Awful with a stupid ending!

Rating: 1/10 (4 December 2007)

I will be the first person to admit that I patiently waited for this film to make its way into the theater. Although I have never read the novella by Stephen King, for which the film is based, I've heard enough about the story from friends to anticipate a masterpiece. What could go wrong? Frank Darabont, Mr. Shawshank himself, was in the director's chair. Instead of great film like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Mr. Darabont has delivered what is perhaps the biggest turkey of the year. Being a horror fan for nearly 40 years, I can't remember when I've walked out of a theater with such disappointment. The religious references that pervade this film are so overwhelming, as to cause nausea. I felt like I was being preached to at every corner. Understandably, Marcia Gay Harden's character is supposed to be portrayed as some whacked out religious zealot, and even that portrayal I can overlook, for her performance, along with Thomas Jane, is the only good thing in this film, for their acting is superior. But, when I watch a film, the last impression that I want to be left with, is a feeling that if the characters only had more faith, perhaps their deaths (at the hands of Thomas Janes character)could have been avoidable. The use of a hymn-like score chiming in just as Jane's character anguishes about the lives he just snuffed out, is plain ridiculous. Plus, after all of the time spent trying to flee the supermarket and remain alive, why would these characters be in such a rush to end their existence so quickly? This ending betrays the very nature of the characters that we have been led to care about. I understand that Stephen King approved this change in the ending. Shame on you Stephen. All in all, 1 out of 10.