Written by Stephen King, William Goldman, and Lawrence Kasdan
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan

Adaptations of novels can be a dicey thing.  Usually, the more I like the novel, the more disappointed I seem to be by the film adaptation.  This seems to be especially true in the case of Stephen King novels.  As good as they are, the film adaptations always seems to disappoint.

Unfortunately, Dreamcatcher was no different.  The novel has been one of the few bright spots in King’s writing since having his accident.  The movie version doesn’t fare much better than other attempts to adapt his novels, although at time I do believe it fares better than some other adaptations of his books.  As an aside, adaptations of his short stories do seem to translate well to the screen.

In Dreamcatcher, four childhood friends gather together six months after the near-death of one of their group.  The four men travel to a cabin in the woods of Maine.  Jonesy (portrayed by Damian Lewis) tells his buddies about what motivated him to step out in front of traffic and nearly be killed.  They reminisce about their younger days, but at the same time there is something hanging between the four of them that they seem to dance around without being talked about, and it has something to do with what Jonesy saw.

The scene then jumps back twenty years to when the boys were young teenagers in the town of Derry, Maine.  As they are walking home from school, they come across older boys preying on a mentally disabled boy.  The four stand up to the older boys and stop the attack.

Back in the present day, the four boys – now the grown men visiting the cabin – find themselves in the middle of a blizzard.  They have split up with two of the group heading back into town for supplies they forgot.  At the cabin, Jonesy has helped what he thinks is a hunter lost in the woods, bringing him inside.  On the way back from their supply run, Pete and Beaver (portrayed by Timothy Olyphant and Jason Lee) end up flipping the jeep after they see a woman sitting by the side of the road.

Meanwhile, strange things are happening in the blizzard.  The animals are out of the woods and walking past the cabin.  They all seem to have red marks on their fur, the same as the man and the woman.  A helicopter flies over and tells the men they are in an area that is now under quarantine.

What is happening slowly evolves in the story and involves a plot that seems more like the X-Files.  It involves aliens and the military, and a childhood friend who is missing from their group; the mentally handicapped boy – now a man – known to the four as “Duddits”.

The story works surprisingly well for the most part.  The acting is superb which is a big part of it.  The four main actors are all familiar while at the same time not being household names which helps them blend into the roles well.  The roles become a bit complex, particularly Lewis as Jonesy.  He handles the diversity remarkably well in a situation that could have descended into being terribly cartoonish.  Donnie Wahlberg has a small role as the adult Duddits, but does it so well that it was completely memorable.

Where the movie falters a great deal is in the military angle.  Not only is Morgan Freeman terribly miscast as the evil Colonel Curtis, but it really doesn’t feel too suspenseful.  The four have to deal with two foes, really, the military and the aliens.  However, it would seem that all along enough people are painted as being uncomfortable with his leadership that there’s no real surprise to what happens.  It shifts the focus away from the evil aliens and is more of a distraction than anything else.  I had to check and see if it actually was Freeman because it just didn’t seem like him.  The role is not suited to him.  I found him more believable as either God or the President than an evil military man.

There filming of this was done quite nicely.  There’s some beautiful scenery and cinematography, especially as the Jeep is winding its way through the wintry woods. Yes, the woods in this part of the country do look like this in a snowstorm.

The disc has some decent special features, which are a nice augmentation to the film.  There were deleted scenes that really weren’t missed from the film overall as well as some futurities on the making of the film.

While this wasn’t a terrific film, it wasn’t horrible either.  It’s a pretty middle of the road production, which is actually pretty good by Stephen King adaptation standards.  The story is hit and miss and the scenery is beautiful.  With the exception of Morgan Freeman (I can’t believe I’m saying that) the acting is good.  I’m glad I saw it once, but I don’t have any desire to repeat the viewing.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• DreamWriter – An Interview with Stephen King
• DreamMakers – A Journey Through the Production
• DreamWeavers – The Visual Effects of Dreamcatcher
• Lifted Scenes and Original Ending