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Dragonfly
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Kevin Costner, Susanna Thompson,
Kathy Bates, Joe Morton, Linda Hunt |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Universal Pictures |
| Web Site: |
www.dragonflymovie.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Nah. Leave
them at home. |
| Date Movie: |
She might get a
little scared and grab your arm. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
One kinda sensual
scene, but nothing bad, other than some jungle tribe women
with their breasts exposed - kinda like National Geographic. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Nah. |
| Action: |
Nah. |
| Laughs: |
Only as it got
dumb. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
None. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
None. |
| Directed By: |
Tom Shadyac |
| Produced By: |
Mark Johnson, Tom
Shadyac, Roger Birnbaum |
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Dragonfly
A Movie Review |
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Dear Movie Promotion People,
Please stop telling me in your ads that this movie "has a surprise
ending" that you shouldn’t tell anyone, it will astound you, it will
make you inspired, or some other crap like that. You want to know why?
Because then I, the person who sees a few too many movies, will be
able to ruin the surprise ending myself because of the obvious
foreshadowing that most likely will be in the film.Sincerely,
The Dude on the Right
I try sometimes not to pay attention to the foreshadowing in a
movie, but when you tell me there is a surprise ending, it just makes
it so much easier to find it. Such was my case with "Dragonfly."
"Dragonfly" gives us Kevin Costner in another role where we wonder
what might have possessed him to take the role. It’s not that it’s a
bad role, it’s just that it is a role that doesn’t fit him, nor his
acting ability. For this one he is a doctor, Dr. Joe Darrow to be
specific, and his wife apparently dies in an avalanche accident in
Venezuela. He’s having a pretty hard time with her death, especially
with his atheistic ways and the fact that they didn’t find the body,
but then things start happening. First we find the connection between
Emily (Susanna Thompson), his wife, and the whole dragonfly thing. Now
the good doctor has a dragonfly paperweight mysteriously role around
in the bedroom, little kids in the hospital cancer ward have messages
from Emily to Joe telling him to meet her at the rainbow, only where
is this mystical rainbow? Then his parrot goes berserk, the little
kids have been making drawings, and yes, eventually the Doc figures
out where he should go. I could just go ahead and give the ending
away, but I’ll let you go to the movie and see if you can figure it
out before it happens just like I was able to do.
The problem with "Dragonfly" isn’t that it is a bad movie, I think
it’s just that it tries too hard to push this message of Doctor Joe
getting a message from beyond. Other movies have done it subtly, with
great success, and the messages from the little kids when they have
their near-death experiences is fine, but when the scene comes where
Joe starts to pack away Emily’s stuff, then gets distracted by strange
noises in the house, then comes back to the room and all of her stuff
is back in its original place, it just took the movie to the wrong
level and totally tosses out any credibility the movie was trying to
have. And that’s too bad.
"Dragonfly" does have some potential, and the ending is touching,
but I saw it coming a mile away. Costner does his best to pull of the
role, but as the movie became more of a joke than something I could
take seriously, well, it was almost too bad his performance was
wasted, as well as that of Kathy Bates as his lawyer/neighbor, trying
to help Joe through his wife’s death. The movie went for cheap
"shock-factor" things, like the little boy, dead on the table,
suddenly opening his eyes, and it really didn’t need to because the
story was already there.
In the end I’ll give "Dragonfly" 2 ½ stars out of 5. Catch a
matinee, or wait for the video, but just don’t expect too much.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
