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Knocking on Heaven’s Door?
Three more reviews left and the excitement is building. Today, we have a review of the script for Kevin Costner's next project Dragonfly. Apparently our resident madman, Tyler Durden, liked it. Definitely comeback tomorrow for the world exclusive script review of the Road To Perdition. You wouldn't wanna miss that.
'Dragonfly' Script Review
"There are some subjects that should never be brought up at the dinner table. Any subject that fits into that category should usually never be brought up at all. However... humans are filled with this necessity to explore the unknown and question the unexplainable. The film Dragonfly deals with the subject of the afterlife and the possibility that a lost loved one may be trying to get into contact with you. Now before you start screaming about this film just being a bit off the movies Ghost or The Sixth Sense, realize that this script deals with how people prepare and cope with death while always looking for some kind of contact with what they lost.
The Skinny -
Kevin Costner will star in the lead of this film. He plays Dr. Joe Darrow, a psychiatrist who is constantly flirting with suicide after the unexpected loss of his wife (Susanna Thompson) 8 months ago. The routine of his daily life is the only thing keeping him in check and Joe is constantly looking for things from his wife to hold on to. One day Joe gets an offer from a new hospital administrator to start counseling terminally ill kids in the pediatrics ward. The only catch for Joe is that it is the same ward that his doctor wife used to run before she died. Joe decides to work part-time in the ward even though he is conflicted inside.
While in the ward, two things of importance happen to Joe. The first is he runs into one of his wife’s old patients. Meagan is a 12-year old girl fighting a 3-year-old losing battle with leukemia and serves as a great point of inspiration and emotion throughout the film. Her young mother, Karen, also serves as a means for Joe to share his thoughts and emotions with the audience. Then Joe is lead to witness the near-death experience of 6-year-old Jeffrey Reardon and through Jeffrey becomes obsessed with the possibility that his wife is trying to contact him through the child’s brief encounter with heaven.
The rest of the film is about Joe looking for answers while constantly confronted with the realities of life through Meagan, her mother Karen, a old friend and nurse named Cathy and a few others. And just when we think Joe has hit bottom and that there are no answers to be found, the script carefully works in manipulations so that everyone in the film finds what they are looking for. I won’t say what they find or how because that would ruin the film.
The Script -
Dragonfly was written by newcomers Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. I was very impressed by their attempt to deal with what is obviously a religious issue with science. They handle the touchy subject very well and I think people from both sides of this issue will be satisfied with their resolutions. I only found one real problem with the flow of the script at about the halfway point. I did not think they gave Joe enough reinforcement to continue his search for answers. After Jeffrey Reardon, Joe receives no kind of confirmation from his work and given his emotional state, I thought he would have stopped sooner because he would be so hurt and broken by his own findings.
The other possible problem comes in filming this work. Kevin Costner will really have to walk an emotional roller coaster to convince the audience to want to follow his obsessions with him. A poor performance will doom this film, but I have high hopes for this project because I thought Costner broke his slump with 13 Days. And before I hear the obvious from you people used to hearing me rant and rave about the bad things in the script, I have to tell you that the written work is that good.
Current Affairs -
Filming for this film just wrapped in March and the finished product is expected to be released in Fall 2001. I also noticed that some rewrite work on the script has been done by David Seltzer (another newcomer) and I hope he was just lightly polished some edges. This film was directed by Tom Shadyac of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar fame. Now before I could go over the deep edge, I realized that Shadyac also helmed Patch Adams so there is some hope that this film will be good. I just hope he makes the effort to let honest emotions show on camera. One problem I had with Patch Adams is that the pain and joy seemed shiny and glossy in that film. I do not think he can afford to make the same mistake for this film. That is my take folks... high hopes and decent expectations. For you sensitive readers, make sure to bring some tissue with you as well. As for why this film is called Dragonfly, you will have to go see it to find out. While they could have gone with another title, this one kind of grew on me so enjoy.
(Review by Tyler Durden)
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
