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-
