Dreamcatcher
Review by Clint Morris
 Like
a well shot photograph accepted into competition, but too
obscure and incomprehensible to spark anyone’s interest,
Lawrence Kasdan’s Dreamcatcher – based on
the book by Stephen King – mish-mashes so many different
ideas into it’s befuddling screenplay, that it’ll
be anyone’s guess what the movie was even about...
“I must be getting too old for this shit,” says
Morgan Freeman’s character at one point during the film.
“I don’t even know what the hell that was about.”
He’s not alone – and yes, Morgan, you’ve been
around too long to be reduced to this drivel - but according
to the blurb, Dreamcatcher is about four childhood
friends who grow up to be adults with their own demons, only
to become stalled by snow during a hunting trip and end up
nose to nose with a senior paranormal rule.
In this case, the four men have their own precarious mental
strength as a result of their lifelong friendship with Douglas
"Duddits" Cavell (Donnie Wahlberg), a mentally retarded
man with overshadowing gifts.
Within an hour of Dreamcatcher, it’s highly evident
that this is purely a “I’ve got to pay the rent”
outing for Stephen King.
There’s nothing new in here at all; in fact, all the
plot points are moments borrowed from earlier King books/novels,
notably “Stand by me”, “It” and “The
Stand”.
The film’s paranormal opponent, a slug-like alien creature,
that just so happens to infest itself into the guts of it’s
victims before eating them whole, is so much a copy of the
film Alien (1979) that the screenwriter has seen to
even nickname the creature “Ripley”.
And the dialogue the grand cast is required to spurt is discomforting
for all...
Freeman, for one, has some of the worst lines of the film.
For instance, “If the Ripley gets out of this pristine
paradise…well I just can’t allow it do that.”
Regrettably, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant and newcomer Damian
Lewis do have some good moments there, it’s just a pity
they weren’t put to better use.
The film’s main problem, though, are the endless sub-plots:
- Aliens have landed in Maine, and the military have been
sent in to wipe them out.
- Four men struggle to deal with their psychic powers.
- Duddits tries to get messages to his buddies through power
of mind.
- Bodies are being possessed.
- Large blood-soaked slugs are crawling out of toilets,
and one military man suddenly grows a conscience.
Funnily enough, the titular device of a Dreamcatcher
– an Indian talisman that catches nightmares – is
barely even touched upon, and has nothing to do with the story
itself.
To the film’s merit, the picture successfully interlaces
a couple of jumps during the movie and the special effects
are quite dazzling at times - but heck, you can get that by
watching the nightly news.
1.5 out of 5
Dreamcatcher
Australian release: Thursday April 3rd
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis,
Tom Sizemore, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan.
Website: Click
here
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