Doctor Sleep Is Stunningly Good But It Is Not The Shining
I loved Doctor Sleep. I thought its plots, visuals, and cast were fulfilling as a horror movie that gave you Stephen King thrills and creepy, nightmare chills. Yet, was it The Shining?…..No. In that, might lie some divisiveness. While Doctor Sleep is, technically, The Shining sequel, following Danny (Ewan McGregor) as he tries to clean up his act by understanding his past/power, it feels like a separated film clinging to Kubrick’s masterpiece through scenic nods and attempts to recapture it grainy sense of horror.
I call it ‘The Lion King” complex, which, in a way, is a good problem to have. When you are trying to nod to old films like, the 90’s Lion King or 70’s classic, The Shining, adding bigger, stunning visuals kills the link between old and the new. For however many homages, Flanagan does to Kubrick’s masterpiece, Doctor Sleep feels like a film truly trying to be separate from its “father,” much like Danny. It is attempts to build bonds with its past that can, at times, cut the film from being its own masterpiece and fully embracing its Stephen King side. Yet, no one can deny, that McGregor’s performance, as a man avoiding inherited addictions, alcoholism, anchors audiences into the film’s the journey.
STEPHEN KING’S DOCTOR SLEEP – Final Trailer [HD]
McGregor makes Danny a one-man “loser’s club;” capturing the faded exuberance and unwavering spark of somebody that has faced the beyond and cannot , exactly, go to his local therapist to vent and heal. Imagine if Danny was in his 40s and decided to discuss all of The Shining with a psychiatrist; he would get locked up. Hence, we find Danny as someone trying to heal or, at least, let all that pent up baggage go, particularly, by helping others at a hospice. McGregor gives Danny a balance of tiredness and high morality that makes the character a big enough investment for viewers into this film. Frankly, the character-driven drama is what allows Flanagan to distinguish Doctor Sleep from its predecessor and gives it its own legs.
If Danny is a one-man loser club, I will call Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose The Hat the Fleetwood Mac version of Pennywise. Imagine Stevie Nicks creepily land-sliding into your dreams to terrorize and suck the life out of you. THAT is Ferguson’s Rose, and, frankly, you will love it. She brings an American Horror Story dynamic to the film that will enrapture audiences’ as a possible, “new fave villain,” especially because some of the movie’s most gorgeous, terrifying scenes are bound to her presence. The film embraces the dark-side of dreams, which is why I loved it. I am all about horror films going “Freddy Krueger” and turning fantasies into nightmares. Moreover, psychic powers that are burdensome to a protagonist …. yes, please.
STEPHEN KING’S DOCTOR SLEEP – Danny’s Journey Featurette [HD]
Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone is another heartfelt, strong anchor to the film, and allows McGregor’s Danny to grow as a protector and guide to a fellow psychic. His face-offs with Rose The Hat and her brood of dream-vampires find motivation through his bond with her, and, once again, further the film as its own separate sequel. It is NOT THE SHINING, and, in fact, it thrives when it embraces that it is not. Doctor Sleep comes out on November 8.
