Monday, May 29, 2006

Made for TV Movie: Stephen King's Desperation

When I heard that a made for tv movie of one of my favorite Stephen King novels, "Desperation" would be hitting ABC (at least, I think it was ABC) I was worried. I didn't think they could pull off such an incredible book in such a short time frame... sadly I was right.

The movie begins with great promise as the first few scenes are done in great detail. Sadly this comes to a quick end as more of the story is dropped each scene. So much is left out that watching I felt robbed of any real depth in both the story and characters.

By the end of the movie a person who has not read the book will be lost. Most notably is a phrase Tom Skerrit's character Johnny Marinville says towards the end of the movie... "God Bomb". This phrase makes perfect sense to those who have read this masterpiece, but for those who haven't, all I can say is read the book.

The best thing I can say about this movie is the cast. Although I personally think that Collie Entragian was oddly cast, the rest of the cast was chosen beautifully. It's just a shame that as much attention was not paid to the script.

To summarize, once again I was let down by a stinker of an adaptation, just as I expected to see.


Worst Adaptation of a Stephen King novel:
The Dark Half
The Shining (Kubrick)
IT
The Lawnmower Man (alike in name only)
The Running Man (alike in name only)


NP: Dream Theater - I Walk Beside You

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