Someone give Frank Darabont exclusive license, please

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2007)

Frank Darabont aims for the nosebleed seats and achieves it with resounding success. He has managed to take a Stephen King story that could have easily been nothing but a B-movie schlock film and translated it into a rich, engrossing film that is right up there with the best of the King adaptations.
The acting in this film was superb on all counts. I've always liked Thomas Jane and I think he makes a great leading man. You'll see a couple of Darabont regulars here like Bill Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn and they deliver as usual. Toby Jones isn't the Ollie Weeks that I pictured from the story but he's one of the best things about the film. Laurie Holden is great also and Frances Sternhagen excels in a role that seems tailor made for her. Marcia Gay Harden's turn as Mrs. Carmody is the kind of performance that is of Oscar quality. Most likely it won't happen but I'd love to see an acting nomination spring up come Oscar time.
The special effects aren't so great but they're not so bad either. The movie is pretty gruesome at times and several people get shredded to bits quite nicely.
What I love most about this film is that Darabont pretty much does the same thing he did with Shawshank: he takes the original source and expands upon it without ruining the integrity of the original story. There are small additions here and there with the ending fleshed out into a logical and more definitive denouement. None of what is added ruins the story in anyway, it enhances it. The man is an actor's director and again, I have to praise the acting in this film for keeping me rooted in the sense of dread and despair that weighs down on you from the very beginning and is so essential to the story.
Go see this movie but be warned for it's a rough ride. It's really tense for pretty much the entire runtime and it's a very dark film.
RATING: ****1/2 out of *****.