In 1981, director and special effects maestro Douglas Trumbull decided it was time to return to the director’s chair (his last, and first, theatrical film was 1972’s Silent Running) when the script for Brainstorm (by Bruce Joel Rubin, who later went on to write Ghost) came to his attention. The story was intriguing and ahead of its time. Scientists Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher) and Michael Brace (Christopher Walken) have developed a device that can record a person’s thoughts and feelings (onto a type of mylar strip) that can be played back by anyone, anywhere. The device is meant to be used for entertainment and scientific purposes, but it isn’t long before the military gets a gander at the device and the potential it has for global warfare. Reynolds is not happy to be sold down the river by her boss Alex Terson (Cliff Robertson), and the project is eventually taken away from her and Brace … except the military doesn’t quite understand all of the device’s inner workings. Brace and his wife Karen (Natalie Wood) have to race against time to make sure the device, now code named “Brainstorm,” does not fall into the wrong hands for the wrong purposes.
Brainstorm was sure to be a sensation upon its release except the film ran into some major issues during production, most notably the sudden death of its star, Natalie Wood. MGM, even back then facing financial issues, shut down the film, hoped to collect on the insurance, and write the film off as a loss. But Trumbull fought to complete the film (and the insurance company agreed it was salvageable because Wood had completed all but a few minor scenes that ended up being shot with her sister Lana as a stand-in), but the turmoil on set — it’s alleged Trumbull had no control over his actors and Walken directed most of his own scenes, and the actors were encouraged to ad lib much to the dismay of the screenwriters — and behind the scenes took its toll, making the finished film seem incomplete.
But, when the film was finally released in 1983, I saw it and thought it was amazing. It was an interesting premise, to say the least, and in an age when movies weren’t built around how realistic the CGI effects could be (because there were no CGI effects back then), Trumbull made the film visually and aurally exciting to see on the big screen (and this is a movie that demands to be seen on a big screen). Trumbull shot all of the everyday life scenes on 35mm film and all of the “Brainstorm” imagery on 70mm film and expanded the sound field to multi-channel surround as well. It was a bit of a mind-blowing experience at the time as the images shifted from a standard aspect ratio to full widescreen. Over the years, the film has been released on laserdisk and DVD, and now Warner Brothers has finally brought Brainstorm to Blu-ray for a true high definition experience.
The video still retains Trumbull’s changing aspect ratio (and the bigger TV you have, the better), and the audio still kicks in to rattle your windows at the appropriate times. The film image, however, is a bit dodgy at time because of the high definition quality. There’s no mention that the film has been remastered in any way (although it is presented in full 1080p), so the 35mm segments often times have a bit of a washed out look to them, and some of the matte paintings are painfully obvious. The 70mm segments all look outstanding. Audio (DTS-HD Master Audio) is a bit of an issue too with the 35mm dialogue scenes sometimes being so soft that the volume has to be cranked up only to be blasted by the 70mm audio segments. The only other option is a Dolby Digital 1.0 track in Spanish. English, Spanish and French subtitles are also offered. The disk’s only extra is a trailer that pretty much tells the entire story in two-and-a-half minutes.
Seeing the film again after so many years was a bit of a disappointment, only because I could now see where it seemed like entire scenes were missing and the ending just, well, ends. Some of the villains are overly caricatured and stereotypical, and Walken sometimes seems like he doesn’t want to be there. Wood gives a nice performance as Walken’s voice of reason, and even as their marriage is falling apart at the beginning of the movie, you can believe that she’s falling back in love with him by the end. It’s still a bit melancholic to watch her in this movie knowing she never got to complete it fully. The real standout is Louise Fletcher in all of her chain smoking glory (yes, this was a time when scientists could smoke in their labs!). She seems totally committed to the story, you believe her anger when the project is on the brink of being taken away from her, and you feel her pain as she suffers one of the most intense heart attacks ever put on film.
As it stands, Brainstorm was a movie that my 21-year-old self loved in 1983, and I’ve held it in high regard ever since. While it may not stand up to my memory of it, I’m still thrilled that Warner Brothers has seen fit to bring the film back out of obscurity for a new generation.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jul 16, 2012 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
