Movie Review - The Stand

The Stand (1994)

Starring Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Jamey Sheridan, Laura San Giacomo, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and Bill Fagerbakke (the tall guy from the 90s tv series Coach)

Directed by Mick Garris

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

On my list of things to watch for a couple years now, this six-hour four-part miniseries that aired on ABC in 1994 is apparently a rather faithful version of Stephen King's epic, lengthy novel The Stand.  While I've never read the book, King himself performed the adaptation to the small screen and is said to be happy with the final product, so I can only assume that it's a rather legit interpretation of the novel.

Unfortunately, I would have loved to have seen this six hour presentation created by the likes of HBO or even AMC, because as it stands now, the film is just too sanitized for its own good.  Watching the movie, I longed for the macabre undertone present in King's novels, but it just wasn't on display here.  This is a movie about the complete and utter destruction of mankind by a plague.  Hundreds of millions of people have died and for some reason the tension just isn't there.  For the survivors immune to the disease, they have broken up into two factions -- one headed by the saintly Grandmother Abagail (Ruby Dee) and the other led by the devil incarnate Randall Flagg (Jamey Sheridan).  Needless to say, as is the case in many of King's novels, it's a fight to the death between good and evil and, to King's credit, good doesn't always win.  [Admittedly, I'm a big fan of the fact that King is completely unafraid to kill off his characters and in The Stand, that's certainly the case.]

While I enjoyed the story and surprisingly didn't feel like it was too drawn out considering its length, the film is hampered by the fact that with the exception of a few actors (including Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, and Bill Fagerbakke), the acting is atrocious.  There's a reason Molly Ringwald didn't make it out of the 80s.  And Laura San Giacomo (probably best known for playing the lead in the sitcom Just Shoot Me) is painful and rather embarrassing to watch.

Granted, as I mentioned above, it doesn't help the actors that they're forced to perform such a "safe" and "sanitized" version of King's work.  Although King adapted the novel himself, I'm sure that had he his druthers, he would have gone all out with the dark undertones that I'm guessing were quite evident in his book.  I have to imagine that the character of Randall Flagg in the novel is imposing and frightening at times, but in the film, with his mullet and jeans jacket, he just inspires laughs.

For all these qualms, however, I'm happy I can check this one off of my list of things to watch.  I don't feel like I wasted my time (despite the rating below), but it would've been a much better movie had this been done on a cable network as opposed to a broadcast one.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Ransom

Ransom (1996)

Starring Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Donnie Wahlberg, and Liev Schrieber

Directed by Ron Howard

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Not that the trailer for Ransom in and of itself is all that amazing, but in 1996, Mel Gibson's uttering of the film's somewhat classic line, "Give me back my son!", was played seemingly ad nauseum in theaters and on tv.  It's a simple line, but in that one line reading from Mel, the primal, guttural instinct of a parent who has had a child kidnapped shines through and Gibson shows why everyone loved him prior to his late aughts breakdown.  As far as the film goes, despite it's completely generic nature and its by-the-book direction from Ron Howard, Ransom does the job required of it, continuously ratcheting up the tension until the rather silly, although plausible climax.

There's no need to go into any plot summaries here as the film doesn't deviate from any standard kidnapping flick.  Rich parents get their son kidnapped and the abductors demand a significant ransom for the return of the child.  Sure, there are slight turns along the way, but there's absolutely nothing new brought to the table either by the writers or by the director.  

Nevertheless, the film does exactly what it needs to do in order to be entertaining.  In part, all the actors really step up to the plate.  From Gibson and Rene Russo as the distraught parents to Delroy Lindo as the FBI agent helping to track down the kidnapper to Gary Sinise as a troubled cop, the acting lifts up all the generic roles to a degree higher than what they likely deserved.

Yes, I find myself criticizing the film above, but I also was thoroughly entertained throughout Ransom.  I'd seen this upon its release and remembered liking it back then and wasn't disappointed upon the rewatch.

On a completely unrelated note, I find it quite odd that I've now watched two kidnapping movies in the span of four days...slightly odd how that happened.

And on another completely unrelated note (one that I've said before), I miss Mr. Gibson as an actor.  

The RyMickey Rating:  B