Plot: What’s it about?
I can’t help but recall the episode of TV’s South Park which featured Al Gore and his warning people of the supposed “Manbearpig.” Yes. You heard that right. A man, bear and pig. Fans of that show will know that nothing is off limits. So now whenever I hear Al Gore’s name or see his face, I think of that. I’ll be honest as well and say that I have a strong disinterest in politics and have no strong feelings on global warming one way or the other. This documentary acts as a follow up to 2006’s An Inconvenient Truth. A film which I never saw. I can’t say I wanted to, nor did I want to with this, but duty calls so to speak.
I suppose with this entry, it’s more of the same, simply a continuation, if you will. Here, we follow Al Gore as he hopes to educate people about global warming and to try and motivate them to take action. I’ll be honest, I really don’t understand Gore’s intentions here all the time. We see footage of him traveling around and discussing this topic, but I didn’t hear much about his proposed solution to things. One segment shows him in Florida when there was flooding in the streets, but I fail to see his ultimate goal and what he thinks we should all do. I suppose Gore fans or those interested in global warming will want to seek this out, but it did little for me.
A big problem here is that it feels so padded. What might work well as a 30 minute program, feels like several bits have been added to flesh out the running time to feature length. We do get some insight into Gore’s 2000 loss against George Bush, but much of this just follows him around aimlessly. I smirked a few times when people are dealing with a crisis, such as flooding in the streets and Gore is just standing there with his camera and asking questions. I’d put the man to work. All kidding aside, if you enjoyed the first Truth then I suppose you will enjoy this, but I found myself anxious for it to be over.
Video: How’s it look?
We get a 1.78:1 transfer that more than serves its purpose. At times the image is quite appealing as we see some early segments. Background shots appear nice in some shots. Obviously, when we are just following Gore around talking to people there isn’t much to praise, but this transfer serves its purpose. It looks as good as it should look and that’s really all that matters.
Audio: How’s it sound?
The DTS HD track works about as it should. It might seem restrained at times, but I don’t really fault it for that. This is a documentary after all and there’s not much room for surprise effects here. There is a nice clarity to the track and things kick up a bit when needed. All in all, this serves the film as it should.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Effecting Change: Speaking Truth to Power – This is more of a look back on the first film and what it took to assemble this second one. Given the response to 2006’s An Inconvenient Truth, there wasn’t a lot to change, but fans will get a kick out of this 25 minute feature.
- OneRepublic – Truth to Power (Lyric Video) – A music video by the band OneRepublic.
- Truth in Ten – The Facts about Climate Change – Actually it’s “truth in 11:49”, but that’s nitpicking. In all actuality, this is Gore from his home in Tennessee, who recaps the movie for us.
The Bottom Line
I’m neither interested in global warming nor politics, so naturally I’m not the ideal audience for this. In some ways I can understand what Gore is trying to say, but he didn’t make a strong case for how he expects us to solve this issue. Also, much of this program simply feels padded. I guess those with an interest in this might get more out of than I did.
