Custody has its responsibility. Giving Mick Garris custody of Bag Of Bones made a few people nervous. . . people who have never quite gotten over Sleepwalkers! Well, my opinion only here, but I thought Bag Of Bones was a home run!
Now I must admit to a few nervous moments in the first half. I liked it, but found myself asking, "Where's this going?" But the second half -- of my! Everything comes together. The story works as a cohesive whole. My only complaint is that it had to be broken into two parts, since it relies so heavily on the second part to move things forward.
The acting was great! The plot was a gift from Stephen King. The mini-series gave us both story and gore, action and drama. I was surprised at the amount of gore and violence, especially toward the end, that A&E allowed to hit the air waves. Cable s a good venue for the Stephen King mini-series.
Bag Of Bones was a full embrace of the Stephen King universe. This was especially true in the first part and in their promotion. A lot of the publicity was obviously aimed at us constant readers! (Any #1 fans out there?!)
Though I am sure someone will say the movie was too slow, dragged and could have used more editing -- I think it was very well paced. You do have to give the movie time to unfold, but that's the way a Stephen King story works! King is not an action writer, he gives us drama and horror, and to do that takes a little time. If you just want cut-em ups from beginning to end, they have those, but King doesn't write them. King gives us thoughtful drama/horror that is deeply character driven.
I thought Brosnan and the entire cast was great. Brosnan did a good job showing us the inner struggles of a grieving man. There are moments he is overcome by waves of emotional pain, but he doesn't allow it to crush him.
For King on the small screen, I would put this up there with The Stand -- among the very best. Garris has shown himself to be a worthy steward of the King property on screen. He is faithful to the flow of the story, the characters behavior and the tone of the book itself. Quite simply, I look forward to seeing more Garris / King collaborations. . . . so time to get to work on Cell!
Always interested in your opinion.
Okay, now I feel kinda bad! Was I too harsh on this because I love the book so much? There were a couple of scenes that were done wonderfully but overall it just didn't leave me feeling all that great.. maybe I'll give it another go in the future and try not to be so critical!
ReplyDeleteWell, you are much more committed to the book than I am. I read it on audio, and had moments trouble tracking with what King was talking about. So for me, the movie worked. Don't feel bad ! I think you had several valuable points; things I totally missed.
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I think the pacing was all wrong, but not because it was too slow. Instead, the story moved WAY too quickly. Compared to the novel, it's a joke. It's like a summary of the Cliffs Notes version! I know, I know: I'm a renowned Garris-basher, so I went into it prejudiced, and I didn't find any particular reason to recant once it was finished.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I thought parts of it worked relatively well, and I'd imagine a decent number of people who tuned in enjoyed what they saw. Ultimately, it'll probably lead some of them to go buy the novel and give it a read, so that's a good thing.
But ... a home run?!? "The Shawshank Redemption" is a home run (a grand slam might be even more accurate); "Stand By Me" is a home run. The way my boxscore reads, "Bag of Bones" was a single ... at best!
Then again, I was expecting a pop-up to the catcher, so color me very mildly pleased.
Home run means: I thought it was really good. I'm not saying it was in the Shawshank Redemption, shut out league. Certainly not on par with Star Wars ! But a game can have a home run, and I think this was one.
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