DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)
a review by Evan Landon
I was a bit hesitant to write on this film, at first, because I am a huge fan of the book written by Stephen King in 2013. I am also a huge fan both the 1980 film, The Shining, as well as the 1977 book the same name. In that regard, I did not want it to seem like I was being any sort of biased in celebrating or completely flogging this movie, which is always more likely. But alas, this movie was great! It competently tied all three together to tell a story that is not only comprehensible in telling all three stories and adapting the fourth one seamlessly, but could even stand on its own in the annals of Hollywood films. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, the moviegoing audience did not agree.
The story opens much the same as the book with Danny and his mother mentally reeling from the events of The Shining somewhere in Florida not too long after. Doesn’t really matter where in Florida because all of Florida sucks swamp water. After an episode with the crazy naked ghost lady from Overlook Hotel Room 237 (Room 217 in the book) who absolutely loves taking baths, he is visited by his old friend, Dick Halloran. What is pretty cool about how the story is wound together with both the movie and the book is how Halloran was killed in the 1980 The Shining movie, but not the 1977 The Shining novel, and how the director is able to make it somewhat ambiguous on if the character is deceased or not.
Director Mike Flanagan brings his ghostly storytelling expertise to the forefront coming fresh off the 2018 Netflix sensation, House on Haunted Hill utilizing a great mix of camera shots and effects to immerse the viewer in very different universe almost flawlessly. His attention to detail is well apparent too within the confines of the movie allowing the audience to trust the integrity of each shot enough to let the eye wander exactly to where the director wants it to. The dreamscapes and psychic trances are done masterfully, as well as the deaths of the members of the True Knot.
Is it safe to say that Ewan MacGregor is one of the finest actors of our time? Ever since his debut in Trainspotting some 20 odd years ago, he has done nothing but kill it every single time. He was also Obi-Wan Kenobi, so chew on that for a second. Although he is the only A-List actor in this film, the rest of the cast deliver top bill performances as well. Rebecca Ferguson gives a haunting performance as the menacing leader of the True Knot, Rose the Hat, whose character is considered to be the most beautiful of all time, but hides the maniacal elements of a monster taken almost word for word from the book. Kyleigh Curran’s also steals the show as the young Abra, a child with a shining even more powerful than Danny’s or Rose the Hat’s and becomes Danny’s redemption. Also, Carl Lumbly’s portrayal of Dick Halloran is so on point, I was not sure at some points if it wasn’t Scatman Crothers’s ghost coming back to play the specter himself!
Some things differ from the 2013 novel of Doctor Sleep, but nothing that would take away from the story. There were some things here and there that I had to fact check, but anything that differed from the book has the whole intention of making a cohesive story that feathers in pieces of the original predecessor’s book and movie. For instance, the battle scenes between the True Knot and their quarry take place at different parts of the story and contain different outcomes, but are given enough room to breathe life into the story on their own. I won’t even get into the ending too much, as it would contain huge spoilers, but it does differ enough from the book to again tie all of the stories from the cinematic universe to the novels in a very tasteful way and should be applauded for doing so.
As far as the horror element goes, there isn’t much to make it anything stronger than a PG-13 rating, so there is a lot of gore and nudity missing from this film. That being said, the scares are more akin to that of The Conjuring or Insidious series, but the visual artistry is concise enough to leave images that will stick with you long after the movie. As the book itself had some horror aspects to it, it was really more of the story of Danny’s recovery and redemption than anything else, so the fact that they didn’t go crazy in that department is well and fine by me, but I think every movie could use more gore and nudity, of course.
The overall critical reception of this movie was good, almost the same as mine, but that did not translate into box office sales, unfortunately. It opened in the U.S, on November 8th, 2019 bowing to the Roland Emmerich historical war film, Midway, opening with a paltry $5 million versus a $55 million budget making it a huge disappointment for Warner Bros Studios. It finished up its box office run on December 10th, 2019 with a final income of $69.8 million leaving everyone a little worried if Stephen King’s moviegoing popularity is waning, but I will say this for certainty – his movies have always been hit or miss. Some become classics like The Shining, Carrie, or The Green Mile while some completely miss the mark and are almost immediately forgotten like Sleepwalkers, Thinner, or Dreamcatcher. The less said about those, the better. The name Stephen King will always be bankable even if he has a few duds along the way. It is a shame that this one fell into that category though.
3.5 out of 5