Dragonfly Review
by E. Benjamin Kelsey (LooseSkrue AT aol DOT com)March 5th, 2002
DRAGONFLY
(PG-13)
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Running Time: 105 minutes
Release Date: February 15, 2002
* * ½ (out of four)
Reviewed by E. Benjamin Kelsey
DRAGONFLY is a film that flitters halfheartedly from beginning to eventual end like an insect that singed off half a wing in a near-death-experience with a bug zapper. Coincidentally, it is near-death-experiences, and beyond-the-grave communications in general for that matter, that make this film a cross between GHOST and a more haunting thriller, such as THE SIXTH SENSE. It's a mood that, in hindsight, seems extremely off-kilter from the actual story at hand, but one without which the movie could not have existed, at least not without becoming 100% verifiably boring.
Ever somber Kevin Costner stars as Joe Darrow, an emergency room doctor whose marriage is bliss. If it weren't for the fact that Joe is much too pragmatic to believe in such ideas, you'd have no problem getting him to claim Emily, played by Susanna Thompson, as his very own soulmate. It's a match made in heaven, or so we're lead to believe via nominal flashbacks and a one-minute consolation session with some friends at a bar. Other than that, the audience is left to their own romantic devices to conjure up the spirit of true love that is undoubtedly meant to serve the viewer a hefty dose of emotional interest in this film.
Also a doctor, Emily has a paradigm selflessness that sends her thousands of miles from her hospital's pediatric oncological ward and beloved husband to the perilous conditions of Venezuela, eager to offer any help and hope that she can. During her time in Venezuela, a bus ride and concurrent rainstorm send Emily and all fellow passengers to an untimely demise in the bottom of a raging river. Six months later, Joe has submerged himself into a workaholic frenzy, desperate to avoid the looming lack of closure he feels since his wife's body was never recovered.
When Joe's frustrations begin to manifest themselves in brash decisions and a "to hell with you" attitude, he is requested by his superior (Joe Morton) to take a sabbatical. Desperate to hang around, Joe finally decides to make good on his promise of looking after Emily's patients in the oncological ward. Most have been released, by death or otherwise, but Joe finds himself an increasingly fervent visitor when some of the kids claim Emily spoke to them while they were flatlined. What's more, Emily supposedly left the children with near-identical messages meant for Joe - messages unfortunately (and expectedly) too cryptic for him to decipher with ease.
From here on, the film offers little aside from a decent eeriness and occasionally bright scriptwriting as Joe turmoils over what Emily is trying to say with her myriad manifestations, or if he isn't just plain going batty as most everyone else thinks. With an ending that almost redeems the entire film, both in terms of satisfaction and surprise, DRAGONFLY almost becomes worth the trip. It's easy to ask why Emily couldn't just tell the kids flat-out what she wanted of Joe, or even why she couldn't just write Joe a note and leave it on the fridge considering her other crossworldly communication abilities, but again, that doesn't make for a good movie.
DRAGONFLY also fritters away so much of its material that abandoning several sidesteps and allowing a brisker pace to be taken would have helped immensely. On the other hand, by imploring many of these elements more fully, but with a heightened subtlety and gradual-yet-consistent unraveling of information, the film could have eliminated some major dead time (no pun intended) without sinking below the 90-minute mark. DRAGONFLY instead chooses to hover somewhere -- a less interesting somewhere -- in-between.
03/01/2002
Copyright 2002 E. Benjamin Kelsey
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
