The Time Traveler's Wife [Blu-ray]

The Feature: 3/5

Since the age of six, Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) has been traveling through time. He has no control over where or when he travels, but each trip is to a significant event or location from his life - the untimely death of his mother (which also coincides with his first traveling experience) and the various phases of meeting, falling in love with, and marrying Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams). Though Henry's first temporal encounter with Clare is when she's a young girl, he first meets her in "real time" when they're in college. By then Clare has interacted with an older Henry many times, but for early-20s Henry it's the first he's seen of her. He has some obvious catching up to do, since she's been in love with him for most of her life, but that's the least of the problems for their fractured yet fated romance. Though the relationship can handle Henry's sudden and sometimes inopportune absences, much harder will be figuring out what his condition means for starting a family and building a marriage that will actually last a lifetime.

Using time travel as a conceit - and a rather elaborate metaphor for the challenges life can bring - "The Time Traveler's Wife" (adapted from a novel by Audrey Niffenegger) would prefer we focus on the romance between the main characters than on the how and why of what brings them together and keeps them apart. Which is fine with me - the notion of time travel is so fraught with paradox that even the best, most scientifically grounded treatment of the subject inevitably leads to endless questions. But even ignoring those details, the romantic story is problematic. It's not from a lack of chemistry between the leads - Bana and McAdams pair up well and are convincing as a couple - it's more the lack of chemistry between the characters and the lives they live. Fully aware of their shared destiny, they go through the motions of love and marriage with more a sense of resignation to fate than a passion for living. With the characters so uninvested and passive, why should the viewer feel any differently? The film thus becomes little more than a thought experiment measuring one's scruples and romantic idealism. Though intriguing in its way, I doubt the filmmakers' intention was to adapt Niffenegger's bestselling novel into an academic exercise. Though it certainly works the mind, it doesn't do much for the heart.

Video Quality: 4/5

The film is accurately framed at 2.35:1 and presented in 1080p with the VC-1 codec. Black levels can be a little inconsistent, sometimes looking compressed at the bottom end of the spectrum, which obscures shadow detail and gives things an overly "contrasty" appearance. The effect may be a byproduct of the consistently warm color palette, which suits the sentimental nature of the story but can affect other aspects of the image. Edge halos appear every so often, which is not as noticeable as the occasional over-sharpness of the entire image, giving things a decidedly digital appearance. However fine object detail is impressive in hair and skin texture and consistently visible film grain suggests no or little use of noise reduction measures. Early in the film there is one instance of heavy noise and posterization in a shadow area, but I did not notice the problem again. Overall it's a fine looking transfer with only a few notable issues.

Audio Quality: 3.5/5

The DTS-HD audio track is front-stage dominant, the rear surrounds mostly providing balanced support for the score. Environmental and directional effects seem rare, only showing up at key dramatic moments. LFE is non-existent, but the film score and a couple of crucial sound effects exhibit good fullness and range. Dialogue is consistently clear and intelligible.

Special Features: 2/5

Though the extras can be counted on one hand, the production documentaries are reasonably thorough and offer a nice balance of analysis and behind-the-scenes information.

An Unconventional Love Story (25:55, HD): Cast and crew talk about what drew them to the story, casting the lead roles, what motivates and defines the characters, and experiences shooting a few major scenes.

The Time Traveler's Wife: Love Beyond Words (21:06, HD): Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin and other members of the production talk about adapting the novel for film, discussing key conflicts, using cinematography in the storytelling, changes in narrative structure, and various other differences between book and film.

Digital Copy: Compatible with Mac and Windows. Offer expires February 8, 2011.

Recap

The Feature: 3/5
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 3.5/5
Special Features: 2/5
Overall Score (not an average): 3/5

Warner Brothers turns in a fine presentation of a film that is more interesting than it is emotionally engaging. The supporting special features package is slim, but provides good background and behind-the-scenes information about the production.