A teacher in rural Maine (Christopher Walken) learns that, upon physical contact, he can not only only see the subject's future but alter it's outcome. After helping the local sheriff (Tom Skerrit) search for a serial killer minimizing the damage of a tragic ice rink accident, he is put to the ultimate test when he meets a shifty, ambitious U.S. Senate candidate (Martin Sheen) and sees a vision of nuclear holocaust. David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, working from Stephen King's novel, is an example of master filmmaking drawn from an exceedingly silly screenplay, which makes the film all the more enjoyable because it is played with such seriousness (I was also given all the more amusement upon realizing it was the inspiration for South Park's "Cartman's Incredible Gift" episode). Walken is excellent in what you would call a prototypical performance and the supporting cast is likewise great including Skerrit, Herbert Lom, and Sheen, in particular.
