The movie's opening introduces us to the new antagonists in a truly menacing scene before re-establishing the characters from The Shining. This is an almost exact recreation of the opening of King's Doctor Sleep book following young Danny dealing with his ordeal and abilities. There are a couple of slight spoiler differences which firmly establish this as a sequel to the movie of The Shining rather than the book but it's good to get up to speed on this quickly. It also provides us with some great horror-fantasy emotional beats and our first explicit return to the horrific visuals of that movie. Right away I must say that the film is not quite as eerily atmospheric or outright scary as Kubrick's movie or even director Mike Flanagan's brilliant adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, but it's nevertheless still effective and sets the tone of this particular story really well.
One scene of note which I did register was from the very start of the novel (which I have read previously) when the now-adult Dan is at his lowest moment. This scene in the book is almost uncomfortably bleak and emotionally disturbing, which is present here but only in more vague hints and less viscerally. This is partly due to the loss of Dan's internal monologue and conversations with his own conscience, here represented only fleetingly by another character's presence (although acted brilliantly). It's hard to say if it's better or worse, merely different. In any case it works for this movie and in all honestly King's writing in the book is a little plodding and drags on too much.
Similarly the next part of the film brilliantly condenses into about 20 or 30 minutes what took the book about a third of it's length to do. If you enjoy the fleshing out of Dan's new life or new protagonist Abra's family and maturation then you may be disappointed but I think this is a brilliant example of how to adapt a story into movie length. We hit all that we need; introducing Abra and her level of unique skills whilst also establishing Dan's struggles, continued possession of his own abilities and his new friends. This leads to connecting the two protagonists in ways that seem natural and relevant, culminating in gentle then explicit references to Danny's childhood at the Overlook hotel.
I want to focus now on the movies antagonist's; the True Knot. Their leader Rose "the hat" is an absolute powerhouse performance by Rebecca Ferguson. Absolutely the film's third lead who captivates and owns every moment on screen in a way that's vital to this character. Likewise young Andi is as intriguing as her book counterpart and her pathos brilliantly played. And in supporting roles everyone in this movie is brilliant with no bad performances and everyone delivering their character's purpose in a pitch perfect way as far as I'm concerned. At the risk of sounding repetitive young Jacob Tremblay appears in a role that grabs your heart and breaks it in two. Through acting and a truly disturbing horror sequence that's hard to watch he proves that this young man is already a skilled actor to watch.
The movie settles into it's main focus as the villainous characters are developed and thrust on a collision course with the protagonist. The pacing here is what I would call deliberate, cooling down a little after some real horror but never too slow or boring and often tense. These scenes are a definite improvement over the laborious writing in the book giving events more menace and urgency in my opinion. The young lead who plays Abra is outstanding, easily carrying the movie here. Director Flanagan also imbues these scene with very Kubrick-like images of weirdness that seem trippy and ethereal, which works so well, particularly as we start dealing with internal life as in something like Inception or the Elm Street movies, for example.
Though not exactly scary the film leads into an action sequence of sorts to round out the second act. There are definite horror images and one particularly harrowing moment even here though. The effects work is outstanding which I'd single out here in particular. The movie handles plot twists with a steady hand and like the spirits of the Overlook it slowly pulls you into the final act...
This last act is truly where the film becomes a sequel to what's come before. If I were feeling mischievous I would call it "Stephen King's Stanley Kubrick's The Shining 2 by Mike Flanagan". The film beautifully trades on the iconic imagery of Kubrick, even re-staging scenes that are arguably ingrained on our collective consciousness at this point. I'd also note here that the movie does some slight re-casting in moments that would potentially have employed cgi in recent times but which prove that good acting, directing and make-up can be far more effective. The film reaches a climax where it cannot use the book due to it's status as a film sequel but that surprised me incredibly pleasantly by closing it's narrative ironically using faithful reference to King's first book of The Shining! It brings things brilliantly full circle in every way and truly cements this as a worthwhile sequel with it's own story to tell in this world but which absolutely enhances and stands with what's come before. I can only say bravo.
The movie ends with a coda which pleasantly surprised me again with a beautiful message of hope in it's facing of horror and loss. Overall the movie thrilled and engaged me, although in honesty it didn't really scare me, being more of an emotional or psychological horror than any terror or jump scares. The cast and direction are near flawless though. The film is arguably still slightly too long but I wouldn't want to lose any of the third act and it's still positively breezy compared to it's source novel. Like King's novel the title seems almost incorrect involving a fairly minor part of the narrative but that's hardly the movie's fault, I personally think it's a better thematic sequel than the book and far more effective. I honestly can't wait to watch it again and see more work by everyone involved. Shine on, you crazy diamonds.
****1/2 (4.5/5)
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