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| DIRECTED BY |
| Lawrence Kasdan |
| STARRING |
| Morgan Freeman |
| Thomas Jane |
| Jason Lee |
| Damian Lewis |
| Tom Sizemore |
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Like an ancient cave concealing some priceless gold within its ruins, the overall story of �Dreamcatcher� is tiresome and dull, but underneath all of the contrivances it houses some fascinating and original ideas. The main plotline of a group of prophetically gifted friends doing battle with parasitic creatures while an army tries to intervene is less than compelling. The idea concerning psychological warfare between these gifted friends and the parasites, however, is interesting. Too bad it�s not developed nearly well enough, though.
The film has a cornucopia of clever camera tricks and expensive special effects that should please the filmgoers who simply want to treat their eyes, but fans of Stephen King who may be going to see this film for a horrific experience will be disappointed, because - simply put - it�s just not that scary. The computer-generated creatures themselves are only mildly frightening, but the kind of horror that I find more rousing is the kind that is not so much evasive but more psychological, like Kubrick did with �The Shining.� Unfortunately, Kasdan only touches base with the psychological ideas in King�s novel, favoring the more in-your-face direction.
A scene involving one creature slowly creeping through the snow to an unsuspecting Timothy Olyphant is particularly impressive, and a testament to the idea that Kasdan�s unsubtle approach to the material may not be that bad after all. But the textbook Stephen King flashback sequences are littered with painfully bad child actors, the whole bit about a mentally deficient kid being some sort of genius is monotonous, and the dialogue is just plain stupid. It simply wasn�t nearly enough to engage me, and as the plot perfunctorily droned on, I lost all interest whatsoever.
Near the end, there�s another stylish sequence involving a worm clenching its teeth onto the barrel of a gun; these are the flashy visuals that will probably manage to keep most of the audience members within their seats. But as the years tick by, it�s looking more and more like �Body Heat� will go down as Lawrence Kasdan�s greatest film; this one certainly doesn�t come close.
