"The Dead Zone" is one of my favorite Stephen King novels, and this adaptation dos the job nicely, mostly turning the story into a morality tale and pumping it full of wintery atmosphere.
Sheen gets to play the truly sinister bad guy politician (compare this with his amazing idealistic Jed Bartlett, and they're both great performances at either end of the spectrum), glad-handing the crowd one minute and firing off threats with stone cold menace the next. The kind of guy that'll use an infant as a meat shield during a sniper attack. Walken on the other hand bears the pain and torture of having 5 years ripped away . . . and then finding out his beloved has moved on with her life. If that's not enough, he's got to be constantly reminded of her new life at every turn. It's just an incredibly sad situation, sweetened - if only - by Walken's heroism. And he sells it, no question.
This is fairly conventional Cronenberg, but a fine thriller, regardless.
7/10
Sheen gets to play the truly sinister bad guy politician (compare this with his amazing idealistic Jed Bartlett, and they're both great performances at either end of the spectrum), glad-handing the crowd one minute and firing off threats with stone cold menace the next. The kind of guy that'll use an infant as a meat shield during a sniper attack. Walken on the other hand bears the pain and torture of having 5 years ripped away . . . and then finding out his beloved has moved on with her life. If that's not enough, he's got to be constantly reminded of her new life at every turn. It's just an incredibly sad situation, sweetened - if only - by Walken's heroism. And he sells it, no question.
This is fairly conventional Cronenberg, but a fine thriller, regardless.
7/10