Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Dreamcatcher’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​I think it is safe for me to say, that Stephen King is one of the most prolific and successful authors to ever walk the earth. I mean, come on, not only did the man make creative writing cool, his work has more or less become engrained into popular culture, to the point where most of his novels have been adapted into various movies and miniseries over the years, and to make matters sweeter, his stories are seeing quite the resurgence on the silver and small screen. For It was a box office juggernaut that’s spawned a sequel, and there are countless other goodies from his world that are either on their way to T.V. and theaters or are being developed for future releases…
 
But while we are currently celebrating this renaissance of Stephen’s fascinating body of work, one can never forget that there is a fundamental rule when it comes to adaptations of his stories, in that…they can’t all be winners. In fact, there was a stretch of time in both the 1980’s and 1990’s where it seemed as though any particular iteration of his work was going to be or outright was, simply awful. And if I had to guess as to why these adaptations turned out to be so subpar, I would venture to say it’s simply because some of his stories require great care, where every single important detail from the source material needs to find its way into the movie or the series. But of the many failed adaptations of Stephen King’s work, one that forever stands out in my mind, because it so badly missed the mark, is 2003’s, Dreamcatcher.
 
Now, what’s fascinating about this film, is that it fails miserably to capture any of the wonder of the novel that it shares its namesake with, for the most unexpected of reasons. Because plot wise, this movie actually follows the book’s storyline to a tee, but really, it’s the nuances present in the novel that are utterly missing from this film. Case in point, the strange relationships of the four best friends in the film. For in the book, they are as thick as thieves, and you feel their bond and their understanding of one another and the situation before them. But here, they seem like friends who tolerate but never trust one another and that removes any gravity from the heavier situations that come about later on, and this a direct result of some anemic performances.
 
In fact, it’s the acting that really makes this film a struggle to watch, and that mistake falls upon the shoulders of Director Lawrence Kasdan. Because he was handed some fine actors to work with in this film, including the often-impressive Morgan Freeman. But every performance here is either flat or over the top and that inconsistency pulls you out of a story that needs solid acting to sell the strange situation being presented to the audience and the performances are so bad, that I recall the audience cracking up in the theater when ‘Mister Gray’ comes to life by way of a face that Jonesy makes, and they also groaned when Morgan Freeman yelled at Tom Sizemore for the umpteenth time.
 
Which means that when you take those goofy and disjointed performances, and throw them into a script that features grand details, you’re left with a sloppy mess that never quite makes sense and never quite draws you in and well, perhaps it’s best that this movie was as wonky as it was. Because after this chaotic wreck hit the silver screen, it seems as though Hollywood hit a proverbial reset button when it comes to King’s work, and realized his stories need gentle care, and better adaptations hit the silver screen, eventually leading us to the quality ones we enjoy today. But when it comes to this movie, check it out at your own risk, in fact, only watch this one if you’re looking for a big budget B movie, because that’s really the best way to describe this one, which is a shame since this film could have been something quite special, had the folks behind the scenes given a damn about the story… 

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