Dreamcatcher (2003) - An enjoyable sci-fi/horror mish-mash

You never know what you're going to get from a Stephen King book-to-film adaptation. Normally, you find yourself watching something that looks like it should be on a lesser-known cable TV station starring actors less famous than your gran.

Then you get the occasional gem ('IT, Pet Sematery' and 'The Mist' are my favourites of recent times). However, even those are pretty low budget. I can't think of any Stephen King film that has been given much money to play with. Then came 'Dreamcatcher.' Not only does it star Morgan Freeman (possibly the most famous actor to grace a King film in a long time), but also there are some pretty damn fine special effects to go with it.

Now, as everyone knows, special effects do not a movie make ('Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen', I'm looking at you), so, luckily, the supporting cast play their parts well.  Before Damien Lewis shot to fame in TV's 'Homeland' he starred as the ginger nerd in a group of friends who go on a mountain retreat, only to get involved with a bunch of dangers - alien and human alike.  He seems perfectly capable of sporting his soon-to-be 'normal' American accent, but does have the luxury of dipping back into his native British slant (even if it is a little on the exaggerated/comical side!).  You also have Thomas Jane, playing that 'stoic-hero' character he soon became famous for and Jason Lee, who's a bit underused for what he's capable of and here, mainly just chews on toothpick in terms of character traits.

'Dreamcatcher' is mainly about aliens, or the `underused baddies of our generation' as I call them. Normally, they only pop up on the sci-fi channel, or on some mega-budget 'Independence Day' style blockbuster. Then again, perhaps I should say that it's MAINLY about aliens. 'Dreamcatcher's' main problem is that it doesn't pick a direction and go with it. Instead it tries to go in every direction and sort of falls short on all counts. Not that the film wasn't fun. I enjoyed it. Many films go on too long and are dragged out. However, this one probably needs more story to it. I could see it working better as a TV series where each idea is given more time to develop it. Apart from aliens, there's psychic powers, alternate states of existence, childhood flashbacks back to Maine (hey, it is a Stephen King film, after all!) and a few more besides.

Like I say, overall it's fun, but could either have done with having a few plot-lines taken out to streamline it, or expand on everything and make it longer.  At least it tells us one valuable life lesson: Never help a stranger in the woods who breaks wind too often for your liking.  Oh, and the 'nod' to everyone's favourite alien ass-kicker 'Ripley' was always a welcome addition for us fans of the genre!

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that