Dreamcatcher Starring Damian Lewis, Jason Lee Directed by Lawrence Kasdan Rated R for violence, gore and language out of Stars, Movie Grade: B

Theatrical Release: March 21, 2003
Running time: 136 minutes

by Kevin Lang

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan ("Mumford" 1999), "Dreamcatcher" was another Stephen King novel turned film that failed to capture the depth and scope of the book. Perhaps what surprised me most about the film was that it basically was an alien invasion movie. It didn't focus at all on the supernatural nature of the dreamcatcher, but instead used this ornament as a means to symbolize the bond between the central characters, and their purpose of filtering out the coming evil (aliens) from destroying humanity.

Certain characteristic Stephen King elements were present in the movie, but were focused on much less than in the book. The bond developed during childhood between the four characters who possessed the unique powers to fight the aliens was developed somewhat in the movie, but was focused on much less than in the book. Therefore, I wasn't as rooted in the characters and there abilities. There uniqueness had less of an impact. The movie attempted to focus more on special effects and the extermination of the hostile visitors. The all out strangeness and attractive absurdity of King's stories was abandoned for a film more similar to, but not nearly as good as, James Cameron's "Aliens."

The first half of the film played much like an episode of the X-Files. Strange happenings began to occur, such as droves of animals fleeing through the forest, and the main characters discovering a lost hunter with uncontrollable flatulence. They at first find the man's rifting and farting amusing until they realized what was causing his indigestion. If you like the X-Files, you should enjoy these scenes, even if they've been done before. This was the best part of the film.

Damian Lewis gave an enjoyable performance as Jonesy, whose body hosts one of the aliens attempting to infect the world's drinking water with a slimy bacteria-carrying alien worm. Jonesy switched from himself to the personality of the alien inhabiting his body, which for some reason had a heavy British accent. Lewis is British himself, so this accent probably wasn't much of a stretch. I particularly liked the scenes depicting Jonesy filing his memories, attempting to protect them from the alien searching his mind. These scenes helped to echo the tone of the novel, but were far to limited in the film. Actor Damian Lewis is most noted for his role as Major Richard D. Winters in the HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers."

In the end, "Dreamcatcher" wasn't a bad film. The aspects of the film that most people may find to be strange weren't present enough to become a consistent, normal part of the story. They were interesting, but they seemed out of place because the filmmakers focused too heavily on special effects, slimy aliens, and gore. The psychologically frightening aspects of the novel were abandoned for a much less effective mainstream feel.

"Dreamcatcher" Review written March 20, 2003, CTF.

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