The Dead Zone

Stephen King is really all over the place. One minute he writes about killer clowns, then he's writing about killer laundry machines, then he writes half way decent premises like this one. This might be the closest performance from Christopher Walken that I feel was actually sincere. I know this was early in his career probably before he became a running joke, but it was strange seeing Walken in this role that I was supposed to be taking seriously.

The Dead Zone follows the story of an English teacher named Johnny Smith (Played by Walken). Despite him having the most generic name that reminded me of Tommy Wiseaus character in The Room, Johnny is your pretty typical nerdy teacher. The only thing we really learn about him in the beginning is that he is dating a woman named Sarah (played by Brooke Adams).

But after a horrible car accident, Johnny ends up in a coma that lasts 5 years. When he wakes up Sarah has moved on, got married, and had a child with another man.

But more importantly, Johnny finds that he has psychic abilities and can see events as they occurred even when he wasn't there. He does this by grabbing the hand of the people he runs across. He sees how they might die or if they do something horrible.

The strange thing about this movie is that Johnny doesn't really want these powers at all. He's so heartbroken over his girlfriend leaving him and marrying another man that he really just wants to retreat to seclusion and be left alone. But his psychic abilities don't exactly go under the radar and the entire town of Castle Rock (Maine of all places) knows that Johnny has this power and many people want his help, including Sheriff Bannerman (played by Tom Skerritt).

Bannerman recruits Johnny for a short time to help him solve murders with his psychic abilities. I wish that that was the entire movie but really that only goes for a short while then he moves out of Castle Rock and other things happen and all the while his girlfriend is being a little bit of a tease and there's obviously still feelings there and overall the movie is a little bit of a mess.

I will say this about the film, the cast is actually pretty good. I thought everyone contributed to the film pretty well and everyone performed pretty well. For a film that probably didn't have much of a budget and one that was kind of all over the place, the actors performed it pretty well and I was invested in the story.

Oddly enough this is probably the best performance I've seen from Christopher Walken. The only other performance that has been this sincere was the one he gave in Catch Me If You Can and even that is used for jokes every once in a while, especially his line about the 2 little mice in a bucket of cream. But here, while I don't think he's the only person who could have played this role, I thought he actually did a pretty good job. Something about his face and his acting really worked in this film and it didn't feel like a joke or something anybody could really make fun of. Yeah he delivers lines in his typical Walken way, but I'm only aware of that after years of silly Christopher Walken performances and gags.

Then you've got the supporting cast. I thought Brooke Adams did an okay job playing Johnny's girlfriend Sarah. The character is really kind of all over the place and really only exists to provide some drama for Johnny as a character. She's not particularly well written but again the actors in this movie carry out a good performance despite that, and Adams does as well.

I wish Tom Skerritt had had a bigger role in the film. If this had been a TV show (which I think it was eventually made into one) it would have been Walken and Skerritt going off and solving mysteries and that would have been amazing. I haven't seen the TV show but I know it didn't have those two and that makes me sad.

Something about Tom Skerritt and his performances really make you like him. I don't know if it's his mustache or what but I haven't seen a lot of Tom Skerritt movies and I still get excited whenever I see his name on top billing.

Again, he's not in the film for long. I think Anthony Zerbe playing a wealthy man who hires Johnny to be his son's tutor actually gets more screen time than Skerritt. He does a good job, I just wish Skerritt was in it more... personal preference.

And then there's Martin Sheen playing Greg Stillson.

So Martin Sheen has played a lot of good guys, including a very good politician and President, Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing. You sometimes forget that he actually has the ability to play very evil characters and it's movies like this that remind you. Sheen is pretty young in this movie (43) and he plays a slimy corrupt politician running for senate in hopes to one day become the President of the United States.

I won't give away the true role he plays in the film and how he relates to Johnny but he was probably the most fun character in the movie. Probably the only thing that holds the performances in this movie back is the reputation these actors had later on in their career. For example, Christopher Walken gives a pretty sincere performance in this movie but because of his reputation later in life, it took a while for me to take him seriously. Same thing goes for Sheen in that he's supposed to be playing this corrupt politician but all I can see him as is the good hearted politician in Josiah Bartlet from The West Wing. And Tom Skerritt... well he's Tom Skerritt. 

But the main problem I have with this film is the plot. You've got a guy who has psychic abilities. The biggest problem I had coming into this movie was asking the question, "And?"

I don't know how much of it was following the source material because I haven't read the book, but the movie seems all over the place. First its Johnny solving mysteries with Tom Skerritt. Then it's him trying to avoid using his powers and being a tutor for a kid, then it's everything that happens with Martin Sheen's character. But then you have the ongoing thread of Johnny and Sarah and their weird infidelity after she's married.

I feel like I would have really enjoyed this movie if it had a more traditional set plot. Instead this feels like the premiere, the mid season, and finale of a miniseries all crammed into a two hour movie. Maybe I need to check out the TV show, I mean it did run for six seasons. That isn't a bad run.

Overall, The Dead Zone provides an interesting premise and some surprisingly good performances from unexpected places. However, the plot of the show is pretty jumbled and not exactly clear. The movie does not flow as much as it should and at times it can be a little bit boring, so much that I actually fell asleep multiple times during this film and had to rewind to see what I missed. It's not a bad movie, but it's just a mess.

But have you seen The Dead Zone? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I'm not sure how Fat Boy Slim got Christopher Walken to be the center of their music video back in 2003 but I remember this when it came out and it just kind of pushed the whole, Christopher Walken is a little bit of a weirdo isn't he? Enjoy!