Review: Doctor Sleep
It is a very hard task to create a movie based on a highly popular novel. It gets even more of an uphill task when the movie you want to create already has a very successful predecessor. And, if the predecessor is not only successful but also claims an ardent cult status and following, it becomes almost an impossible or scary task to take up. So, in many ways making "Doctor Sleep", which is based on the novel by Stephen King, and also a sequel to "The Shining", another successful novel by King, brought to even more success by none other than the one and only Stanley Kubrick through his own cinematic version, was as much as a risk as it was difficult, for Mike Flanagan as a filmmaker.
Doctor Sleep, follows the life of Danny Torrance, who has escaped from the Overlook Hotel, with this mother whose life is scarred forever after that harrowing encounter involving his father at that fateful place. He tries to live a low profile life, hiding his "shine" from the rest of the world and finds his comfort in alcohol. After having to go through various episodes in life which brings nothing but despair in his lonely life, Danny decides to run away to start afresh, seeking redemption. Meanwhile, he gets contacted by a young girl, Abra Stone. Abra posseses "shining" which is very powerful and though confused about the power she possesses she is confident on the responsibilities that come along with it. Her fearless nature gets her to catch the attention of a group of vampires who lives off the "steam", which they aquire by killing those who shines. While valiantly confronting the group, lead by "Rose the Hat", Abra has to seek help from Danny to defeat them. Reluctant initially, Danny decides to lend a hand to Abra, fully aware of the consequences and of the unpleasant memories and places he might have to revisit during the task.
Ewan McGregor plays Dan Torrance, son of Jack Torrance. Though the character doesn't have much of an arc as it was expected, McGregor did a characteristically neat and relatively easy job, given his vast abilities. But, the two people who really shined in this film were Kyliegh Curran and Rebecca Ferguson, playing Abra Stone and Rose the Hat, respectively. Curran did a marvellous job considering this was her first appearance and Ferguson, explored a whole new level of her acting skills successfully, by bringing the right blend of charm and fear onto the screen. She was the stand out performer of the film, for me.
The trouble with coming up with such an anticipated project is that it can never escape the comparisons, no matter how unique and different you try to make it. It will be very difficult to please the audience because either they might find it less nostalgic and not enough tribute worthy to the former classic or if you try to make it as close in structure as the former, people may find it phoney and dismiss it as a failed attempt. At this moment, I'm not sure on why or what among the above reasons were behind it's box office failure or if there was something else contributed to it's less successful collection, I found "Doctor Sleep" as a good enough, worthy successor for "The Shining". It may not have the kindred script or characters as the Kubrick's film, but for what it's worth, Doctor Sleep has been an engaging, not overly embellished film which deserves recognition in it's own right. Hats off to Mike Flanagan for his bravery to take a shot at this one and pulling it off reasonably in a remarkable manner regardless of the numbers it raked it in or the failure to do so.
Doctor Sleep, follows the life of Danny Torrance, who has escaped from the Overlook Hotel, with this mother whose life is scarred forever after that harrowing encounter involving his father at that fateful place. He tries to live a low profile life, hiding his "shine" from the rest of the world and finds his comfort in alcohol. After having to go through various episodes in life which brings nothing but despair in his lonely life, Danny decides to run away to start afresh, seeking redemption. Meanwhile, he gets contacted by a young girl, Abra Stone. Abra posseses "shining" which is very powerful and though confused about the power she possesses she is confident on the responsibilities that come along with it. Her fearless nature gets her to catch the attention of a group of vampires who lives off the "steam", which they aquire by killing those who shines. While valiantly confronting the group, lead by "Rose the Hat", Abra has to seek help from Danny to defeat them. Reluctant initially, Danny decides to lend a hand to Abra, fully aware of the consequences and of the unpleasant memories and places he might have to revisit during the task.
Ewan McGregor plays Dan Torrance, son of Jack Torrance. Though the character doesn't have much of an arc as it was expected, McGregor did a characteristically neat and relatively easy job, given his vast abilities. But, the two people who really shined in this film were Kyliegh Curran and Rebecca Ferguson, playing Abra Stone and Rose the Hat, respectively. Curran did a marvellous job considering this was her first appearance and Ferguson, explored a whole new level of her acting skills successfully, by bringing the right blend of charm and fear onto the screen. She was the stand out performer of the film, for me.
The trouble with coming up with such an anticipated project is that it can never escape the comparisons, no matter how unique and different you try to make it. It will be very difficult to please the audience because either they might find it less nostalgic and not enough tribute worthy to the former classic or if you try to make it as close in structure as the former, people may find it phoney and dismiss it as a failed attempt. At this moment, I'm not sure on why or what among the above reasons were behind it's box office failure or if there was something else contributed to it's less successful collection, I found "Doctor Sleep" as a good enough, worthy successor for "The Shining". It may not have the kindred script or characters as the Kubrick's film, but for what it's worth, Doctor Sleep has been an engaging, not overly embellished film which deserves recognition in it's own right. Hats off to Mike Flanagan for his bravery to take a shot at this one and pulling it off reasonably in a remarkable manner regardless of the numbers it raked it in or the failure to do so.
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