Phenomenon

"Some things in life just can't be explained."

1996 2h 3m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 1,431

DramaRomanceFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.

“Some things in life just can't be explained.”

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Cast

John Travolta
George Malley
Kyra Sedgwick
Lace Pennamin
Forest Whitaker
Nate Pope
Robert Duvall
Doc
Jeffrey DeMunn
Professor Ringold
Richard Kiley
Dr. Wellin
David Gallagher
Al
Ashley Buccille
Glory

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writers: Gerald Di Pego
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jon Turteltaub, shot by Phedon Papamichael. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bruce Green shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick and Forest Whitaker carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Some things in life just can't be explained.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0117333 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jon Turteltaub directs. Phedon Papamichael behind the camera. Thomas Newman scores. Bruce Green cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.8× over at the box office.
230 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Jon Turteltaub, shot by Phedon Papamichael. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Bruce Green shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick and Forest Whitaker carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Some things in life just can't be explained.".
8IMDB entry: tt0117333 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "brain tumor", "genius", "terminal illness", "telekinesis".

The technical file

Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael
Original score: Thomas Newman
Editing: Bruce Green
Production design: Garreth Stover
Costume design: Betsy Cox
Makeup / hair: Hallie D'Amore
VFX supervisor: Ken Ralston
Sound: Robert J. Litt
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Cadiente
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Status: Released
Budget: $32,000,000
Box office: $152,000,000
Return: 475% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Phenomenon (1996)

Also by

Jon Turteltaub

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-12-26
★ 3/10
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.

Production companies