Official Synopsis
Meet Adam Webber, born and raised in a bomb shelter by his sherry-swilling mother and his mad-scientist father. Adam’s simple childhood has been filled with Perry Como records, The Honeymooners re-runs and good old-fashioned family values. Now, 35 years later, Adam is about to emerge into a bewildering modern world in search of supplies and a simple girl from Pasadena. Instead, Adam meets Eve, a modern L.A. woman jaded about life and burned by love.
While I think it’s a bit of a copout to call the main characters Adam and Eve based on the overlying tone of survival, it does reflect the goofy nature that the movie isn’t shy about revealing in almost every facet of its plot points. Blast from the Past, a 1999 film directed by Hugh Wilson, who knows comedy and goofiness through such directorial work like Police Academy (1984), doesn’t take itself serious at all. It’s a very light comedy that just goes with the flow, much like its main character Adam.
Anyway, let’s break this puppy down.
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The first act starts with the setup. Calvin (Christopher Walken) and his wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) are having a social (party) get together when the television news announces that a nuclear threat level has been raised. Shoo-ing everyone out of their party, they soon get themselves into their fallout shelter to wait out the potential trouble. Sadly, and at that very moment, a military plane loses control and crashes into their home, which audibly and physically sounds like a bomb going off. This, of course, makes Calvin assume that the world above them has been decimated and they must wait out the horrific aftermath until it’s safe to return to the surface. The rest of act one is a montage of the couple having and raising their only son, Adam (Brendan Fraser), during the waiting period, which is over once Adam becomes an adult. With supplies low and Calvin suddenly in need of medical help, Adam makes his way to the surface to go find more supplies.
This is a helluva way to get the adventure started in the film. The setup is intricately done with precise details given for Adam’s eventual persona. Developing that character, and the characters of his parents, properly helps to up the believability about Adam and his family’s situation — especially when it pertains to their adaption to the world above. The way that Adam is raised, both wholesomely and innocently, helps to deliver the impending comedy, even when it’s simple and dry. This type of setup is great for a romantic comedy like this, as it’s not too over-the-top. In comparison to director Hugh Wilson’s other comedies, he seems to sprinkle in the humor and let people notice it, rather than showing them the whole kit and caboodle (like in Police Academy or Dudley Do-Right). The comedy is a cross between WKRP in Cincinnati and Guarding Tess. It’s light-hearted, quick, yet subtle.
What’s also great about the first act is that you care about Adam and his family. Their characters aren’t larger than life, they’re good folks that truly believed they were in a nuclear attack. While the background setup of the cold war helps to push that idea along, how everyone acts and delivers the goods while underground really puts a sense of close family elements into the mix at the very beginning. I love that about this film and I think it’s probably the strongest part of it.
As the second act of the film begins, Adam makes it to the surface only to find out that the world hasn’t really gone to hell. It is hell because of the enormous growth and the rundown location their home is now residing in, but for the most part it’s just an intense space that’s exciting for Adam to learn in. Adam’s first real go with another person on the surface is with Eve (Alicia Silverstone), who agrees to help be his guide as he is gathering all the material he needs to get back to his family. Eve has a tough time believing Adam’s predicament, but goes along with him because the money is right (and she is in need of money). Act two moves along at a nice pace, as Adam is slowly gathering more information through Eve about the world, and even gets help finding the certain someone he can get married to and grow old with. Act two also features Eve’s sidekick, and comedy delivering genius, Troy (Dave Foley), who acts as a subtle defender to Adam when he needs one, and an ignored adviser to Eve when she needs one. As the act winds down and everything starts turning towards the big reveal, mainly about Adam, the movie starts moving briskly towards a conclusion.
Act two is a bit long in the tooth and doesn’t smoothly climb the plot point hill like it should. It feels like a tour of Adam’s new discoveries about the world, yet it has trouble finding a proper ending to that tour. It’s not a mess by any stretch of the imagination, as it seems like it’s built in the shape of a traditional 80s montage — except with dialogue and less music. By the end of act two, you’re wishing act three had begun 10-15 minutes prior, as we firmly ‘get’ that Adam is in need of some learning about that world, though he seems to be handling it quite well. Anyway, it doesn’t break off cleanly and that doesn’t tank the third act, but it does feel a bit lost. I will say the biggest positives of act two come from two actors. The first is quite obvious, Dave Foley absolutely kills it in this film. He is funny, his comedy is delivered perfectly and he is a fun/likable opposite to Silverstone’s Eve. He is a treat in this film. The second actor is Nathan Fillion, who shows sparks of good comedy and anti-hero. He is in the film for 30 seconds, but it’s a great 30 seconds.
Anyway, act three begins and Adam and Eve slowly start figuring out that they love each other, even though it’s way too quick. Some things happen before that in act three, but the predictable conclusion you could probably figure out from the movie poster is how this story ends. The finale is strong in this film, but the climb to get to that finale can feel a bit empty. It’s still satisfying, though.
Blast from the Past isn’t the best romcom to come from the 90s, but the subject matter and acting sure help this story out when it’s limping a bit. It’s certainly worth at least a go, as it’s light enough not to take too seriously.
On the Blu-ray side of things, Warner Home Video did a superb job with transferring this movie to HD. While it does have a few imperfections here and there, the majority of the film transfers well to the Blu-ray format. It is probably helped by the fact that the movie does a great job with its color palette, focusing more on that ‘swing’ time, solid colors from the 60s that the 90s went through at one time. In short, it looked pretty to begin with because the theme and color scheme worked well, so it wasn’t that difficult to continue the pretty in the transfer.
On the special features end, you only get a trailer. Commentary would have been nice, possibly some promo materials. Just a trailer, though.
