Stars:
Kevin Costner, Joe Morton, Ron Rifkin, Linda Hunt, and Kathy Bates
Writers:
David Seltzer, Brandon Camp, and Mike Thompson
Based
On A Story By: Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson
Director:
Tom Shadyac
Feature
length: 115 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Tom Shadyac, Deleted Scenes,
Spotlight On Location: The Making Of “Dragonfly” Featurette, Best-selling
Author Betty Eadie On Her Near Death Experience, Cast and Filmmaker Bios,
Production Notes, Theatrical Trailer and Bonus Trailers, DVD-ROM Features
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Dr.
Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) has been distraught since the loss of his 6 months
earlier. He has been burying himself in his work at the hospital despite the
urging of friends and colleagues to take a break and grieve. However slowly Joe
begins to experience strange phenomena related to his deceased wife. Children in
the Oncology ward where his wife had worked begin to give him cryptic messages
from beyond. This could be shrugged off as delusions by Joe were it not that
some of these children were admitted long after his wife’s death and therefore
could not have known her. He receives a mysterious package his wife never
ordered, sees strange images, and begins to react irrationally toward his
friends and colleagues, who begin to question his own mental state, but despite
the doubt, Joe is transformed from a bitter cynical widower to a believer on a
quest.
“Dragonfly”
came and went rather quickly in theaters, but I think that the film will find a
much larger audience on home video. Kevin Costner gives a good performance and
has strong supporting cast that anchors him featuring Kathy Bates, Ron Rifkin,
and Joe Morton among others. Linda Hunt has a great role as a Roman Catholic
nun, who represents a part of the invisible hands that guide Costner’s
character on his odyssey. Director Tom Shadyac does a good job of maintaining a
balance of both psychological and paranormal thrills and wonders without falling
into clichés. The film’s surprise ending is refreshing and lends itself to
repeated viewings to watch and learn how the tapestry of the film takes shape.
Universal
Home Entertainment’s DVD edition presents “Dragonfly” in an anamorphic
widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio. The transfer is somewhat uneven with some
sequences looking soft and grainy while others appear bright and clear. A choice
of English DTS Digital or Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks are offered.
Both are well mixed, but there is little to no difference in the quality of the
sound. So the English soundtracks are better than the picture quality, but they
fidelity of the Dolby Digital and DTS sound is practically indistinguishable.
A French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also included
along with English Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded on to the
dual layered DVD as options.
The
extra features include approximately 8 deleted scenes presented as one long
11-minute plus reel from a videotaped source. The quality of the letterboxed
(2.35:1) images is watchable, but nowhere near the quality of the film’s
presentation on DVD. The image is filled with artifacts and is very faded
looking with English Stereo Sound. The scenes themselves are not exactly
thrilling, but they do flesh out certain plot points and character interactions
within the film more. Director Tom Shadyac provides a feature length audio
commentary track for the completed film on DVD. His commentary is screen
specific and contemplative as he laments at times on certain scenes he wished
worked out better and goes into detail about the child actors who appear in the
film and about the good work the “Saint Jude Hospital” does for children
afflicted with cancer. Shadyac is articulate and reveals aspects about the
film’s structure that makes the commentary track worth listening to.
Best-selling
Author Betty Eadie participates in a 6-minute featurette that details her first
near death experience as well as her appreciation for films like
“Dragonfly.” A “Spotlight On Location” featurette compliments the DVD
with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews from the production. There are
detailed cast and director biographies and credits as well as production notes
included along with DVD-ROM extras for users with Windows 95 or higher that
include screensavers, wallpaper, and web links.
The
trailer for “Dragon Fly” is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1)
aspect ratio with a full English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. A home
video preview trailer for Universal Home Entertainment’s “The Scorpion
King” precedes the feature and there are bonus trailers for Universal Home
Entertainment’s Collector’s Edition titles available now on DVD that include
“The Family Man,” “Apollo 13,” “K-PAX,” and “Patch Adams.”
The
main menu is animated with animated transitions to subsequent standard
interactive still frame menus that are all easy to navigate. I liked
“Dragonfly” and think the film is definitely worth seeing when it debuts on
DVD-Video on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 from Universal Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.