SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Steineded How sad is this?

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Uriah43 This was a movie that managed to keep my complete attention for at least the first 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately, it seemed like the director (Tom Shadyac) kept trying to artificially maintain the suspense by returning to the same type of scenario on more than one occasion. And it started to get old fast. For example, one child has a near-death experience and recounts to "Joe Darrow" (Kevin Costner) that his deceased wife ""Emily Darrow" (Susanna Thompson) has a message for him. Not long afterward another child also has a near-death experience and says the same thing. Likewise, both children are drawing misshapen crosses. Even Joe Darrow's pet parrot gets into the act. And we see the same images (dragonflies, crosses, etc.) again and again. Now, don't get me wrong, I liked this film overall. But there is such a thing as going to the well one too many times. And that's what happens in this case.

Spikeopath Dragonfly is directed by Tom Shadyac who also co-writes the screenplay with Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. It stars Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Ron Rifkin, Joe Morton and Linda Hunt. Music is scored by John Debney and cinematography by Dean Semler. Plot finds Costner as a grieving doctor who starts to believe he is being contacted by his late wife through patients near death experiences."She was my ultimate partner, my best friend and lover. And I miss her beyond belief. I also know I'm never gonna see her again, not ever. And I'm just beginning to understand what that means so intensely that I sometimes wish I didn't have to wake up anymore. And the last thing I need is someone telling me what to feel, or how to feel."It was badly marketed as a supernatural horror during the publicity prior to its theatrical release, and even now certain DVD covers lend the unsuspecting to thinking it's a nerve jangling experience. That it failed to resonate with critics and many film fans is not surprising, they either didn't get the spook fest they expected, or they simply had no time for a picture high on sentiment. And, without doubt, there are those who simply dislike Costner to the point that even when his peers were lauding him, they were throwing the poisonous darts. Does this mean they are all wrong and Dragonfly is a great picture? No, not at all, it has problems for sure, but really it could only ever appeal to one corner of the film loving market.Dragonfly is a meditation on grief, where structured as it is, it opens the possibility of something past death offering advice and hope. This of course brings in much sentimentality as the makers hit the viewer with a sledgehammer, reference gravely ill children, young suicides and Costner's grieving. But what's wrong with sentimentality anyway? True, they go too far in the final quarter here where an underwater sequence is as trite as it gets, but some folk want to be manipulated into a teary eyed state, or they want to believe as Fox Mulder does. It's also worth mentioning that this isn't loaded as statement to say "there is" something after death, that the white light thing waits for us all, because it is disputed during a dinner conversation that puts up a valid argument against the near death experience.Always interesting in themes and played deftly by Costner (who always does great brooding and inner turmoil) and Bates, this is a film worthy of inspection by seekers of the heart tug. Suffice to say, the horror faithful and those that hate the treacle treatment should stay away. 7/10

pc95 There's a lot of buildup in "Dragonfly" starring Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, and Susanna Thompson. On the whole too much buildup likely. The movie is depending on the viewer's lack of smarts not to catch some not so subtle hints. It keeps on pounding us over the head with inane "clues" and a baffled Kevin Costner who becomes kind of obsessed. Is the movie good? Not really. It has an ending which stretches too much, (spoiler) and the paranormal gags seem to be something akin to parlor tricks more or less. The whipped together ending (read epilogue) was way too hasty with trite narration thrown in for good measure, even though the buildup remained somewhat interesting for the first 3rd. Additionally the music is plainly unoriginal and awful, totally by the numbers. So not really recommended but you could do worse.

dbdumonteil Unfairly dismissed as cheesy,"dragonfly" is an endearing movie.Kevin Costner is perhaps not a great actor as some people understand it (thespians such as De Niro,Day-Lewis ,Nicholson or Penn).But in "dragonfly" he avoids pathos and gives a restrained performance,not devoid of emotion,which comes straight from the heart.He's given strong effective support by Kathy Bates ,whose character represents the common sense,rationalism,which is some kind of paradox since Costner portrays a physician,so par excellence a scientist,whereas she is a law professor .There are weaknesses,and the way the hero discovers the "ark" is rather far-fetched ,but the ending is smarter than you may think,and the little black boy in the hospital is really cute .The subject of the "tunnel" is straight out of the ark,but the treatment it's given is not that bad after all.