Somewhat Of A Disappointment...

Rating: 6/10 (23 March 2008)

At the moment, I'm reading the Stephen King novel. I'm a little past halfway through the book. I'd seen fragments of the movie before, including the end, so I thought "What the hell? I'll watch it while it's on." I was engrossed for the first thirty minutes, until I realised how little interest I held in the characters. Yes, Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance is amazing, and his descent into madness is one of the most interesting parts of the film, but... How could anyone sympathize with him? Or Danny? Or Wendy? In the novel, you understand what motivates each of these characters. In the film, you're just expected to accept them doing what they do as they do it. I can give Kubrick that he didn't have a whole lot of time for characterization if he wanted to add in all he did, but I'd have liked to see more, which is rare for me after watching a two and one-half hour movie.
One thing the film gets completely right is the mood: along with the characters, you actually feel trapped within the Overlook. Even the establishing shots of the road leading up to the hotel are foreboding, despite how amazingly beautiful they are. Each of Jack's hallucinations (if you can call them that) are startling and, for lack of a better word, trippy. His slow descent into insanity is enthralling. Tony's "appearances," though considerably disappointing when put next to the novel's version, are also horrifying.
However, as I said before, the problem is characterization. I could have cared less for anyone on the screen, whether they lived or died. I can look past the lack of wasps or firehose snakes (though I would have loved to see Danny call one a "cheap little prick") or hedge monsters; I just want characters I can sympathize with, who I can feel something for. I congratulate the actors wholeheartedly for doing what they can with a script that seems sometimes forced, as if dialog was hastily thrown in just for the sake of it. All I want is to care what happens to the characters in the end. That's not to say I wasn't scared or tensed-up when the time came; it's just to say that, after all I've heard of the film, this is just somewhat of a disappointment.
If nothing else, Nicholson's performance alone makes the film worth watching.