Johnny Smith, a schoolteacher, lives a happy, modest life with his girlfriend Sarah, who Johnny loves very much. Tragedy strikes in the form of a car accident that sends John into a coma. Awakening after five-years, John finds that life has passed him by, most notably due to Sarah being married and with a small child. Even more startling is the fact that John soon discovers that he has acquired cognitive abilities that let he see into an individuals future, with physical interaction being the only requirement to do so. With his ability to see into the future, John soon realizes his new skills also grant him the ability to drastically change the future, something that becomes pivotal when John meets Greg Stillson, a ruthless and corrupt politician whose eyes are set on the White House. David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone is one of the filmmakers most accessible films, a twilight zone type story about one man's ability to effectively play god. The least subversive and violent of Cronenberg's earlier filmography, The Dead Zone raises some interesting ethical questions centered around pro-activity vs. re-activity as it pertains to seeing into the future, with Walken's John character slowly becoming a man who realizes he must take down Senator Stillson by any means necessary. Martin Sheen's over-the-top peformance as the power hungry Senator is quite memorable as well, with the man being an exaggerated caricature of political greed. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Dead Zone is how it captures the expectations society places on John, as he feels the pressure to help out others, due to being "blessed" with these gifts. Cronenberg does a great job at placing the viewer into John's tortured psyche, a man whose haunted by these visions, showing the taxing nature that pre-cognition could have on an individuals' consciousness. With a finale that somewhat subverts expectations, David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone is without question one of the best Stephen King adaptations out there, being a well-directed, memorable film that raises age-old moral questions.
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June 2023
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