Dreamcatcher (2003)

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant

Friends on a camping trip discover that the town they’re vacationing in is being plagued in an unusual fashion by parasitic aliens from outer space.

Uhm, no. I don’t know what it is about ‘Dreamcatcher’ but it failed to interest or excite me. I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe the narration was to blame. Maybe the director was to blame. Whatever the reason, I can’t put my finger on it.

The film has a stellar cast, good visuals, and yes, it even is atmospheric, but despite all these attributes I still didn’t like the film. Well, not that I didn’t like it; it just did nothing for my senses. It is one of those movies that made me go “oh, well, I’ve seen it but it wouldn’t have made any difference if I haven’t seen it.”

The film follows four lifelong friends – Henry, Jonesy, Beaver and Pete – going on a hunting trip and staying at a cabin in the woods. One day, Jonesy finds a guy wandering in the woods, and takes him to their cabin. The man keeps burping and farting, saying it must have been something he ate. We soon discover he is a host to a parasite alien. The scene where Jonesy and Beaver discover the alien was really good.

Unfortunately, shortly thereafter the film just got more absurd. With all the silliness that followed, it started feeling like a (bad) spoof of alien movies. Honestly, I almost stopped watching around the halfway mark.

Then there’s Col. Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman) who leads a military team that specializes in extra-terrestrials, but his whole back story and mission felt convoluted and confusing. At first he appeared to be a good guy, and then a bad guy, but his actions and motives were not clearly defined.

Speaking of which, I also didn’t fully understand the Duddits character. Instead of clarifying some of the events, he added more confusion. Was he an alien? How did he come to have abilities, and be able to give abilities to the four friends? What – or who – was he really?

If you’re into alien invasion movies, there are far better options out there. ‘Dreamcatcher’ is a ‘no’ for me.

Judging by the box office takings, I’m not the only one who didn’t enjoy the movie all that much. It only managed to earn $75 million on a budget of nearly $70 million. In general, the film also received mixed to negative ratings from critics and audiences alike.

Would I watch it again? No.