Movie Review

Dreamcatcher (R)

Kit Bowen

Photos| Movie Info

Hollywood.com Says
Thanks to strong performances from its main characters, Dreamcatcher initially catches your attention, but just when it should be at its scariest, it falls apart.

Story
Before the main feature begins, audiences are treated to an added bonus--The Flight of the Osiris, a really cool $5 million computer-animated short film created by Matrix writer-director brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski that connects the story to the next installment The Matrix Reloaded. Taking place after The Matrix left off, it's a wild ride showing one rebel ship trying to fight off the evil machines--and unfortunately losing the battle. Done in the animated futuristic style of last year's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the film will certainly whet Matrix fans' appetites. Moving on....As with any good King tale, Dreamcatcher begins with relationships. This time the action centers on four best friends--the agreeable Jonsey (Damian Lewis), the tortured Henry (Thomas Jane), the flippant Beaver (Jason Lee) and the lovelorn Pete (Timothy Olyphant)--who, as kids 20 years ago, saved a mentally challenged kid named Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg) from some bullies and somehow were bestowed with uncanny powers of telepathy by the eerie little kid that bonded them all beyond ordinary friendship. Now, as adults, they feel burdened by their powers, but soon find out how glad they are they still have them. When the guys head to a hunting cabin in the woods for their annual blowing-off-steam session, the happy reunion is cut short by a deadly alien force, which has invaded their snowy surroundings. While the U.S. military, lead by Colonel Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman) and Capt. Owen Underhill (Tom Sizemore), quarantines the area to get rid of the infectious alien presence known as the "Ripley" (named after the main character in Alien), the foursome are haplessly drawn into the aliens' evil plan, finding themselves once again inexplicably linked to their old friend, the now cancer-stricken Duddits. It's a race against time to stop the invasion, but the four men use all their strength to stand together--one last time.

Acting
The natural rapport and strong bond between the four main characters needs to be believable to make Dreamcatcher palatable. Fortunately, the actors playing them live up to the task, and when they are all on screen at one time, it works; unfortunately, scenes featuring all of them are few and far between. The British Lewis, who was so damn good in HBO's Band of Brothers as leader Richard Winters, gets his first starring role in a feature film and brings the same level of quiet intensity to his Jonesy as he did to Brothers. Olyphant (Go) and Jane (The Sweetest Thing) play Pete and Henry like they've been lifelong pals offscreen, while Wahlberg is almost unrecognizable as Duddits, proving he can get rid of those good looks and put in a nice performance. And finally, Jason Lee, who's been suppressing his witty, sarcastic self far too long in stinkers such as A Guy Thing, steals the show as the curse-word lovin'--and incredibly brave--Beaver. The plot line revolving around Freeman's and Sizemore's characters is far less interesting, with Freeman turning in his usual steady performance but somehow missing the mark as Curtis, a military man who has seen way too much.

Direction
The talent behind Dreamcatcher is clearly evident. Director/co-writer Lawrence Kasdan and co-writer William Goldman do a wonderful job setting up the action, with the quick back and forth dialogue between the four men. It gives you an immediate intimacy with the main characters, something King likes to do in his writing as well. Kasdan also uses interesting imagery of a large and dusty library that represents the inside of Jonesy's mind, where he hangs out and shuffles old boxes full of memories around to make room for new ones. When the alien takes over Jonesy's body, Kasdan frames the action by showing Jonesy trapped inside this library, watching what is happening to his friends and trying desperately to keep the invading menace at bay. Ultimately though, just when it should jump on the horrific momentum it's built up, the film begins to fall apart as we move away from the four main characters and start dealing with the military operation. Perhaps the main problem lies in the fact it is too derivative--of other alien movies (Independence Day meets Alien meets The Thing) and worse, of other Stephen King movies (Stand By Me meets It meets The Tommyknockers). In other words, it ends up being a highly anticlimactic rehash.