DREAMSCAPE (1984)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Some movies rush by on mere adrenaline, cramming in as much as they can to sustain interest. "Dreamscape" is an unusual thrill ride in that it wants to throw everything at us...including the kitchen sink. It is sort of fun and sort of works on the level of an original sci-fi adventure and a slight love story thrown in to boot but, by the end, the overall effect of the plot is a tad underwhelming.
Psychics with the ability to enter other people's dreams is a surefire concept and it has the perfect actor to make us think he can do it, Dennis Quaid. Quaid is Alex Gardner, a gifted young man who uses his psychic abilities at the racetrack and, unsurprisingly, always picks the winner. He also charms the ladies though I imagine his elvish grin and ingratiating charm would work without his otherworldly talents, but what do I know. While he's dealing with anxious bookies aware of his top-notch ability to pick the winning horse, Alex escapes and winds up being escorted by two men to an academic facility. Alex reunites with Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow), who has been researching dreams where someone can psychically enter another person's dreams - both participants have to be sleeping and linked by computer and lots of wires. Alex ran away from the institution when he was 19 yet the doctor insists that the willful Alex work with him in this "government-funded" project.
Other than the dreams and nightmares themselves (some are more vivid and frightening than others; the sex dream where one impotent participant sees his wife in relations with his brother is not even good for a laugh), the main plot deals with the President of the U.S. (Eddie Albert) who has nightmares about a nuclear holocaust and wants to get rid of nukes in some sort of treaty with the Soviet Union. Enter Christopher Plummer as some mysterious, powerful government agent who has taken over this dream project for clearly evil purposes. If someone can enter another person's dream, maybe they can kill that person...for real! I guess scientific research always becomes part of a dastardly government plan, especially when the President has no interest in war.
"Dreamscape" is full-throttle fun but it does pack in too many characters and situations, leaving some moral questions about this research to the winds. If killing someone in a dream is morally wrong (especially if it results in actual death) then why does Alex decide it is okay to kill another person, regardless if they are evil? (Starlog magazine columnist/author David Gerrold, way back when, also asked this same question, and it definitely rings with discomfort when you think about it).
Kate Capshaw is also in this film as a researcher who clearly falls for Alex though she resists at first - I would have liked more of a relationship shown between them. But then there is the inclusion of a Stephen King-type horror writer (George Wendt) who knows he's in over his head and is dispatched of rather quickly. There is also Alex's competition at the clinic, a clearly insane, Bruce-Lee loving psychic (David Patrick Kelly) who killed his own father - geez, why keep this guy at the clinic other than Plummer wanting to utilize his lust for murder. For a far too brief 95-minute run time, expansion on some of these characters and their motivations would've resulted in a more thoughtful film.
"Dreamscape" will entertain no doubt with its fast pace and some pretty wild special effects. In addition, Quaid and Capshaw are a winsome pair, Max von Sydow provides warmth, David Patrick Kelly plays his most villainous role since "The Warriors," and Christopher Plummer is wickedly charming in his own way (He has a line where he says to Eddie Albert's President: "You can't touch me." I just wonder how powerful is this guy; Illuminati member?) The movie is still immoderately plotted and doesn't take any real breathers - "Dreamscape" has anxiety written all over it. The mantra seems to be, "Hey, get on with it," whereas I say, "Hey, slow down a little."
