A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

The Evaluation System Reviews by Title Reviews by Date

Reviews from Video Reviews of the Classics Personal Background

Title: Dreamcatcher

Date of original theatrical release: 2003

Details:

Morgan Freeman

Thomas Jane

Jason Lee

Damian Lewis

Timothy Olyphant

Tom Sizemore

Donnie Wahlberg

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Novel by: Stephen King

Screenplay by: William Goldman & Lawrence Kasdan

Score: 1/2

The Review: A science-fiction thriller with a touch of the paranormal, from the pen of Stephen King, as channeled by Lawrence Kasdan. There's some high-powered talent flowing through this movie, even bypassing the actors.

Played partly in flashbacks, four childhood friends are the focal point for Dreamcatcher. As youths they meet Duddits, a retarded boy who changes them in unique ways. As adults, they go their own separate ways, staying in the U.S. Northeast, where they get together annually for a week at a hunting cabin in deepest Maine. Only this visit, all hell is about to break loose.

Good soundtrack.

However, my by-now standard quibble about mass-energy equivalence applies here (as it has been invoked in many a recent sci-fi movie, e.g. Hellboy): matter in this universe cannot be created from nothing, there's no obvious energy source to draw upon, and no imputed physical process involved. Furthermore, although alluded to, this is not simply tossed-off as "playing with one's brain," a visual effect only effected inside the visual system -- in the transitions from non-visible (rider) to full flown critter, it's clear that there's some significant mass being thrown around.

(24-Apr-05)

Back to the chronological list of reviews