Almost perfect

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2013)

This film is a testament to everyone involved, as well as to Stephen King's imagination. The performances are excellent and, typical of a Stephen King story, there is some real human drama that drives the story just as much as the more supernatural occurrences. The one problem I had, however, was with the latter. The thing is, most anybody, if they saw something like the events in this movie, would be shaken, to say the least. And not just at the time, but long after, questioning what they saw, if it was real and whether they might be going insane. But that doesn't really seem to happen here. Everybody's reaction to something that by rights ought to be world-shattering is really quite underwhelmed, comparatively anyway. Most of all Paul's wife, who doesn't doubt her husband's story in the slightest, and even starts giving him advice about it as though she were telling him how to ask his boss for a raise.
Of course I understand that the film wouldn't work if you had to show all of the characters reacting realistically and making a big fuss. There wouldn't be time, for one thing. But you'd think they could have reworked the story a bit. Maybe not have Paul tell his wife, for example. Anyway, it's a minor point and it shouldn't spoil this film for you by a long way. But it is the reason - probably the only reason - why I like Frank Darabont's other King adaptation, The Shawshank Redemption, a little bit better still.