Rish Outfield's reviews
One of King's best books, and also, one of the best adaptations.
To be brief: Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) is involved in a car accident that leaves him in a coma for five years. When he awakens, his girlfriend is married, his job is gone, his mother is ill, and he has a strange, frightening new ability: when he touches someone, he can see their future, or past (or someone else's present, it's hard to explain). His life, already turned upside down, is forever changed by this gift/curse.
Hey, that wasn't so bad. It sounded sorta like the back of a video case, but who cares?
Can any film be TRULY faithful to a book? After all, you create images in your mind as you read, you get inside characters' heads, you understand history and motivation and details that would be impossible to film. But this is a really nice adaptation. Jeffrey Boam's script covers most of the major events in the novel, yet doesn't feel rushed or abbreviated. It follows the plot and like a skipping stone, touches down on certain points, then skims over more. Even though I just read the book, I felt satisfied by the film, without constantly thinking of scenes and characters that were omitted. That's a major feat. I found this to be one of King's most tragic tales, and it was translated well to the screen. The icy, bone-chilling Canadian backdrop really suits this film (I would never want to live there), emphasizing, either intentionally or not, the harshness and cruelty of the story. There's a gray tint to everything in the movie (it could just be a bad print), but it felt intentional, like the gray cover of the novel.
It has a great cast: Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, and Martin Sheen as Greg Stillson (I don't know if I can watch "The West Wing" without thinking of his performance as Stillson . . . scary). I would've said Christopher Walken was miscast as Johnny Smith (is it just me, or at the beginning, does Walken look just like John Denver?) but he pulls it off, and his creepiness even fits the character. I don't personally like Cronenberg as a director (his stuff is always so slimy and bleak), but this film really works (and the bleakness was there, but without the slime). It was a restrained tale, void of special effects or blood or sex, but was never dull or seemed long. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was produced by Debra Hill, of Halloween fame.
Best Scare: It's not really scary, in fact, you could argue that it's not really a horror film. I wouldn't listen, but go ahead, argue.
I'd Recommend It To: Fans of the book. I'd suggest you see the movie first, but it works the other way as well.