Scary, Yes, But Not Coherent

Rating: 5/10 (14 May 2008)

I only recently saw The Shining for the first time and I have to say I was quite disappointed. While the performances by the actors are fantastic, and Nicholson plays a fantastic lunatic, I found the movie to be in-cohesive and to lack structure. Maybe it is necessary to read the book first to understand everything in the film, maybe not. Not having read the book, however, I found the movie full of loose ends that were never tied up. On a positive note, the film was sufficiently scary, I did find the suspense/thriller aspect of it very well done, and the scene with the blood spilling was very clever and disturbing. However, I found there was no explanation for many things. Danny's "Shining" ability seems pointless in the film. He sees things that we already know happened, he has this ability that doesn't help him in any way. His father still goes mad, and it is his mother's resourcefulness that saves them, not his ability. All his special talent does is make the kid a little scary, especially in the "redrum" scene. Apart from making him creepy, I don't think his "gift" serves any purpose in the film. It summons Halloran, and this part is built up and up with him coming to the rescue, and he is butchered before anything even remotely interesting happens, thus making his and Danny's ability an utter waste of time. The scene with the woman in the bathtub is gross, true, but pointless. It shows nothing. And the ending is very drawn out. When the film finally does conclude, and I was waiting for all these loose ends to be tied up, that photograph is shown of Jack in the past, confusing me ten times more and leaving the storyline completely open for interpretation. "You've always been here" is what he is told, and we see that, so what the heck was happening in the mean time, with Grady, with Jack's wife and son, with Halloran (didn't he know Jack was already caretaker?)... Nothing is answered, nothing is concluded, I found the ending really frustrating and disappointing. If this film was meant to be only a frightening thriller, then it has achieved its purpose. But if it was meant to be clever and cunning and show some hidden meanings, then it fails dismally. Good cast, good thrills, crappy structure, very stupid ending. I'll try my luck at the book and hope it is more satisfying.