The Tommyknockers
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Movie Reviews of The Tommyknockers
Movie Review: Not good...simple as that.
Summary: 2 Stars
Another disappointing Stephen King miniseries. For some reason, lately I've been rewatching some of the older Stephen King miniseries that I hadn't seen since they originally aired. Maybe I thought they'd be better without all the commercials to drag them on and on.
The cream of the crop is THE STAND. The dregs is THE LANGOLIERS, with the worst special effects ever...Ed Wood would have been proud. TOMMYKNOCKERS falls somewhere between.
Basically it tells the story of how one lady (Marg Helgenberger) stumbles across a mysterious little object in the woods, and is compelled to unearth it. Turns out its some sort of alien craft with the power to exert its "will" on the people of the little Maine town nearby. These people undergo gradual (or not so gradual) personality changes which allows them to "suddenly" invent impossible machines, read each others minds, and also to gleefully kill anyone who seeks to thwart them.
That's all well and good. Sounds like it could be good, clean, gory fun. Certainly, the book it's based on was. I know that King himself is not terribly fond of the book, mostly because he wrote it during the height of his drug and alcohol additions...but it contained some of his most disturbing scenes too, and a believable, ultimately heartbreaking romance between the two leads. I have always liked it myself. (To me, King's nadir was THE DARK HALF.)
Back to the "movie." Jimmy Smits plays Helgenberger's boyfriend, a formerly successful poet now awash in alcoholism...but trying to climb out of his hole. He's immune to the power of The Tommyknockers because of a steel plate in his head, but goes along for the ride for much of the story because of the guilt he feels over his own behavior. Eventually, things get bad enough that he finally musters up the courage to take matters into his own hands...with rather serious consequences for himself.
But the story is told in a plodding manner. For every compelling scene (for example, early on Smits is at a reception where he's been drinking too much, and has a gloriously over-the-top embarrassing moment) there's two clunkers (Cliff De Young and Traci Lords as two postal employees undergoing some serious hanky-panky in the sorting room!!) Helgenberger and Smits are fine, as are Joanna Cassidy as the local sheriff and E.G. Marshall as a kindly curmudgeon.
But the lengthy novel has been condensed so awkwardly, and the subplot with DeYoung and Lords given FAR, FAR too much time on screen (De Young is one of the worst actors EVER to get more than one role) to keep make even the gamest performances worthwhile. I guess the producers were so tickled to have former porn star Lords on their set, they just couldn't help coming up with more ridiculous things for her to do. Also, we are forced to see how far Robert Carradine (so good as the "head nerd" in REVENGE OF THE NERDS all those years ago) has fallen...he turns in a perfectly dreadful performance.
The special effects and makeup are quite cheesy. But many things could have been forgiven had a decent adaptation been managed. But THE TOMMYKNOCKERS was doomed from the start with a pitiful script, not helped by uninspired direction. If you're a big fan of Smits, Cassidy or Helgenberger, I guess you might want to take a gander. If you're a fan of Stephen King or horror/sci-fi...stay away!
Movie Review: "Redemption"
Summary: 2 Stars
Reviewer:
"there are also enough plot holes here to fuel a very long and enjoyable evening's conversation. Why do the aliens start in at this time, when they've been causing legends in the woods for ages? Where does an alien ship buried for ages get all that dry ice? How does the Smits character make a living as a poet? One suspects that King's fine sense of New England characterizations is given short shrift here, and that the woods in his mind teem with more alien thoughts than the TV miniseries form could embody. Welcome appearances by congenial actors abound, notably Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall and Robert Carradine. And there's a slutty postal letter-carrier played authentically by Traci Lords. --Jim Gay"
(Note: the following may be a "book-spoiler"
to the reader of Stepehen King's book.)
Obviously you can never do a book justice through a
2 hour movie or in this case a mini-series.
Too much ground to cover to be truly effective.
Most everyone knows this.
But, the book is excellent, though it covers a great
deal of boring Maine history, which does tend to
slow the book down. But, Mr. King more then makes up for it
in this defiant message of Left-Wing activism finally
breaking down and subduing him in the "alchoholic" character
of Jim Gardener. It is a story of the revelation of
true-self brought "whole" again, after his life reaches
the true bottom (he shoots his wife and tries to destroy
every loving relationship in his life).
Bobbi Anderson uses this weak equation in his
(Jim Gardener's) head and fills him with "lies" regarding her alien find.
Does she truly love him?
That is the question at the end of the book.
She does show this by hesitating for one moment in shooting him
and sending him to "Altair 4"
(a planet, galaxies away) with her cosmic trap-door
ray gun.
Does he redeem himself at the end?
Yes, three times over, and more by saving planet Earth
and all of it's occupants (even the ones he hurt and tried
to kill). But, more importantly he did it for his own redemption
and love for himself, which reflected automatically to
those around him.
He, ultimately becomes his own hero.
As for this reviewers questions?
