I
really enjoyed The Sixth Sense, but am quite tired of all the pale imitators.
Dragonfly is just such an also ran.
In
Dragonfly, Kevin Costner plays Dr. Joe Darrow, a man mourning the death of his
wife. It seems, however, that the late Mrs. Darrow is reaching for Joe from beyond
the grave via strange occurrences involving child patients at the hospital, and
a mysterious shape that resembles a dragonfly. Is Joe crazy, or are these visions
he is experiencing, real. I'm not about to tell you. but I will say that the journey
to the answer isn't nearly as intriguing as it thinks it is.
Dragonfly
was directed by Tom Shadyac, a film maker known for spastic Jim Carrey vehicles.
He seems out of his element here. While the Zucker Brothers (Airplane, The Naked
Gun) enjoyed success with Ghost, Shadyac has no such luck. Dragonfly comes across
as tedious rather than interesting.
A
big problem here is Kevin Costner. No offense, but could this guy be any more
dull? Back in the day, Costner's strongest attribute seemed to be the ability
to pick good projects. With terrific films like The Untouchables and Field of
Dreams, Costner became a major power player despite his lack luster performances.
That's because those films were about collaboration. It seems as of late, this
guy wants to control the show even when he's not directing and it really comes
across in his work. That's not to say Costner is horrible in every film. He does,
however, come across as one note. In Dragonfly, the audience must be willing to
follow Darrow on his journey. Unfortunately, Costner isn't convincing so the movie
seems silly instead of captivating.
Shadyac's
attempt at haunting cinema is a major misfire. He tries to build tension by subjecting
the audience to strange phenomena, but none of it ever amounts to anything, despite
an interesting and slightly unexpected ending.
Dragonfly
deals with themes of love, loss and death, but it's lack of dramatic scope keep
it from reaching it's goal. Instead, the movie tries to weird the audience out.
It fails on that level as well.
