*************CONTAINS SPOILERS************** I watched this movie having a vague idea of the plot and some high expectations, as a friend had raved about it to me. I was thoroughly impressed when the film extended even beyond those standards, having affected me to the point where I was a blubbering mess on the couch, reaching for the phone to call my other half and tell him to drive home safely from work. It is a very rare occurrence that a movie has such an impact on me; I find that most films which involve a love story are too cheesy for my liking. Take that as a high recommendation to watch 'Premonition'! The story begins with Linda (Bullock) finding out that her estranging husband, Jim (Julian McMahon), has been in killed in a car accident. After a horrific day, she wakes the following morning to find her life playing out as if the previous day had never occurred - her husband is fine. At first she assumes it was just a nightmare, but the following day when she wakes up, she finds that her nightmare reality has taken over again and her husband is gone once more.
Linda comes to the realisation that her experience is much more than a dream, and as she continues to wake up to different days, in which Jim is alive, then dead and so forth, it becomes apparent that the alternate reality of Jim being dead is a premonition of what will become her only reality, unless she can prevent his accident.
Eventually Linda begins to piece together the days, by order of the chilling occurrences that she and her family are faced with, in conjunction with Jim's death. She figures out that Jim will die on the Wednesday, on a road between home and his "business trip" destination. Unfortunately, by the time she has figured this out, Linda has also discovered that Jim is planning to cheat on her with a colleague before he dies. She endures a period of anger and false nonchalance, in which she convinces herself that perhaps Jim's impending death is with reason and that they might just be better off. At this point, she decides not to stand between Jim and his fate.
However, in a moment of desperation, she coerces her husband into a confrontation, where she tells him that she misses him and wants their relationship to be what it once was, before they had children. The couple make love (for probably the first time in months) and Linda makes Jim promise to wake her before he leaves for his trip in the morning.
When Linda awakens the next day, Jim has taken the girls to school and left for his "interview" (and a hotel room he is to be sharing with the colleague he intends to begin an affair with). Linda jumps in the car and speeds off in an attempt to reach the spot where she foresaw Jim's accident and save his life.
In the meantime, Jim is on the phone to Claire (his potential mistress), telling her that he won't be coming; he has had an epiphany and wants to make his marriage with Linda work. As he's leaving a message on the home answering machine (the one that Linda hears in the beginning of the movie, saying that he loves her and wants to try again) Linda calls him and tells him the same. The couple exchange a few "I love you"s and Linda catches up to him on the road. She tells Jim that she's behind him and to pull over. He does, but then she sees that his car is right next to the sign from her vision, so she tells him to turn around and come further back down the road. As he's turning around, a car swerves around him from behind, narrowly missing him. Linda, relieved that he has averted the accident that was meant to kill him, jumps out of her car and begins to run to his. At that moment, a giant petrol tanker looses control on the road. Jim can't turn his car back on, or get out in time; the truck collects his car, crushing it and dragging it several metres.
It is then that Linda sees the full truth of her premonition: what she saw was what would happen WITH her attempts to avoid it. Telling Jim to turn his car around actually causes his death. The petrol tanker and Jim's car explode.
Closing scene: we see Linda wake up yet again; this time it's about 5 months after Jim's death and she is visibly pregnant. She recalls what a priest said to her right before Jim died, when she was trying to figure out what to do. From this recollection, she is filled with a knowledge that Jim's death was never meant to be prevented - nor was it able to be. She was simply meant to help both of them recognise that their life together was abundant with love and potential happiness, that they just needed to find it again. Linda sees that although she could change their feelings towards each other for the better, no one has the power to change a person's ultimate fate. She finally sees that, despite the loss of Jim, it was better that he died when their love was rekindling, than if he had died in the midst of planning an affair, with Linda knowing of his intentions and feeling bitter about them. Linda looks at her daughters and is grateful, for her life is truly blessed.
Linda comes to the realisation that her experience is much more than a dream, and as she continues to wake up to different days, in which Jim is alive, then dead and so forth, it becomes apparent that the alternate reality of Jim being dead is a premonition of what will become her only reality, unless she can prevent his accident.
Eventually Linda begins to piece together the days, by order of the chilling occurrences that she and her family are faced with, in conjunction with Jim's death. She figures out that Jim will die on the Wednesday, on a road between home and his "business trip" destination. Unfortunately, by the time she has figured this out, Linda has also discovered that Jim is planning to cheat on her with a colleague before he dies. She endures a period of anger and false nonchalance, in which she convinces herself that perhaps Jim's impending death is with reason and that they might just be better off. At this point, she decides not to stand between Jim and his fate.
However, in a moment of desperation, she coerces her husband into a confrontation, where she tells him that she misses him and wants their relationship to be what it once was, before they had children. The couple make love (for probably the first time in months) and Linda makes Jim promise to wake her before he leaves for his trip in the morning.
When Linda awakens the next day, Jim has taken the girls to school and left for his "interview" (and a hotel room he is to be sharing with the colleague he intends to begin an affair with). Linda jumps in the car and speeds off in an attempt to reach the spot where she foresaw Jim's accident and save his life.
In the meantime, Jim is on the phone to Claire (his potential mistress), telling her that he won't be coming; he has had an epiphany and wants to make his marriage with Linda work. As he's leaving a message on the home answering machine (the one that Linda hears in the beginning of the movie, saying that he loves her and wants to try again) Linda calls him and tells him the same. The couple exchange a few "I love you"s and Linda catches up to him on the road. She tells Jim that she's behind him and to pull over. He does, but then she sees that his car is right next to the sign from her vision, so she tells him to turn around and come further back down the road. As he's turning around, a car swerves around him from behind, narrowly missing him. Linda, relieved that he has averted the accident that was meant to kill him, jumps out of her car and begins to run to his. At that moment, a giant petrol tanker looses control on the road. Jim can't turn his car back on, or get out in time; the truck collects his car, crushing it and dragging it several metres.
It is then that Linda sees the full truth of her premonition: what she saw was what would happen WITH her attempts to avoid it. Telling Jim to turn his car around actually causes his death. The petrol tanker and Jim's car explode.
Closing scene: we see Linda wake up yet again; this time it's about 5 months after Jim's death and she is visibly pregnant. She recalls what a priest said to her right before Jim died, when she was trying to figure out what to do. From this recollection, she is filled with a knowledge that Jim's death was never meant to be prevented - nor was it able to be. She was simply meant to help both of them recognise that their life together was abundant with love and potential happiness, that they just needed to find it again. Linda sees that although she could change their feelings towards each other for the better, no one has the power to change a person's ultimate fate. She finally sees that, despite the loss of Jim, it was better that he died when their love was rekindling, than if he had died in the midst of planning an affair, with Linda knowing of his intentions and feeling bitter about them. Linda looks at her daughters and is grateful, for her life is truly blessed.
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