Six Days, Seven Nights

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General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	None
Rating
Year Released	1998
Running Time	97:32 minutes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	2,4	Director	Ivan Reitman
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Harrison Ford Anne Heche David Schwimmer  Temuera Morrison Jacqueline Obradors
Case	Amaray
RPI	$36.95	Music	Randy Edelman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	?Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This little effort has overworked magazine sub-editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) being dragged off to the South Pacific island paradise of Makatea by her boyfriend Frank Martin (the appallingly untalented David Schwimmer) for a vacation. Arriving in what I guess is supposed to be Papeete, they have to take a charter flight to Makatea and are thus introduced to Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford) and his well-built friend Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors). Are we seeing where this is heading yet? Everything starts off nice on Makatea, until Robin gets a telephone call from her boss begging her to go to Papeete for a photo shot. Robin seeks the assistance of Quinn and off they head - right into a severe tropical storm that forces them to turn back and ultimately crash land on a deserted island. Now if you cannot see where this is heading by now, I think it is safe to say that you don't watch too many films. In short order, Quinn and Robin who hate each other end up falling for each other, a distraught Frank ends up in bed with Angelica, Frank and Robin are chased by pirates (don't ask) and escape off the island by using parts extracted from a World War II Japanese seaplane, to return to Makatea just in time to break up their funeral service.

    Okay, quite why this extremely trite script warranted a $70 million budget I do not know, but then again I am not a studio bean-counter. You have probably seen a dozen different variations of this story in the last few years, so why would you want to see another? Well, certainly not to see the appalling untalented David Schwimmer, whose sole claim to fame is a starring role in the lamentably overrated television show Friends, a show in which he was/is very much the weak link. In his mercifully short appearances on-screen in this effort, he almost manages to sink this film without trace and is a really bad casting choice here. Whilst her appearance is not quite in the league of Mira Sorvino in black underwear in At First Sight, Jacqueline Obradors nonetheless makes a quite impressive appearance in her underwear. Since that is the highlight of her role in the film, you can guess that she is not exactly memorable for the right reasons, and so you get to the two leads around whom about 98% of the film is focussed. To my mind, Harrison Ford and Anne Heche actually make a surprisingly good coupling despite it not being the most obvious casting in the world. They do create a couple of genuinely funny moments - well, at least for the first couple of views - and as far as Anne Heche goes this is certainly one of her better performances. Directed by Ivan Reitman, who has made a few decent comedies in his time, this is an enjoyable enough romp given the rather trite story and the glaringly obvious progression of the story. Quite where the budget went I do not know but it is only apparent on-screen through some great scenery - although this is actually in Hawaii and not further south in the Pacific. Some of the effects work with the plane in the storm are especially weak in my view, and did I espy a glimpse of a coastal city in the background whilst Quinn and Robin were atop the highest point of what is supposed to be a deserted island way out in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific?

    Six Days, Seven Nights is an enjoyable film that does not bear frequent, repeated viewings too well. It is a nice effort that is a worthwhile addition to the lighter side of your collection.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and  is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is sharp and well detailed throughout, except for a few minor lapses here and there that did not really attract too much attention to themselves. Some of the night scenes on the island were especially good and extremely well detailed, all things considered. Clarity was in general excellent, and there did not seem to be any problem with grain here at all. Shadow detail was a little inconsistent, but was in general very good too. Had it been a little more consistent so that the few odd disappointing moments not have happened, this would have had a much more elevated rating. There did not seem to be any low level noise problems with the transfer.

    The colours come up extremely well here and are generally nicely vibrant with a very nice saturation to them. However, it has to be said that for a tropical location I was expecting a much more vibrant look to the greens and a much more intense colouring of the blues than we actually did get. The result is a nicely rendered colour palette that falls just a little short of being superb. There were no problems with oversaturation and there are no colour bleed problems here. Just be aware that depending on your own setup preferences, this may be a little dark in tone straight out of the box and you may need to adjust your contrast just a tad to compensate.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There were some minor problems with aliasing in the transfer, most notably some rather noticeable problems with the wing of the plane at 26:35 but overall not of a sufficiently prevalent nature as to cause distraction to the film. There was some rather noticeable shimmer in the stars during a slight downward pan at 42:05 if you were really looking hard. There did not seem to be any really noticeable problems with film artefacts. Overall, this is a fine transfer let down by a few minor lapses that become just a little too obvious on repeated viewings.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Dialogue is clear and generally easy to understand throughout. There were a couple of instances where dialogue was a little difficult to hear, but this may be a reflection of the original film and not a transfer problem.

    There did not appear to be any problem with audio sync problems with the transfer.

    The musical score comes from Randy Edelman, and a thankfully different effort to his general work style it is. Nothing really memorable here but nicely done and nicely supportive of the film.

    I felt that as good as this soundtrack was, it could have been a lot better, as I do not feel that they got the best use out of the rear channels as far as ambience is concerned, notably during the hotel scenes. The electrical storms were quite frontally-biased and the rear channels seemed to be devoid of action when I really expected it. Still, front surround channel use is quite excellent and the overall soundscape is quite natural and believable. The bass channel kicks in with some lovely support when needed, during the storm especially, and the soundtrack really cannot be faulted in this regard.
 
 

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

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© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
30th September 2000