Product: The Dead Zone [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 5.0
You will love this movie. I can feel it.
A novel as powerful as "The Dead Zone" requires a powerful cast to make it on the screen. And with the clever combination of Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Tom Skerrit and several other notables, this movie proves to be perhaps the best film adaptation of a Stephen King work.It begins with a spellbinding story. When Stephen King has a great idea, he does not squander it. Many writers have tackled the concept of precognition, but few have done is so masterfully. "The Dead Zone" is full of thrills, mayhem and wow moments while King is still getting warmed up.When Johnny Smith wakes up from a five year coma, he is endowed with the gift of second sight. By touching another person or a simple item, he is treated to the vision of a future event. The sky is the limit with such a concept, and King does not leave any piece of that sky unexplored.The John Smith character is supremely likeable and sympathetic. Walken is not the first person to come to mind. But he handles the role beautifully, and he immediately becomes the sad and ponderous character King invented in the novel.Before the midway point of the movie, Johnny is saving people from house fires, reuniting a mother and son, and steering youngsters away from a horrible skating accident that has not happened yet. The movie goer has his money's worth before this flick is half done. Each character is vivid and dynamic, particularly those of Smith and a certain politician named Greg Stinson, played to precise evil by Sheen.The second half of the movie is no less exciting but profoundly more significant as the story unfolds. Tampering with the future is an endeavor fraught with peril, as any fan of physics can tell you. Johnny is confronted by such a challenge, forced to choose between accepting the fate of the world or embracing his gift and using it to change the future. There is a serial killer to sniff out, and even that is not as vital as his next step, which involves a truly demented man who will one day be president.The finally act can be summarized by the question: "If you could go back and time, knowing what you know about Adolph [...], would you kill him?"This is one of those rare movies that compliments the novel that came before it. If you've read the book, rush out and watch the movie. If you haven't read the book, you need to take a week off to fit them both in.