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Poster (c) Universal Studios
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.
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality.
Review Date: August 15, 2003
