Doctor Sleep (2019) ***1/2
Unlike Stephen King's 2013 novel, which I thought was excellent, Mike Flanagan's film version of Doctor Sleep (2019) serves as an adaptation of said book and a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film version (my review here) of The Shining (1977) and thus makes a few major changes that deviate from Doctor Sleep, the novel. It's a daunting task to undertake and one that I'm sure a lot of people feel shouldn't have been attempted.
Rebecca Ferguson is a perfectly cast, devious, and dangerously babely Rose The Hat, leader of The True Knot, a group of vampire-like semi-immortals that essentially feed on fear, pain and death. Rose does terrible things and is no friend to children but I like that the film doesn't shy from the darker elements at play. Ewan McGregor is a serviceable adult Dan Torrance, still scarred from his dark past, but cleaned up and mending, after having gone through a self-destructive patch. Kyliegh Curran, as the teenage girl who has incredibly strong shining abilities, was hit or miss for me—I found her great in some scenes and too 'tudey in others.
The recreations of scenes and characters from The Shining (1980) start off as exciting here but the novelty wears off during the finale, which feels a bit too much like a formulaic face-off. Doctor Sleep the novel is much more of a fantasy adventure (with horrific elements) than its predecessor, and that feel is carried over to the film, though it aims for more of an overall horror approach with the tiebacks to Kubrick's film. I think those that will like the film the least will be the ones that haven't read King's sequel novel and/or those that aren't willing to suspend disbelief (because you sort of have to do a lot of that to enjoy it).
Fortunately, my fears of this film playing like a superhero movie were mostly assuaged. As I mentioned, the finale was my least favorite part, but everything up to that was quite good—the action and pacing had a nice rhythmic build, the cinematography is competent, the score is solid and mostly low key, and I feel like I enjoyed it about as much as I expected, maybe slightly more.
You can find my Stephen King Feature & Television Film Adaptations Ranked list here.
Rebecca Ferguson is a perfectly cast, devious, and dangerously babely Rose The Hat, leader of The True Knot, a group of vampire-like semi-immortals that essentially feed on fear, pain and death. Rose does terrible things and is no friend to children but I like that the film doesn't shy from the darker elements at play. Ewan McGregor is a serviceable adult Dan Torrance, still scarred from his dark past, but cleaned up and mending, after having gone through a self-destructive patch. Kyliegh Curran, as the teenage girl who has incredibly strong shining abilities, was hit or miss for me—I found her great in some scenes and too 'tudey in others.
The recreations of scenes and characters from The Shining (1980) start off as exciting here but the novelty wears off during the finale, which feels a bit too much like a formulaic face-off. Doctor Sleep the novel is much more of a fantasy adventure (with horrific elements) than its predecessor, and that feel is carried over to the film, though it aims for more of an overall horror approach with the tiebacks to Kubrick's film. I think those that will like the film the least will be the ones that haven't read King's sequel novel and/or those that aren't willing to suspend disbelief (because you sort of have to do a lot of that to enjoy it).
Fortunately, my fears of this film playing like a superhero movie were mostly assuaged. As I mentioned, the finale was my least favorite part, but everything up to that was quite good—the action and pacing had a nice rhythmic build, the cinematography is competent, the score is solid and mostly low key, and I feel like I enjoyed it about as much as I expected, maybe slightly more.
You can find my Stephen King Feature & Television Film Adaptations Ranked list here.
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