This is one of those strange movies that no one seems to remember watching and sounds rather boring, but is actually quite good when you give it a chance.

Christopher Walken plays a teacher named Johnny Smith who spends 5 years in a coma after a bad car accident. Upon waking up, Johnny has clairvoyant powers but can barely walk. When he touches someone’s hand, he can see the future or the past and details about a person’s life he shouldn’t know. Initially, he wants to ignore the power and hope it goes away, but eventually accepts it and tries to use it to help people.

Based on a Stephen King novel, the story and characters are rock solid. The Johnny Smith character is relatable and remains a fractured shell of a man after losing 5 years of his life. Noted bizarre horror director David Cronenberg manages to stay on target with the material and delivers a cohesive production.

I loved Walken’s performance and even though it is not particularly scary for most of the movie, it manages to keep you invested in the characters. The tension comes from the situations that escalate quickly like Johnny solving a serial killer case for the local sheriff department.

What really stands out the most is the dark tone and bleak, yet necessary, ending. It’s one of the things Stephen King does so well in his storytelling: he breathes life into the characters and let’s them go where the story naturally takes them. You may not be happy with the ending, but you will be satisfied with the narrative structure and inevitable conclusion brought on by the decisions Johnny makes.

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