We watched Dreamcatcher last night. Was it worth the entry fee? Well, unsurprisingly, not really. But it was okay.
The main criticism going around seems to be, if you’ve not read the book, it might be awfully confusing due to how various elements are condensed. This is largely true: the ‘memory warehouse’ idea, for instance, doesn’t play as important a role here as in the book—in fact, it seems like merely a gimmick—so it probably should’ve been left out completely… and the way in which the gang of four’s history with Duddits is skimmed over quickly lessens his significance overall.
But the biggest problem is the second half, especially the last 30 minutes. The first half is pretty faithful to the book; the rest is much more rushed and condensed. The marathon chase across, it seemed in the book, half of the country, plays like a quick cruise around the block. All tension is lost. Which is ironic: King’s build-up and finale were amongst his most cimenatic moments, and would have played brilliantly on screen (better than on the printed page, really) if handled correctly. Then there’s the ending itself; another lame excuse to insert a CGI battle between two BEMs. The original ending was closer to the book, but provided no opportunity for visual spectacle, hence it was scrapped.
Still, it has a few nice things in it. The disgusting bathroom scene is handled superbly. Morgan Freeman is typically great, though not really given enough opportunity to shine. The photography is wonderful and the FX do their job. Ultimately: worth watching if you’re at a loose end.
I’ve seen the film trailer and it looked a bit confused – made me almost want to go see it just to find out what’s going on.
Stephen King books are a bit weird. Sometimes he produces classics, like The Stand and The Shining. Then he’ll role out some utter rubbish, I was completely put off his books by when he delved into Fiction/Fantasy. Then I read the Gunslinger and haven’t touched Stephen King since.
But horror is his forte,,, I had to stop reading Pet Cemetary – the grit in the voices and under the nails,,, just freaked me out. The whole subject was just too disturbing for me, perhpas I will revisit this one.
You gave up after reading the first and weakest of the Dark Tower books (though the revised version is a lot better). The rest of the series is brilliant.
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