Stephen King's Desperation
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Movie Reviews of Stephen King's Desperation
Movie Review: I really wanted to like this one
Summary: 3 Stars
Alright. Mick Garris has made mistakes. Aka: Masters Of Horror- Chocolate.
But we all do. It makes us human.I understand this.
Now, what I can't understand is how you can take a very good premise ( I mean that ape guy in Alien Res as a crazy cop- the best man!the freaking best!Tak!)and culminate it into a dissapointing and frankly annoying ending.
This movie could have been a masterpiece.
It took Stephen kings character based saga and ran with it.
The use of desert creatures as soldiers in the army of evil was a smart move, and even the redemption on the part of Tom skerrit rang somewhat true. The child actor was annoying as most are and the lead was quite good as he usually is- check out the TV Shining movie.
I guess in the end what did this effort in was essentially the end.
As in other reviews on Amazon, I have shown my displeasure of not exposing the titular creature. I mean, here we go through the whole movie, hearing about this TAK fella and do we even catch a glimpse of this demi-god or demon or whatever..no.
This is my main complaint..the excellent beginning...the creature kills..the not made for TV dead bodies everywhere..all should have led up to the final confrontation with this antithesis of good. But what do we get instead, some kind of Rodney Dangerfield..I get no respect type dialogue between the good guy and the bad guy..with the good guy muttering to a hole in the ground that is supposed to represent the beast.
Give me a break.
Since when do the movie going public deserve fodder as a climax to a otherwise smooth and charming film.
Why..oh why can't we all just agree on a common theme.
If your gonna cop out at the end..just don't make the movie.
So in conclusion, if you were to watch the movie halfway through and be interrupted and unable to complete its viewing you would say" Wow. What a great show!"
However, if you made it through to the end, you would be left seriously wanting.
You would say "I sure wish they would make 'em like the old days."
But what do I know.
Sean
Movie Review: Tak! Tak a lah!
Summary: 3 Stars
Stephen King, as reknowned as he is, has a bad habit of recycling ideas for his books. Likewise, films based on his books, particularly the made for TV ones, are often nothing short of awful. Desperation has its moments, but is too muddy, too weird, and too saccarine sweet at times.
The film feels overly familiar to other King adaptations such as the Langoliers, IT and even the Stand. A group of sundry people are trapped in a Nevada ghost town and are at the mercy of a powerful earth demon or entity known as Tak, who dates back to an ancient, pre-Native American civilization. In the first half of the movie, Tak is played by the woefully underrated Ron Perlman, one of my favorite actors. Perlman chews up the scenery and seems to be enjoying himself. But the problem is that Tak can only inhabit human bodies for short amounts of time as they decompose rapidly, so Perlman isn't really seen in the second act. Lots of familiar actors and actresses show up, including Tom Skerrit as a Vietnam vet writer, Matt Frewer, Anabeth Gish and Stephen Webber. However, things get really muddled in the clash of good vs. evil. There are ENDLESS speeches and pep talks about God and christian faith, its really tiresome. However, the little boy who stands in for Danny from the Shining often finds himself asking if maybe the God he worships might be no less sadistic than Tak, so things aren't all black and white. The atmosphere of the town of Desperation is cool, but suffers from bad lighting. Probably the creepiest scene is a supernatural old film reel of how Tak was released from its ancient slumber.
Its too bad that there wasn't much light shed on what exactly is Tak trying to accomplish. It simply awakens, posseses people, controls animals and that's about it. It would also have been cooler if they delved a bit deeper into the ancient civilization that is connected with Tak. Oh well, if you're a King fan you might eat it up.
Tak!
Movie Review: A Nice Try
Summary: 3 Stars
Good ol Mick Garris is let loose on another King adaptation. How does it measure up to the rest of them? As a film, is so-so, as a faithful adaptation it's quite impressive. I've never been much of a Garris fan, but he usually tries to make the most faithful King adaptation he can for tv. Plus it helps that he enlists King himself to write the script. The movie is damn near 90% accurate with the book(people whining about the lack of an actual Tak monster at the climax should consult the book and realize you never really saw it in there either. The exchange through the eye-like hole in the ground was accurate). A few corners were cut here and there, but you can't complain too much about minor changes since it's King himself doing the changes. As a film, it's not terribly impressive. Like the rest of the made-for-t.v. King films, it looks and feels like a made-for-t.v. film. This eliminates any kind of creepiness the film would have. I don't know what it is about made for t.v. movies, but you can spot one instantly, they seem to have a look about them. A great decision was casting Perlman as the cop. He had the look and talk down wonderfully. Many of us who read the book most likely pictured a guy like Perlman while reading it. The character is supposed to be a bit younger, but that's no big deal and has no real bearing on the story. The rest of the cast is kinda throwaway. Frewer is given nothing to do but whine like a little girl, Durning's so-so, and the kid is annoying, like most psychic/godlike kids are in horror films. Skerritt's good though. I'm kinda biased on that one coz I've always liked him. I like Weber as well, but he just kinda peters out when the whole gang unites. Though it's an average film, I do gotta give it kudos for being one of the few King adaptations that makes an honest attempt to keep it faithful. It really is a painless two hours. Tak!!Movie Review: The ending was a let down
Summary: 3 Stars
This DVD is of a television mini-series, so the obvious thing you see is the spots for commercial breaks. That was kind of annoying. Taken piece by piece, I think it would be easy to find things not to like about this film, but as a whole it worked for me pretty well. I think this would have been 4 star worthy had the ending been a little more suspenseful. Stuffing a shotgun shell in a hole to end a devil's reign of terror just did not do it for me. The kid (as most kids are in this kind of film) was tiring and completely unbelievable. Ron Perlman as the sheriff was fantastic. I wonder if he got paid for this film or just did it for the fun he must have had. His character vanishes about half way through the movie and it kind of slows down from there, but he is definately chewing up the scenery for the first half. Tom Skerritt also gave what I thought was an excellent performance as does Steven Webber, who starts out strong but just kind of fades into the background as the film heads to a climax. Charles Durning was very good as the old guy explaining the history of the town. The women in this film were...Well, they were there. I guess they were there because you have to have women in a horror film. They added little and pretty much just got in the way. Anyway, at a little over 2 hours in length you could do worse. Oh, one more thing...That was a nice bike to just leave setting out in the desert. What were they thinking?Movie Review: A Miniature Version Of THE STAND (Sort Of)...
Summary: 3 Stars
I really like about 75% of DESPERATION. It starts off w/ a wonderfully insane performance by Ron Perlman (Hellboy himself!) as the homicidal sheriff / demon of the small town of the title. He's very fun to watch! Then, we see the gathering of the forces of good (Steve Weber, Annabeth Gish, Charles Durning, et al) who must face down this beast. There is solid evidence that we are in for an epic battle, a reworking of THE STAND in microcosm. Tension builds, weird things happen, and lives are lost. All is well until we get to the conclusion of the story. That's when the proverbial wheels fly off. I mean, there's all this build-up, all this "coming supernatural showdown" stuff for the first 90 minutes or so, then- Pfffftt! A big fizzle at the end. I would love to have seen the final conflict between prayer-boy and Tak! It could have been spectacular! Instead, we get an explosion and THE END. Sort of like getting spinach for dessert! Blecch! Still, it's worth watching just for Perlman...