Brainstorm (1983)

	Directed by: Douglas Trumbull	COUNTRY USA GENRE Science Fiction/Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Prosjekt Brainstorm RUNNING TIME 106 minutes
	Produced by: Douglas Trumbull
	Written by: Philip Frank Messina Bruce Joel Rubin Robert Stitzel

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Dr. Michael Anthony Brace	Christopher Walken	½
Karen Brace	Natalie Wood
Dr. Lillian Reynolds	Louise Fletcher
Alex Terson	Cliff Robertson
Hal Abramson	Joe Dorsey
Robert Jenkins	Alan Fudge
Gordy Forbes	Jordan Christopher

Review

One of the most ambitious but least successful films of the early 1980s sci-fi wave that dealt with brain research and/or telepathy in some way or form. William Hurt had already tried his luck in the not fully effective Altered States a couple of years earlier, before David Cronenberg offered a more visceral version (obviously) with his Scanners and then followed up with the intriguing The Dead Zone. The latter included Christopher Walken's best performance in the 'psychic sci-fi' sub-genre in 1983, whereas Brainstorm finds him in one of his tackiest roles. The reason might well be director Douglas Trumbull, who clearly devoted his time to the visuals in this project. These are technically impressive, but unfortunately look terribly cheap and dated in the lacklustre finale. Until then, we've been presented with a fairly interesting premise in which a team of scientists discover a way to record and play back sensory experiences. The customary power struggle between the idealistic scientist and the cynical authoritarians is worn and unmotivated, and the film's narrative progress becomes stuck as Trumbull starts concentrating on his special effects – including a completely ridiculous scene towards the end in which the machines get back at the humans. Thirty years prior, that might have been a relevant cautionary message, but in this otherwise ambitious film, it falls completely flat.