The Dead Zone - I must have watched a different film

Christopher Walken - check.  Stephen King - check.  Spooky/creepy horror films - check.  These are all pretty much lynchpins of my film collection, so you'd probably think that Stephen King's 'The Dead Zone' would fit in there perfectly.  I wish it did.  Before writing this review I took the time to read (the numerous!) five star reviews, all proclaiming it as a supernatural story that's up there with 'The Shining' and 'Salam's Lot.' Again, I enjoyed both of those, but I can't in all honesty recommend 'The Dead Zone' alongside those.

Christopher Walken plays a school teacher who gets into a car accident, leaving in a coma for five years.  However, when he wakes up, once he's got over the fact that his girlfriend has left him, he finds he's blessed with the ability to see people's futures just by touching them.  Maybe it's because we're so used to seeing those with 'mutant' abilities jumping into a spandex costume and flying round New York fighting aliens that 'The Dead Zone' feels so muted.  Yes, I know it's not meant to be an all out action epic and Walken's portrayal of a man coming to terms with the role he's been forced to take on post-coma is deliberately understated.

It's not the plot or the lack of budget that didn't appeal to me.  I think the main thing was the dialogue.  Considering it was adapted from a Stephen King story and then - presumably - rewritten by one Hollywood screenwriter or another, you'd think it would have a better script.  However, even with an actor as talented as Walken in the lead, the dialogue seems basic, clunky and very badly-written.

Again, I don't know if it's just me, but if the film has a real 'low point,' it's Walken's on-screen love/former love-interest (Brooke Adams) who seems to never be able to make up her mind as to whether she should be with him (despite now being married and with child), or stick with her current relationship.  These emotions seem to bounce back and forth from scene to scene and she comes across as one hell of a flake-ish character.  Tom Skerritt is also on the bill, but I found him a bit underused, whereas the film’s primary villain (Martin Sheen) gets more screen time, only to use it as a typically clichéd villainous and corrupt senator.

I didn't hate-hate 'The Dead Zone' - it was okay enough.  I just certainly don't see what so many have obviously seen in it.  I found it slowly-paced, clunky-scripted and not worthy of the talent involved.  However, I will agree with what many people have said about it - that it's a 'tragic tale.' It's not exactly a 'feel-good' movie and if you're looking for something to cheer you up, you certainly won't find it here!  Maybe I should have been in a more cheerful mood before I sat down to watch it?  Still, the ending was pretty good/different though.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back