Well, for the first; the reason that the space ship was
activated in this time within the 1980's was because
it was the first time the actual hull of the ship was exposed
to the air, and "touched" by a human being (Bobbi Anderson) releasing the alien toxin which hypnotizes the
town. In all the other myth related stories in the past, no
human had actually come upon it and felt it's vibrations.
As for dry ice?
There was no mention of this in my book.
The movie will be changed and accomodated by Hollywood
to make the story work around their plots and budget,
and so, much detail is sacrificed.
If done right, it would make one helluva blockbuster
summer hit!
Movie Review: will this horror ever end?
Summary: 2 Stars
Is it generally a rule that miniseries based off books have to suck so badly? I've seen a million TV miniseries based off novels that have sucked so horrendously, but NONE like this. Get this straight before I continue: I LOVE the book version of The Tommyknockers; it's my alltime favorite Stephen King novel (second-favorite: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon... review to come later) and I liked how it took the time to reveal key things about the plot: how Haven got started (and the "sowing and reaping" the itinerant preacher got on with the virgins in the cornfield), how Gard and Bobbi originally got to be such good friends (more than that actually; they dated for some time), and what actually went on in the woods that unleashed the evil. Here... bulls**t. Utter bulls**t. Here is why I think the movie sucked:
- The series is only 3 hours long... what the f**k? A novel the size of The Tommyknockers can't possibly be fit into a 3-hour long series. What about the minor stuff that, although minor, can't be taken out without a serious loss in credibility? Like Hilly. There wasn't much of him or his disappearing act with his little brother David, and there certainly wasn't enough of his tenure at Altair-4 or their frantic search for his body. And what about Gard and how he opened up the hole to suck in his conniving ex-poker buddy after getting cheated on a poker game? That scene would have been amazing in the movie. But no. None of it.
-The changes the authors made in the plotline. Seriously. Get some things at least partially right, then change what you have to in order to fulfill whatever sick and twisted purpose you had in mind when changing the original. But they take it too far. Example: in the novel, Gard and Bobbi's teeth originally fell out because of their "becoming"; now, nothing. And, the aliens themselves have a full set of teeth (that part in the novel)... so why the (insert obscenity here) did they change it?!?!
The only reason I gave this particular hellfest two stars is cause the original was made by Stephen King. No other reason. If you are looking for a good time, buy the damn book. It's the real thing- unlike this piece of s**t.
Overall: 2 stars
Why: for failure to be entertaining
Movie Review: Too different from the book to be good
Summary: 2 Stars
The Tommyknockers is a good, scary read. As a movie, though, the only things keeping it from total failure are Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger. I've seen Smits in some very poor movies, but he seems to manage a good to great performance regardless.The main difference between the book and the film is that in the book the ship was causing the townsfolk to mutate into the species that designed the ship, which explains the loss of teeth, etc. The movie doesn't make much sense, even if you've read the book.
There are several screen adaptations of King's work that are better than this. I really enjoyed Firestarter and Pet Sematary and they stayed fairly close to the book. The same is true for The Dead Zone, which also has IMO the best performance ever by Christoper Walken. Carrie is also a very good movie, The Shining was good, and Salem's Lot is a pretty good "stab" at traditional horror in the form of vampires. Of course, Green Mile, The Stand, and Shawshank Redemtion are great movies, too.
There are more bad movies from King's books than there are good ones, though. Both incarnations of his short story "Trucks" are bombs. Maximum Overdrive was hilariously bad, with a Emilio Estevez that is way over the top. It was remade as Trucks in 1998 and it was at least as bad as the original. The concept of inanimate objects somehow gaining intelligence is a bit silly except as a short story. By the time you realize how silly the idea is, you've finished reading. Sometimes They Come Back is poor, It was okay, the Langoliers and Sleepwalkers were so bad they made me laugh, Creepshow was pretty good in spite of being cartoonish, Thinner was okay (but Kari Wuhrer was underutilized).
I'd love it if they could make a good movie from the Dark Tower series or Insomnia.
Movie Review: WHO'S THAT KNOCKING IN THE WOODS
Summary: 2 Stars
THE TOMMYKNOCKERS is one of the more unsuccessful of Stephen King adaptations to hit the screen. Originally a 1993 tv miniseries, the movie suffers from lackluster direction, mediocre performances and no sense of true suspense or horror. Typically set in a homey little New England town, the plot centers on the discovery of a mysterious object in the woods by a local writer (Marg Helgenberger) who along with her alcoholic poet boyfriend(a poorly cast Jimmy Smits) decides to keep it a secret until the whole thing is unearthed. Meanwhile, a ghostly green light emits from the object, causing the townspeople to go bonkers in one form or another, whether it be by inventing stupid gadgets or wandering around with glowing green eyes. At three hours, THE TOMMYKNOCKERS definitely overstays its welcome and that is one problem in watching a miniseries in one take; it can become redundant. Tighter direction and a more focused cast could have helped but aside from John Ashton, EG Marshall and Joanna Cassidy in supporting roles, most of the performances seem phone in, and Traci Lords is ridiculously hilarious as the postal slut. A real misfire.