A Very Good Movie That Could Have Been Great

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2002)

Wasted potential bothers me - whether in a person or in a movie. It bothers me here. I want to love this movie. I want to think it's a masterpiece. But it misses that height by just a little bit because while it's very good, it could have been great.
There's a great story here that could have worked so well. Jack Nicholson is Jack Torrance, a writer who finds the perfect opportunity. He's going to take his wife and young son (Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd respectively) off to a secluded resort in the Colorado Rockies for the winter. They'll be the only ones there; Jack will work as the custodian and have all sorts of time for writing too. But the unexpected happens. Jack has writers' block. Anyone who writes for a living knows how frustrating that can be. Combined with the seclusion of the resort, Jack begins to slowly drift into insanity, with repercussions for the whole family. If that had been the story, this would have been a great movie; a masterpiece - simply because it's so plausible. Unfortunately ...
Well, Stephen King (who wrote the book that this is based on) felt the need to take a story that would have been absolutely chilling because of its plausibility and turn it into some sort of rather silly supernatural/psychic adventure. It seems that Danny has visions and hears voices, etc., etc. The focus keeps coming off Nicholson's descent into insanity and back to this psychic bit, which makes the whole thing nothing more than a flight of fancy, when it could have been bitingly real. Combined with an ending that was - to me at least - the epitome of anti-climax, this movie really lost a lot in my estimation.
Don't get me wrong. It's a very good movie. The performances are excellent. Jack Nicholson was born to play parts like this, and he is superb here. Shelley Duvall is convincing as his increasingly terrified wife, and Danny Lloyd does well - even though I wasn't sold on his character's psychic abilities. It was a pleasure to see Scatman Crothers in a supporting role as Dick Hallorann, the resort's chef who shares Danny's psychic ability. I've always liked Scatman Crothers. Stanley Kubrick does a magnificent job of building suspense. You will be on the edge of your seat throughout, and time and time again you will think something is about to happen, except that more often than not nothing happens, so you just start to get comfortable when you suddenly get shocked. This is one of Kubrick's best in my opinion.
Watch this. It's a very good movie. It simply could have been better and more believable.
7/10 (would have been a 9 if it had been told straight without the psychic nonsense.)