SPOILER DISCUSSION
1. Rose astral projecting to go and find Abra the first time sent shivers down my spine. The way that she starts flying through the skies is beautiful and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way the scene was constructed. The idea of someone’s spirit flying through the air, unseen to your normal senses, entering your mind and discovering your deepest secrets is genuinely unsettling.
The scene obviously only gets better when Abra reveals she sprung a trap and then manages to pull the good ol switcharoo on Rose. The graphic state of Rose’s hand post advance was a brutal reminder of how dangerous underestimating people can be.
2. Wow. When the Uncle of True Knot finally kicks the bucket, his transformation scene is creepy, but the scary part is how his “family” reacts to his passing. Watching all of them go from sad and remorseful to eagerly consuming his actual metaphysical essence was jarring and was actually scary.
3. T H E F I G H T S C E N E . Holy, the 1v2 fight at the Overlook hotel might be one of the coolest conceptual fight scenes I’ve seen. From beginning to end, I couldn’t stop excitedly giggling whenever Abra managed to taunt Rose. The revelation that the entire event was taking place in Dan’s head was amazing and the imagery of his boxes opening had me ready to start screaming until I realized I was in a theater. The payoff was well worth it and cathartic. After the way Bradley (Jacob Tremblay) was brutally tortured and had his “steam” systematically taken away , I was waiting to see how Rose would meet her end. This was the best.
This is far from the best Stephen King adaptation. What about “The Green Mile”, “The Shining”, or the “Shawshank Redemption”? Those are all better adaptations. This movie is a mixture of two books Doctor Sleep and The Shining, mixed in with a movie by Stanley Kubrick. The hotel actually blows up at the end of The Shining (the novel) because of the boiler over heating (as Jack Torrence is no longer tending to it), not at the end of Doctor Sleep (the novel). There is no hotel in Doctor Sleep as it no longer exists. The ending of the book is much better and totally different. Therefore I cannot cede that this is the best adaptation of SK’s novels.
Regardless, thanks for the Critic.
Hey there Joelle. Thanks for the comment! I never said I thought this was the best adaptation of King’s work in totality, just for 2019. I was comparing Doctor Sleep more so to It Chapter Two and In the Tall Grass, both of which came out this year and didn’t meet the expectations I had for them.
No problem, thanks for putting in all the work to review the movie!
I am really looking forward to the TV adaptation of “The Stand”, I just heard that Whoopie Goldberg is going to be Mother Abigale. Fingers crossed that they do it justice!
I look forward to seeing what you have to say…
Thanks! I wasn’t aware of the adaptation before but now I’m looking forward to its release.