Product: The Dead Zone [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 5.0
emotionally rewarding film
The Dead Zone is a film that is nearly flawless. Based on a Stephen King novel, this film stands out with Delores Claiborne and The Shining as my three personal favorites. It contains solid, convincing acting from all the main characters, a plot that keeps the viewer involved from start to finish, and a number of individual scenes that are remarkable, if not heartbreaking.The movie is about a teacher, Johnny Smith (played by Christopher Walken) who is involved in a near-fatal car wreck that leaves him in a coma for five years. After he wakes up, he learns that his fiancee left him for another man, he's lost his job, and most importantly, he's gained the power of second sight: the ability to see the future by touching people.As Johnny tries to deal with his anger and loss over his past (all illustrated beautifully through the cinematography, the acting, and the directing) he also deals with the reality of his newfound power, which has become publicized. Johnny, feeling isolated by life and alone, wants no part of the celebrity, living a life of a hermit.In a variety of scenes throughout the film, the viewer sees Johnny's power change the lives of the people he makes contact with, (and subsequently, the lives of people he's never seen before). The manner in which these scenes are presented, (so deftly and without contrivance)left me feeling a variety of emotions (sadness, happiness, hope, suspense, and most of all, tenderness). These feelings resonated for me and because of that, the film is at no one particular point boring. One small scene represents the first of Johnny's visions just after he awakens from his coma. A nurse reaches over Johnny's bed as he sleeps, he suddenly grasps her hand and sees her little daughter trapped in a fire in their home. He urges the mother that it's not too late. The next scene is of the daughter being given to her mother by a fireman as the house burns to the ground. This particular scene lasts about 25 seconds, but foreshadows the tender and often heartbreaking scenes to follow.The acting can't be overlooked. Walken delivers a believable performance of a depressed, scared, wounded man experiencing major life changes at an unflagging pace. The other actors, (Martin Sheen, as a presidential candidate with two sides to his personality, Brooke Adams, as Johnny's fiancee prior to the car accident, and Tom Skerritt as a police officer who supplicates Johnny to use his power for a greater good) are all convincing and powerfully delivered (though Sheen is at times, over-the-top). Walken and Adams develop a chemistry that, though they are no longer "together" makes the audience want them to be.The Dead Zone is an understated, quietly tender, yet powerful movie that can be emotionally rewarding if the viewer gives it a chance. Definitely one of the better Stephen King adaptations, if not the best.