Dragonfly
Cast
Kevin Costner .... Joe Darrow
Susanna Thompson .... Emily Darrow
Joe Morton .... Hugh Campbell
Ron Rifkin .... Charlie Dickinson
Kathy Bates .... Mrs. Belmont
Directed by
Tom Shadyac
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
7/10. There's another addition to my list of "critically panned movies that
I found quite good." Some include John Q. and Blood Work. Dragonfly
is a slow but never boring supernatural tale of true love (what
else?), directed by Bruce Almighty's Tom Shadyac. This is his first
non-comedic work, and it really works, but I'll get to that later.
Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) is an ER doctor whose wife recently died
in Venezuela. A promise that he made to her was to look after kids in
the hospital, since she was a nurse there. A few of the kids there
who had near-death experiences tell him that his wife was trying to
reach him, and, lo and behold, he sees a few things that may say that
she either isn't dead or is trying to reach and contact him. Could it
be, or is Joe just delusional after losing his wife?
This is one of the more effective dramas I have seen for a long time.
Not only does it work as a romantic drama, but there was also a good
deal of mystery and suspense. Is Joe really seeing images, et al, of
his dead wife, or isn't he? Most movies can't really juggle more than
one or two genres, but Dragonfly has drama, romance, thriller, sci-
fi, and mystery all rolled into one.
I never thought I would say this, but Kevin Costner delivers a very
good performance. He portrays love for his wife, and distress when
she's gone, and balanced the two very well. Kathy Bates, in her small
roll as Joe's neighbor, is underused, but with what she had, she did
well. Bates is one of the most underrated actresses out there.
As I said before, Shadyac did a great job directing. He put tension
in a scene where Joe was sitting down and he hears someone calling
his name. We don't know where it's coming from, or if it's in his
head. Shadyac puts in a couple things that jump out and scare us
(which I thought as odd, since it's a slow moving drama), but all of
it added to the almost noir-ish feel of the movie.
However, where Dragonfly loses points is the last twenty minutes or
so. It doesn't really have much to do with the first 80 minutes, and
is unsatisfactory. Overall, you probably won't like Dragonfly, but I
sure did.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality.
Running time: 104 minutes
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