K-PAX

Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Collector's Edition DVD, $26.95

A man who calls himself Prot mysteriously appears out of nowhere amidst a disturbance at Grand Central Station.  His claim of being a visitor from the planet K-PAX lands Prot in New York's mental health system.  While there, he becomes the patient of Dr. Mark Powell, a psychiatrist who is very skeptical of Prot's story.  As he begins to spend more time with Prot, Dr. Powell becomes increasingly fascinated by this peculiar man and his thorough knowledge of outer space.  When Prot announces he is soon returning to K-PAX, Dr. Powell intensifies the search for answers about his new patient's true identity.               

K-PAX stars Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Alfre Woodard and Mary McCormack.  The movie was directed by Iain Softley and features music by Edward Shearmur.  Released theatrically in 2001, it is rated PG-13 with an approximate feature running time of 121 minutes.           

The movie is presented in an anamorphic widescreen version (2.35:1).  The overall quality of the transfer is excellent.  Images are razor sharp and colors are rich with fully saturated hues.  There is nice contrast and deep black levels.  Picture defect mastering is perfect with no major flaws or compression artifacts.

Video Rating: 9 out of 10

The following spoken language options are available for the movie: English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround.  The following written language tracks are available: Spanish subtitles and English closed captions.  The English DTS 5.1 track is the basis for this review. The overall soundtrack mix heavily favors the forward channels.  Dialogue is crisp and natural sounding.  The surround channels are mostly subdued, used for both ambient sound effects and music, and include a couple of split rear effects.  Although used sparingly, the LFE channel provides smooth bass to the music.

Audio Rating: 6 out of 10

The tactile sound effects are average and are present in about one-quarter of the DVD's 18 chapters.  Subtle impacts are the only type of tactile effect that can be experienced on this disc.  These impacts originate exclusively from the music soundtrack.

Tactile Sound Effects Rating: 5 out of 10

Bonus features include an audio commentary with director Iain Softley; alternate ending; making-of featurette; 6 deleted scenes; storyboard to final feature comparison; making-of photographs by Jeff Bridges; theatrical trailer; 8 trailer gallery; cast & crew bios; production notes; DVD-ROM content and scene access.

Bonus Features Rating: 7 out of 10

Reference equipment used for this review: [DVD player- Pioneer Elite DV-37; HDTV Monitor- Pioneer SD532HD5; A/V Receiver- Pioneer Elite VSX33TX; Speakers- BIC America V636 5.1 Channel Configuration; Tactile Transducers- Clark Synthesis TST329F]