Dreamcatcher
Cast
Morgan Freeman .... Col. Abraham Curtis
Thomas Jane .... Dr. Henry Devlin
Jason Lee .... Joe 'Beaver' Clarenden
Damian Lewis .... Gary 'Jonesy' Jones
Timothy Olyphant .... Pete Moore
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #2
7/10. When John Grisham or Stephen King writes a book, everyone can expect
it to be turned into some sort of movie that's not as good (the only
one that hasn't had that happen to it is the latter's Insomnia-and
it really deserves to be made into something great) as the book was.
Of course, there's exceptions (such as The Shining and Carrie-both
of which were poorly remade), but one that makes the book look like
string cheese is Dreamcatcher. The book was 1000 pages of hit-or-
miss horror, and the movie condenses it into two and a quarter hours
that takes most of the best parts from the book. Having doubted
William Goldman's ability since Marathon Man and the partial
butchering of Misery, but since he's writing here with director
Lawrence Kasdan, he can't foul up that badly.
The hardest part of having the arduous task of adapting a King book
is taking 1000+ pages and putting it into a reasonable amount of
time for the viewer. That's why the miniseries are always hot to
trot, because they can stretch things out to the length of the book.
Trouble is, eventually, it gets boring and too true to the book.
That's how the aforementioned remakes failed. Filmmakers need to be
able to have creative licenses, and that's what Kasdan does. He
knows how to work with the material that he and Goldman wrote, and
it turns out to be something much better than the source material.
Four childhood friends, Beaver (Jason Lee), Henry (Thomas Jane),
Jonesy (Damian Lewis) and Pete (Timothy Olyphant), go to some woods
in Maine for their annual hunting trip. In their childhood, they had
been united by a mentally retarded friend, Duddits (Donnie
Wahlberg), which linked all of them with some sort of telepathy that
they usually don't talk about. During their twentieth year of going
out there, aliens land nearby and alter the course of their lives
forever. Meanwhile, Col. Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman, with the
named changed from the original Kurtz, a reference to Apocalypse
Now, because I guess hearing a name will automatically trigger
the "plagiarism" sensor in viewer's minds more than reading it) is
in charge of the governmental side of the aliens, while he
supposedly goes crazy. For those who thought Jack Nicholson's
transformation in The Shining happened too quickly, they obviously
haven't seen Dreamcatcher.
I think the reason most people didn't like Dreamcatcher is that they
didn't know what the hell was going on. I can understand it, since
some of the most important stuff is just referenced in passing (such
as most things relating to Mr. Gray). I thought that all of the
Curtis subplot seemed to drag everything down, because everything
that's done there could have been brought about some other way. But
much of the movie is pretty scary, despite the absurdity of not only
some of the aliens and the CGI, but the ending. I didn't have that
many qualms with it, but those who did probably also complained with
the oddity of the ending of The Hulk (understandably). The plot held
up through all of the reductions, and makes an effectual, creepy
film.
The acting, however, could have been better. Although Jason Lee is
always good, all of his catchphrases that his character had in the
book seemed scripted and stilted. The actor who played Beaver as a
child also seemed to just be reading his lines. The other actors
don't really bring any personality to their roles, although
Lewis's "dual role" was pretty cool. There seems to be an
overwhelming amount of material in this film, but when you think
about it, it all flows together pretty well. And considering you're
taking 1000 pages into a 135 page script, that's pretty good to have
everything flow together. My respect for William Goldman has come
back, as for good horror films. Dreamcatcher is not the best King
adaptation, or the best King book, but it's entertaining and creepy,
and that's all we ask for from Mr. King.
Rated R for violence, gore and language..
Running time: 134 minutes
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