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Poster (c) Universal Studios
There’s another addition to my list of “critically panned movies that I found quite good.” Some include John Q. and Blood Work. Dragonfly is a slow but never boring supernatural tale of true love (what else?), directed by Bruce Almighty’s Tom Shadyac. This is his first non-comedic work, and it really works, but I’ll get to that later.
Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) is an ER doctor whose wife recently died in Venezuela. A promise that he made to her was to look after kids in the hospital, since she was a nurse there. A few of the kids there who had near-death experiences tell him that his wife was trying to reach him, and, lo and behold, he sees a few things that may say that she either isn’t dead or is trying to reach and contact him. Could it be, or is Joe just delusional after losing his wife?
This is one of the more effective dramas I have seen for a long time. Not only does it work as a romantic drama, but there was also a good deal of mystery and suspense. Is Joe really seeing images, et al, of his dead wife, or isn’t he? Most movies can’t really juggle more than one or two genres, but Dragonfly has drama, romance, thriller, sci-fi, and mystery all rolled into one.
I never thought I would say this, but Kevin Costner delivers a very good performance. He portrays love for his wife, and distress when she’s gone, and balanced the two very well. Kathy Bates, in her small roll as Joe’s neighbor, is underused, but with what she had, she did well. Bates is one of the most underrated actresses out there.
As I said before, Shadyac did a great job directing. He put tension in a scene where Joe was sitting down and he hears someone calling his name. We don’t know where it’s coming from, or if it’s in his head. Shadyac puts in a couple things that jump out and scare us (which I thought as odd, since it’s a slow moving drama), but all of it added to the almost noir-ish feel of the movie.
However, where Dragonfly loses points is the last twenty minutes or so. It doesn’t really have much to do with the first 80 minutes, and is unsatisfactory. Overall, you probably won’t like Dragonfly, but I sure did.
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality.
Review Date: August 15, 2003