ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Here's a movie with a great concept and a strong cast.

However, when I first saw it I was a bit disappointed in the way it was handled. I think part of the problem was that the kind of eye-popping special effects the premise needed were just not possible in 1984.

After all, in the "dream world" absolutely anything can happen, and we certainly saw spectacular examples of what this movie needed in films like Inception and Doctor Strange.

Yes, I know that it's unrealistic to expect FX like those CGI images in a 1984 movie. But sometimes a movie fails because it unwisely attempts to present an idea that simple can't be done in a satisfying way. And I'm just not able (or willing) to just excuse a movie's short comings by saying, "Well, they did the best they could."

In other words, if it can't be done right . . . do something else that will work.

But I will admit that Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw where very good, and David Patrick Kelly convinced me he was a dangerous lunatic and "your worst nightmare" . . . in a very literal sense!







All things considered, the movie is enjoyable despite its flaws. Maybe they'll remake it and give it the treatment it deserves.

_______________ Dreamscape (1984) - trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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An innovative sci-fi thriller, if a bit outdated by today's standards. The main premise has to do with entering another person's dream and interacting with that person in the dream, affecting the dream if you have to. The film also combines this with political thriller aspects and though this stuff is on the simplistic side, it does blend well together, against the odds.



The main character is Alex (Quaid), a genius-level but immature young man who has squandered his psychic talent (telepathy, even some telekinesis, though he never shows this off) on activities like betting at the horse races. He's drawn back into some interesting experiments by his former mentor (Von Sydow), who has developed a process by which telepathic people can enter the dreams of voluntary patients. Unfortunately, the project is actually overseen by a sinister government man (Plummer), head of a covert organization of "guys which even the CIA are afraid of" (the one who states this is a writer played by George Wendt, patterned on guys like Stephen King; his research into all this does not end well for him).

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Kate Capshaw plays Von Sydow's assistant; she and Quaid's Alex quickly develop a mutual attraction, though she resists this. There is an opportunity here for very erotic moments as the two interact in a dream world, but it stays rather mild (a slightly more risque version exists in foreign editions of the film).

Eddie Albert is the President; he has nightmares about a nuclear holocaust. These and other scenes in a dreamworld were very effective back in the eighties and some of them still hold up very well, especially the nightmarish, surreal sequence during a journey through a young boy's nightmare. All the scenes in a post-holocaust landscape still carry some resonance; and even the lighter scenes, like one at the top of a skyscraper, involving a fear of falling, still work well.

David Patrick Kelly, always playing a psychotic and/or scumbag during this decade-long period, plays one here - the dark version of Alex.

Some of the political elements in the film are now somewhat amusing, as we have the luxury of looking back from 25 years later. The film first came out in the middle of the Reagan era; Albert plays a more liberal version of Reagan and a much more guilt-ridden one, a more acceptable version of the tougher real-life person to those on the left. In the eighties, most on the left feared that Reagan would thrust the world into a nuclear war with his policies (we all know now how the eighties ended).



This perceived dark side of the Reagan administration is represented by Plummer's government man, a far right extremist who cannot abide a possible nuclear disarmament approach. He is the evil, while a liberal version of Reagan becomes the good. The thriller aspects do work, however. If a 'shadow ops' government needed the perfect assassins, this 'entering dreams' technique would be the best way to go; this makes perfect sense within the context of the film's plot.

Personally, I would designate Dreamscape a B+ picture (just my own label) — not in terms of quality but as compared to a 'B' picture or an A picture. Quaid & Capshaw were the brand new (if untested) stars of the time - Quaid coming off of The Right Stuff (1983) and Capshaw from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

In many ways, this is an ideal ensemble cast. It was sort of a casting coup in getting Plummer, Von Sydow and Albert for their key roles. They probably had bigger careers in the seventies but were still potent. Combine all that with the character actors here, like Kelly, and this is what probably makes the film above average and pretty memorable.

BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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The beautiful version shown below has only been on YouTube for a month, so please download it before it's gone!

I did, and it looks GREAT!

_____________________ Dreamscape (1984)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

I like the movie and I think that the SPFX fit the movie. They are suppose to look off and under detailed, as if it was a dream world where only the basic detail is supplied by the mind.

I also liked how he could only offer support, and the troubled person is the one to defeat their demons.

Some criticized the snakeman design, but it was coming from the mind of a child, and it is the kids idea of a snakeman.

David.

[Gord Green]

Bud, maybe this would be a good candidate for the movie chat?
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

[Maurice]

I met Peter Kuran of V.C..E. Inc. (his company did the effects for the film and his name is in the opening credits) at a Visual Effects Society BBQ some years ago and he kinda cringed when I mentioned this movie. I gather it was not his favorite project to work on.
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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Originally the producers wanted Maurice Jarre to write the music for the film orchestrally, but Jarre insisted on scoring the film electronically because he felt that it was the right approach for the material and also sets the tone of the film.

Note from me: I wish the producers had won this debate with Jarre, because an orchestral score would have been better.

~ Dennis Quaid was the first and only choice for Alex Gardner, after the producers loved his dedication for the role and the project during its pre-production stage.

Note from me: Mr. Quaid is a little like Bill Paxton. Neither of them are great actors, but they're both very likable in every role they played.

~ Kevin Costner was offered the role of Tommy Ray Glatman but turned it down because he did not want to play a supporting role.

Note from me: Nope, uh-uh, that wouldn't have worked. Costner is like Gary Cooper: so damn sincere that we believe in his character's motivations, even when his performance is very low-key. But if he played a crazed killer, the audience wouldn't have bought it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)