A young psychic on the run from himself is recruited by a government agency experimenting with the use of the dream-sharing technology and is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of the U.S. president. A government funded project looks into using psychics to enter people's dreams, with some mechanical help. When a subject dies in his sleep from a heart attack Alex Gardner becomes suspicious that another of the psychics is killing people in the dreams somehow and that is causing them to die in real life. He must find a way to stop the abuse of the power to enter dreams. Dreamscape is a killer fun, colourful, streamlined little fantasy sci-fi from back in the 80's that still holds its own amongst anything that today has to offer. It's a glowing testament to the shelf life of practical effects, showing that no matter how jerky, obvious or in your face an effect is, it's always going to look more dazzling to the human eye than CGI. This one is a neat kaleidoscope of animatronics, trick photography, pretty colour filters and general whackadoodle atmosphere of strangeness, and when you look at the subject matter, it becomes clear why. It's about a secret government program which employs gifted psychics to enter people's dreams, retrieving valuable information and discerning motives that could prevent tragedy. One such individual is Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) recruited by Dr. Paul Novotny (Max Von Sydow) to assist him in vague research which requires his cerebral talents. Quaid suits the role perfectly, considering Alex is a roguish, irresponsible dude content with using his clairvoyance to score at the racetrack, slumming way below his potential and smiling about it no end. He's tasked with figuring why the U.S. President (always nice to see Eddie Albert) is having harrowing nightmares of an America left in ruins by some catastrophic disaster. Lurking in the shadows is secretary of defence Bob Blair (a slimy Christopher Plummer) whose trigger happy agenda raises some red flags. Gardner is facing quite the conundrum, as he finds himself watched by Blair's goons, and racing to prevent the unthinkable, with only a beautiful colleague (Kate Capshaw) to help him. The effects inside the dreams are wicked, including a skin crawling human cobra hybrid, a Seuss-esque stairway into oblivion, a hazy skyscraper accident, a haunting vision of earth post-nuclear attack complete with clawing mutants (a genuinely scary moment) and more. For its time, it outdoes itself in the visual department. The supporting cast is nice as well, with appearances from Chris Mulkey, Peter Jason, George Wendt and David Patrick Kelly. One of my treasured fantasy flicks from the 80's and just a bundle of metaphysical, trippy fun. A sci-fi thriller that is a major forbearer of Christopher Nolan's Inception. It also deals with people who can enter the dreams of other people. Dennis Quaid is a man with psychic abilities. Max von Sydow is a scientist who studied Quaid when he was in college. Now he recruits Quaid to work with him in his dream studies. Kate Capshaw plays von Sydow's sexy assistant (and, no, she's actually pretty tolerable, despite having annoyed us all as Indiana Jones' love interest the same year). Christopher Plummer plays a government agent who wants to use these dream experiments to help the President (Eddie Albert) overcome his nightmare problems, and David Patrick Kelly (the guy who spoke the infamous line "Warriors, come out to play-ay!") is another psychic working on the project. There really aren't many sequences that take place in the dreams, but the few that do are pretty excellent. Most of the film has Quaid discovering the devious reasons Plummer has in bringing the President into these experiments. Not a great film, by any means, but an entertaining one.
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