Blast from the Past

Blast from the Past is a hilarious comedy with an interesting premise; what would happen if you took a new-born baby boy and kept him locked in a vault with his parents until he was 35 years old? What kind of man would the baby turn into, having had no contact whatsoever with the outside world, and only his parents as company? Well, of course this could never happen, right? Wrong! In 1962, a paranoid scientist and his pregnant wife, fearing the onset of nuclear war, hide in a fallout shelter that the scientist has secretly built in their back garden, and are locked in by an automatic timer. The couple, played by Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek raise a son, Adam entirely underground, and when the doors unlock in 1997, the scientist goes up to see what has become of the world. He finds that his cosy home is gone, replaced by a block of run-down shops, including an adult video store and a bar full of religious weirdoes who start worshipping him just because he appeared from nowhere. After meeting a few more of the kind of people we take for granted these days, he goes back down into the shelter, convinced that the holocaust has created a sick world full of mutants, and promptly has a mild heart attack. His wife sends Adam up to obtain more supplies, and when Adam, now played by Brendan Fraser, meets Eve, played by Alicia Silverstone, the real fun begins.

If you think Forrest Gump was cute and loveable, wait till you see Adam. Fraser plays him brilliantly; he is innocent, gullible and polite, and of course has no understanding of the modern world, and is quite clueless about how to relate to people, especially girls. He's like a character from a fifties film with a childlike innocence that such a character wouldn't normally possess. Through Adam, we get a new and refreshing view of this world that we so easily take for granted. What's so amazing about the sky, or the sea? What's the big deal about television being in colour or having a whole computer in your bedroom? As Adam's father says, everything's a miracle.

On the other hand, we also see how we have become like a society of mutants; with people selling their bodies and drinking themselves into the gutter. These days we're so ready to rip each other off, we don't trust each other, how could we?, and most of us have little time for politeness and other pleasantries. Let's face it, if someone you'd never seen before walked up to you in the street, smiled, said "hello", and shook your hand, you'd think they were crazy, right? Or after your money. I know I would.

All in all, this is a very funny film with some interesting observations about today's society. Unfortunately, there are a few scenes in the film where the acting is not so good. At times, it's almost as if the actors themselves are embarrassed by the dialogue. But if you ignore this slight problem, and if you are not actually embarrassed yourself, you might find this film quite enjoyable.