DREAMCATCHER
A Warner Bros. Release 

review by Joseph B. Mauceri

SYNOPSIS: Twenty years ago, Jonesy, Henry, Pete, and Beaver found the courage to heroically save a strange boy named Duddits, unexpectedly adding a fifth friend to their group. As a sign of his appreciation and friendship, Duddits conveyed to them uncanny powers, bonding them all beyond ordinary friendship.

Now the four are men live separate lives, with separate problems, but are haunted by the memory of their heroism. Their powers have become more a burden than a gift. A shocking accident almost claims Jonsey, and it is somehow linked to their friendship to Duddits. After his recovery, the four reunite for their annual visit to a hunting cabin in the north woods. Their warmth and humor is overtaken by a gathering doom as a stranger, a lost hunter unaware of the terrible contagion he bears, enters their cabin.  A vicious storm moves in and covers something much more ominous. The four friends are forced to once again summon their forgotten strength, seek out Duddits, and confront an unparalleled horror.

REVIEW: One can only hope that when a major literary force comes together with a legendary director and a veteran screenwriter something extraordinary will happen. In this case it should have, but I don't think King's DREAMCATCHER was the right piece to begin with. First off, how do you adapt a novel to the screen that has an entire chapter dealing with a man shitting himself to death? Secondly, the novel is filled with not so subtle coincidences of the author playing with the reader. The plot, the locations and the characters' names all are part of the subtext for that game. It's fun, if you get it all, but DREAMCATCHER was one of the few unmemorable King novels.

Screenwriter William Goldman has adapted King on two previous occasions, "Misery" and "Hearts in Atlantis." Goldman distills Kings characters down to their basic essentials, allowing an audience to identify with them, and keeps a bit of the Kingisms to make them interesting and unique. I read Goldman's DREAMCATCHER screenplay and loved it.

Now enter Lawrence Kasdan. Watching the film credits, I noticed that Kasdan got first billing for screenplay over Goldman. Kasden is no slouch when it comes to a script. He's written most of the films he's directed and he's written or co-written four of the most successful pictures of all time -- "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," and "The Bodyguard." However, I don't think he's right for King. Between his direction and writing, the interaction between both the young and older four men seems unnatural and forced. Also, the interaction between the military characters seems stereotypical and, again, unnatural. Kasdan's direction captures the epic feel to the locations and settings, but seems to come up short for the film's big chase sequence. DREAMCATCHER has its frightening and gross moments, but those also don't have enough of an edge to them. The computer effects look quickly rendered, out of focus, and the repetition in the sequence of the animals fleeing the forest is just too obvious and it looks like a computer-generated effect.

Two aspects preventing DREAMCATCHER from a total melt down are the actors and the score. First, James Newton Howard's composition adds more terror to the film than all the effects combined. He creates some interesting movements within his score and blends them with contemporary and classical sounds. Secondly, both the young and older men convey the special bound of their friendship. Your drawn in because there is something about each of their performances that makes them feel like familiar figures from our daily lives. We maybe not be horrified by the monsters they encounter on screen, but we can certainly relate to the jeopardy and peril as friends try to help friends, as well as that sense of loss.

DREAMCATCHER is novel where you can't help but say to yourself, "You now, this reads like someone trying to write a King novel!" Which leads me to that age-old question. "Does every book have to be made into a feature film?" Well, it can't be because Stephen King needs the money! Please don't get me wrong, on the whole I enjoyed the film, and that's coming from a sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and Stephen King fan. However, DREAMCATCHER is a "B" movie brought to the screen with "A" list talent and a big budget to match. Maybe, just maybe, it would have been a better movie had it been a "B" movie all the way.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
http://dreamcatchermovie.warnerbros.com/

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