bnorthup
03-25-2003, 12:37 AM
Dreamcatcher (R)
At the Circus
** (2 stars)
Battling a really big bad worm
By Brent Northup
The overly complex script that turns a Stephen King horror novel into a warped worm movie is simply too cute for its own good. The writing needs to be shaved down a bit, perhaps using Occam’s Razor, until we reach a simpler and more entertaining tale.
Perhaps some viewers will find this flashback-driven movie profound, but for me it seemed like pretentious filmmaking in support of a basically pretty simple King story. The talented crew – including director Lawrence Kasdan (“The Big Chill”) and writer William Goldman (“All the President’s Men) – spent a lot of money to make a bad case of indigestion seem like a cosmic awakening.
No summary really tells the tale. Suffice it to say that four friends who share telepathic powers go hunting at a cabin in the woods – and find they aren’t alone out there after all. That simple story is told through endless loops of flashbacks and flash-forwards that are unnecessarily complicated. Eventually we learn that the buddies “real” lives include work as a psychiatrist, a college professor, a carpenter and a car salesman.
The film’s best moments are its simpler ones. The portrayal of the boyhood friendship of these buddies, including the day they saved a vulnerable boy from abuse, is touching. The initial mysterious wanderings of the friends sets us up for a lot more than the movie ultimate delivers.
Although the psychic dimensions of the story initially seem loaded with storytelling potential, the film’s central scenes consist in a worm slithering under the snow, sneaking up on one of the heroes. That’s neither profound nor original. Among the puzzles: What is the crazy army investigator, played by Morgan Freeman, up to anyway?
Now I understand that this was based on an 800-page novel, so I’ve got to assume that King did a better job of knitting the telepathic threads into heart of the story than this script did. I was confused a good portion of the time, partly because I was sleepy and partly because I was annoyed that I was being asked to think so hard in a bug movie.
This 134-minute horror film is preceded by an 11-minute short film called “The Final Flight of the Osiris.” It’s clearly some sort of tune up for the Matrix sequel that’s coming soon. It’s a computer-generated film with almost-real people in a video-game fantasy-style adventure.
Oh, by the way, the short short is better than this long long movie.
END
At the Circus
** (2 stars)
Battling a really big bad worm
By Brent Northup
The overly complex script that turns a Stephen King horror novel into a warped worm movie is simply too cute for its own good. The writing needs to be shaved down a bit, perhaps using Occam’s Razor, until we reach a simpler and more entertaining tale.
Perhaps some viewers will find this flashback-driven movie profound, but for me it seemed like pretentious filmmaking in support of a basically pretty simple King story. The talented crew – including director Lawrence Kasdan (“The Big Chill”) and writer William Goldman (“All the President’s Men) – spent a lot of money to make a bad case of indigestion seem like a cosmic awakening.
No summary really tells the tale. Suffice it to say that four friends who share telepathic powers go hunting at a cabin in the woods – and find they aren’t alone out there after all. That simple story is told through endless loops of flashbacks and flash-forwards that are unnecessarily complicated. Eventually we learn that the buddies “real” lives include work as a psychiatrist, a college professor, a carpenter and a car salesman.
The film’s best moments are its simpler ones. The portrayal of the boyhood friendship of these buddies, including the day they saved a vulnerable boy from abuse, is touching. The initial mysterious wanderings of the friends sets us up for a lot more than the movie ultimate delivers.
Although the psychic dimensions of the story initially seem loaded with storytelling potential, the film’s central scenes consist in a worm slithering under the snow, sneaking up on one of the heroes. That’s neither profound nor original. Among the puzzles: What is the crazy army investigator, played by Morgan Freeman, up to anyway?
Now I understand that this was based on an 800-page novel, so I’ve got to assume that King did a better job of knitting the telepathic threads into heart of the story than this script did. I was confused a good portion of the time, partly because I was sleepy and partly because I was annoyed that I was being asked to think so hard in a bug movie.
This 134-minute horror film is preceded by an 11-minute short film called “The Final Flight of the Osiris.” It’s clearly some sort of tune up for the Matrix sequel that’s coming soon. It’s a computer-generated film with almost-real people in a video-game fantasy-style adventure.
Oh, by the way, the short short is better than this long long movie.
END