Here On Earth

Have you ever been in love? Have you then been hurt by love? It, well, hurts, doesn’t it? But aren’t you glad that you have been able to experience the great feeling one can only get from loving someone else? The wounds will heal given time, but that feeling of loving someone will stay with you forever.

Opposites attract in this teen drama that focuses on love. With a story in some ways similar to A Walk to Remember (Mandy Moore and Shane West), Here On Earth provides a realistic and mature look at the subject, with slightly older characters. It may only be one or two years difference, but this provides a more authentic feel to the film, with the emotions being portrayed with a more deep and meaningful accuracy. However, saying this, get the two leads from A Walk to Remember with their backgrounds and stick them in this film with the high quality portrayal of love and you would have the perfect mixture. Now if you’ve read the A Walk to Remember review you would know what really got annoying, and this film thankfully stays away from such simplistic levels. But Here On Earth lacks the believability of the characters. Shane West is believable, and loveable, in his role in A Walk to Remember, as is Moore, both giving the audience something to like about them. But Chris Klein is just such an awful stuck up snob in the beginning of Here On Earth, so much so that it makes it hard to want him to succeed in life, let alone love. Sure a person can change, but don’t make them such a spoilt snob to start with! Then the audience can love them.

Chris Klein stars as Kelley, a popular bloke in a rich private college. One night, he and his mates sneak out and visit Mable’s Table, a diner in a small town near the school. Here his obvious flirtations with the waitress, Samantha, played by an attractively believable Leelee Sobieski, are seen by her boyfriend Jasper (Josh Hartnett), a long time foe of “Richie Rich� Kelley. After a speeding chase goes horribly wrong between Kelley and Jasper where Mable’s Table is destroyed, the two suffer probation where they have to help rebuild the popular diner. And where is Kelley to stay? Well the parents of Jasper offer to house the man for the duration of the probation. Not only does this cause conflict between Jasper and Kelley, but also provides a place for Kelley and Sam to catch glimpses of each other. And where do we go from here? Well emotions fly high, and Sam makes the choice about what it is she really wants. But a surprise is still in store, as what she really wants will be shortly taken away from her. Keep the tissues handy, the cuddles plentiful and you’ll be fine for the last hour of the film.

The video is presented in an anamorphically-enhanced widescreen aspect of 1.85:1, and for the most part looks great. It is the finer details of the transfer that the general public won’t necessarily notice, but if you’re a pedantic perfectionist Virgo-ian then they may stand out a little.

The biggest complaint comes in the area of definition and detail. Some scenes, namely those outdoors with complex scenic backgrounds featuring what seems like millions of unique shades of green, black, white and reflective leaves on trees, cause the biggest issue with an incredibly soft definition on the backgrounds. This means that they do tend to look flat and lifeless for some sequences, and lack that rich depth that is often captured with outdoor scenes.

Now colours, however, are simply stunning, with the brightest, most realistic greens imaginable, complimented by a strikingly blue sky and a multi-hued collaboration of adjacent colours, all richly captured on DVD. Blacks are deep and solid yet do appear a tad overpowering at times. Shadow detail is generally adequate, but the overpowering dark tones do make some scenes appear murky and complex. But thankfully there is no sign of low level noise, as blacks remain solid throughout the film. The odd occurrence of posterisation shakes past, but doesn’t rule any particular scene. And what about grain and film artefacts, you say? Well you can look for them if you like, but why waste your time? You’re looking for about two artefacts in the 93 minute duration.

Dolby Digital graces this disc, with a single track of 5.1-fullness. Whilst this track is nothing to write home about, it still provides enough ambience, activity and assertion to create a solid soundstage, and an appropriate platform for this genre of film. Being a dialogue driven film, this is of paramount importance and sounds great – clear, precise and audible throughout. Surround channels are limited to ambient noise and score support, but offer enough to create a fairly full and busy soundstage. The subwoofer woofs every now and then, but is quite constrained for most of the film. The score contracted by Sandy De Crescent lusciously floats over the top of the film, and takes the imagery to emotional heights during the final act of the film.

The 16:9-enhanced menus load up after some initial copyright information and look reasonable, but suffer from some severe oversaturated colours and are far too bright. From the extra features page is a concise 2:23 theatrical trailer repeating the premise of the film and leaving plenty of content still to be undressed in the film. The music video is of Jessica Simpson’s Where You Are, presented in a full frame aspect with a duration of 4:25.

Grab this disc along with A Walk to Remember for the next chick flick event for teenage girls. The video is great, let down by a soft detail level and the audio is sufficiently rich, providing a full ambience for the film. Despite what is happening around the world, take the advice of this film and also an anonymous email forward, where it said “love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely�. It sure is.