Dragonfly - A Review

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By Emma Kae - 5th August 2002 - Back to News

Dragonfly asks the philosophical question of: When someone you love passes away… are they gone forever? The answer is simple: of course not, they haunt you until you are on the brink of insanity, pummeling you with insects and bizarre drawings.

The eternal love in Dragonfly that I am referring to is between Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner), an emergency medicine doctor in Chicago and his a pediatric oncologist wife named Emily (Susanna Thomas).

Joe the medical superhero is obviously doomed to face adversity, and in the first moments, tragedy hits. Emily, deep in the Venezuelan jungle, is aboard a bus, pushed into a raging river by a rockslide.

The obvious step to go to from here is to show Joe as a miserable man and human being. The audience will not be disappointed. His performance is indeed very sad. His life is now a vapor and a shadow. That is, until it appears that his wife is trying to communicate with him from beyond…

Before you can say The Sixth Sense, Joe gets some warped idea that he can work through his grief by meeting with Emily's former patients. One of the first is Jeffrey (Robert Bailey, Jr.), a man who has had repeated near-death experiences. During one of his episodes, he calls to Joe from a gurney, while flatlining. Just as the doctors working on Jeffrey shake their heads sadly and turn away as though to say there is no hope, Joe walks toward him, and the kid's eyes fly open. How unexpected.

Having recovered from dying and awakening to a depressed looking Kevin Costner, Jeffrey is soon chattering on about a message he's got for "Emily's Joe," sent by Emily, whom he apparently ran into while flying around on the ceiling. As you do.

Later, Joe gets more news from the "other side," from another patient of Emily’s, a sick looking dude wearing lots of dark eye makeup (Jacob Smith). This boy says Emily wants Joe to "go there," to a rainbow that he seen in his vision.

Before you can say What Lies Beneath, what follows is filled with the regular spooky hocus pocus found in a "spiritual" film. Joe begins seeing and hearing things himself. Doors whoosh open, wind blows through the hallways, and Emily appears in a window. And just when you think you have seen it all, Emily's old pet parrot, silent since her death, starts talking like she's in the house.

Appropriately creeped out, Joe goes to Venezuela to put an end to the drama and re-connect with his wife.

Dragonfly is a far more simple and obvious movie than it really should be - but believe it or not, it isn’t a total failure either. If you liked the Sixth Sense and What Lies Beneath, you may find it worthwhile. Otherwise, keep saving for a decent movie.

3 stars.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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