BRAINSTORM (1983) **1/2 One of the better depictions of the dynamic that occurs when an immovable corporation is assaulted by an inexorably lecherous government. The result isn't made clear in the most minute detail, but the answer would appear to have something to do with shared chains of command. But it's supposed to be a sci-fi, which it is. Virtually reality was heady (hee, hee) stuff way back in those days and it's a credit to the times, rather than an indictment of the visionary, that they could only see a few years ahead of where we're really at. Christopher Walken deserves to be the first, maybe only, call when you're casting a genius/nut driven by potentially violent undercurrents...and one of the reasons is unquestionably his ability to generate intensity by acting casual. It was the last run for Natalie Wood, she gives the film a sense of romance and grace that would be unthinkable in her absence. Louise Fletcher is a queen bitch, as usual, but this time she gets to show off some of her usually hidden skills as she shows off a kind underbelly-unless she's talking to the government in which case you can only applaud her tough approach in defense of authentic ethics. Douglas Trumbull's special effects are reasonably pedestrian, but they're effective enough and supporting a sufficiently cerebral plot anyway. The result is that there's no problem falling in if you're willing, and if you're not you shoulda been watching something else.

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