrets, along with a weird alien device and soon the real terror begins.
This science fiction thriller may not be one of the best films in history, but I feel that it’s still highly underappreciated and is actually a pretty fun and creepy film featuring an impressive top list cast of actors to boot. The cast includes such talented individuals as James Spader, Angela Bassett, Peter Facinelli, Robin Tunney, Robert Forster, Lou Diamond Phillips and more, all of whom deliver at the very least far superior performances to a large majority of those that you tend to find in these types of film quite regularly. The film’s troubled production history is likely the cause for a large portion of the criticism and while I won’t argue that it couldn’t have been better, it was still quite a lot of fun and well worth a watch. I myself owned the VHS of the film ages ago and watched it a number of times many years ago and still found it to be quite fun when revisiting it after so long here on Blu-Ray.
Fans of ‘Supernova’ will definitely want to pick up a copy of this Blu-Ray release, finally seeing the film’s arrival on Blu-Ray after all this time. For those who want clarification, rest assured that it is indeed the R Rated cut of the film that is included here on the Blu-Ray release and not the initial PG-13 theatrical cut. The Blu-Ray release delivers impressive high definition video and audio quality of the R-Rated cut of the movie, along with a number of nice bonus goodies (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) making this a definite must own for fans.
VIDEO:
Scream Factory’s Blu-Ray release of ‘Supernova’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty solid overall. While it may not be quite as nice as some of the titles Scream/Shout Factory has the opportunity to remaster from the source material themselves (which should be expected) it still holds up with strong and sharp detail, solid, warm colors and no real issues present throughout. There are a number of pops and grain noticeable but it in no way really harms the overall viewing experience and is likely a result of the film source itself and no fault of the studio. Another very decent high definition video presentation from Scream Factory that I believe should please fans of the film for the most part.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release includes both a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and a 2.0 stereo DTS-HD MA Soundtrack. As usual, I naturally opted to watch with the 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack utilized and it sounds pretty impressive. The ship’s movements and the noises associated with the matter transport sequence fully immerse the viewer and hit surprisingly hard, the bass shaking the floor as the ship alters course or comes in hard, along with the sparks and hisses of surrounding gear in numerous moments swirling around the viewer from all available channels, while never causing the dialogue to become inaudible or distorted in any way. This is an impressive 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that certainly managed to exceed my expectations and is also without question one of the finest elements of this release.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Scream Factory’s Blu-Ray release of ‘Supernova’ includes a number of nice bonus goodies, including a ‘Making of Supernova’ featurette which runs approximately 25 minutes in length and features new interviews by members of the cast and crew, including actors Robert Forster and Lou Diamond Phillips, along with Producer Daniel Chuba and Jack Sholder. The Blu-Ray release also includes about 15 minutes worth of Deleted Scenes from the film, an Alternate Ending and the Theatrical Trailer.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.