Waking the Dead (1999)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Alice S

  
  I kick myself for actually liking this movie. Billy Crudup is understatedly wonderful. This is how the terrible book should've been paced.

• Drew S

  
  I loved the dichotomy of Waking the Dead's story right off the bat - part political flick, part romance, part ghost mystery? Interesting roots, but sadly the movie most often plays to its obvious avenues, and where there should have been atmosphere and melancholy there instead… More
  I loved the dichotomy of Waking the Dead's story right off the bat - part political flick, part romance, part ghost mystery? Interesting roots, but sadly the movie most often plays to its obvious avenues, and where there should have been atmosphere and melancholy there instead exists cliche. The problem is that the crux of Waking the Dead, its love story, is the weakest part. Fielding and Sarah are good characters, but there's something missing - a lack of focus on the couple's good times, I think. They spend a lot of their time together locked in political repartee, which generally ends in some personal barb and all parties involved being pissed off or upset. They should just gone out for ice cream or roller bladed or something; you know, a tether to prove that these people ACTUALLY liked each other. Without it, the final moments of the movie kind of fall flat, and turns a movie that could have been genuinely affecting into something strong, if not forgettable. There's no denying that it is a strongly written movie, literate and full of governmental allegory. The lead performances are equally excellent, though Billy Crudup occasionally trips up on the admittedly dense dialogue. Unfortunately, it's just not enough - the movie spends too much time on Fielding's uninteresting campaign when it should be showing us more about the relationship that was taken away from him. Show us what he's missing.

• Curtis L

  
  I rented it for Conelly. Ended up hittin the old fast forward button so I could redeem my precious life lost.

• Laura C

  
  This film was heavy, that's for sure. I thought the nonlinear storyline was effective. Visually this film won me over. The imagery was starkly beautiful, lighting was used to great effect; sometimes to provide warmth at other times to make a room uncomfortably bright. It… More
  This film was heavy, that's for sure. I thought the nonlinear storyline was effective. Visually this film won me over. The imagery was starkly beautiful, lighting was used to great effect; sometimes to provide warmth at other times to make a room uncomfortably bright. It reminds me of the Constant Gardener, the version that would have unfolded if the man hadn't sought answers to his partner's death. What would've happened if he had tried to simply move on with his life.

• Andre T

  
  Directed by Keith Gordon. The screenplay by Robert Dillon is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Scott Spencer.The film flashes back and forth between the 1970s and 1980s and centers on the relationship between Fielding Pierce, a young Coast Guard officer with political… More
  Directed by Keith Gordon. The screenplay by Robert Dillon is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Scott Spencer.The film flashes back and forth between the 1970s and 1980s and centers on the relationship between Fielding Pierce, a young Coast Guard officer with political ambitions, and idealistic Roman Catholic Sarah Williams, who is drawn to programs designed to better the lives of the underprivileged and has mixed feelings about his career goals.Pointless movie based in a pointless novel.Despite the good performances,the story is void and shallow.

• Quinto W

  
  Nice premise, wonderful characters, excepcional performances, just wish they would have more background to what she/they/he stood for.

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