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Needless to say when I heard Doctor Sleep was being adapted I was excited, but I didn't go see it. Mainly out of insecurity regarding the trailer. It seemed that it was gonna pick up more where the Kubrick Film left off rather than make a movie based on the novel. Which is ok, because most people got introduced to the Shining, myself included, through said movie. Though in my case it was the Simpson's parody of that movie called "The Shinning."
Now before I--
S.T.: Hey straight up, has anyone bought my music yet?
Straight Up: Aside from one very loyal and supportive fan, no, but your advertising on Newgrounds seems to work better in your favor.
S.T.: Great. Let me know if you need anything.
Straight Up: S.T. let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?
S.T.: Straight up are you ok?
Straight Up: I'm fine. We're gonna make a new rule. When you come in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing or whether the fuck you hear me doing, when I'm in here I'm working. Now you think you can handle that?
S.T.: Wow that Kubrick-geist really got you worse than I thought.
Straight Up: Just get the fuck out of here.
Now where was I?
Now I have nothing against the Kubrick movie as a stand alone movie. I will strongly fight for the novel and the mineseries' merits more than movie simply because it was King's book first. This wasn't the reason why I didn't watch it until now.
What made me hesitate to watch this movie, is because while I like the Novel and Mini-Series better, doing a sequel to the Kubrick Shining would seem much more complicated due to the following factors:
In the Kubrick Movie, there was little to no reference to Jack Torrance's Alcoholism within it. Instead Kubrick and Jack Nicholson made the conscious decision to make it seem that Jack was unhinged and abusive from the start and that the booze only destroyed inhibitions of his deepest desires. Whereas in the Novel, the booze was the main cause of his problems and Jack's temptation aside, he was a caring and loving father. So when you write a novel that depicts mostly the struggles with alcoholism as a huge plot point and a sequel as a follow up to that, it kind of derails what Kubrick intended.
However that's just minor. The major cause for concern was the ambiguity in the Kubrick movie. Whether or not the ghosts and the overlook haunting were real or hallucinations of minds slipping into delusion. In the novel and the miniseries, they made no such ambiguity, that the ghosts were real and only a minor part of the problem compared to the entity of the overlook itself. Whereas in the Kubrick movie there was more ambiguity. Kubrick himself does not believe in spirits because he thinks Life after Death is something to look forward to even if you're going to hell. So naturally he'd reflect that on his work. Even the subtle proof that they are real, such as the scene where Delbert Grady let's Jack out of the pantry, has been the subject of debate. So naturally any sequel that picks up more from the movie than the book would have to answer that ambiguity. Now it would have been interesting if Mike Flannigan did go the other way and insist there were no ghosts, no supernatural stuff whatsoever and that Danny may have inherited Jack's madness. However needless to say I'm glad he had as much respect for King as he did for Kubrick because he flat out says the ghosts in the first movie were real after all.
Without further adieu let's talk about the movie.
The movie itself in a surprising twist, begins the exact same year the Shining took place in 1980. While Jack and his Family are currently in the Overlook, a little girl with special powers is lured into a forest by a mysterious woman named Rose The Hat. Who entertains her through magic tricks. However much like a certain psychotic clown located in Derry Maine, it's all a ruse for Rose and her gang The True Knot, to kidnap her for nefarious purposes.
Not long after the events of the Shining, Danny and Wendy Torrence are living somewhat peacefully in Florida. The events have caused Danny to become mute and while he's away from the Overlook, residents of the Overlook continue to haunt him. The first being the rotten bathtub woman that strangled him. Dick Halloran appears to him, much like in the book. Only where he survived in the book, he appears in spirit due to his death in the movie. He gives Danny a box and explains to him other uses of the Shining. Such as using it to trap evil spirits in his own mind. He also informs him that one day he'll have to meet someone else and teach them the ways of the Shining and protect them like Dick tried and failed to protect Danny.
Danny begins to speak to Wendy after capturing the first ghost. Turning the hunter into the hunted.
The movie then flashes forward to 2011. While Dan, now played by Ewan McGregor was able to capture the ghosts of the Overlook as the years went by, he never got over the trauma of the Overlook and after his mother died, he resorted to drinking, drugs and fighting. Slowly turning into the man his father once was. He eventually hit rock bottom when he robbed and left a drunk, drugged out and dying single mother. Heading to New Hampshire to start anew. He meets and befriends Billy Freeman who makes and maintains a tiny town model and recognizes Danny as a fellow recovering alcoholic. Freeman sets him up with an apartment and sponsors him at AA. The head of the branch gives him a job at a hospice as a custodian. As a result he meets a very peculiar resident. A cat named Azzy who has a knack for telling people which old person is dying. Using his abilities, Danny comforts a scared old man before it's his time to go, earning him the name Doctor Sleep. Meanwhile he gets into telepathic contact with a little girl named Abra Stone. Whose Abilities exceed his own. At the same time the True Knot is scouting for a new member. Snakebite Andi, a teenage man-hating, woman whose moniker comes from the marks she leaves on the face of her victims. Mostly men who prey on teenagers, whom she subdues with her ability to "Push" an ability similar to that of Andy McGee in Firestarter. In which her victims follow every word she says with the power of suggestion. Rose recruits her which is pretty hypocritical and I'll tell you why later.
8 years fly by and Danny earns his 8 year token. Around the same time, Abra's parents are slightly aware of not only her powers, but her talks with her imaginary friend Dan. They take it in stride at first, but worry she may be going crazy over various traumas she refuses to explain. One day, the True Knot, stalk a little league prospect who can shine and uses his abilities to win at Baseball. Here we find out what exactly the True Knot has intended for not just him, but the little girl they kidnapped in the beginning. The True Knot are essentially psychic vampires that feed off what is known to them as "Steam" a vapour-like byproduct of those with psychic abilities expel when they're exposed to sever trauma. The way these Vamps extract it is through physical torture. Which they've inflicted on the little girl 39 years ago along with other kids, centuries before and after. Any left over is placed in specialized cans, that look similar to that of a group vape session. Now here's where things get hypocritical. Snakebite Andi, should by all intents and purposes question the True Knot in their practices, since if you take the supernatural element out, their tactics are similar to that of Child Molestors, Human Traffickers and murderers. The kind of people she herself has been using her abilities to destroy, before the turn. However not only does she partake in the True Knot's crimes, she is the one that lured that poor kid into the van. This is especially jarring, when you consider her backstory in the novel. Her hatred of men came from being molested by her father and her swearing revenge on all men as the result of it. Now you could argue, that because it's a boy, it made it more easier for her to do so, because in her mind it would mean one less future man. However two things wrong with that. One, this was 8 years after she got recruited. Meaning in those 8 years she herself has personally preyed on children, men and women alike. Two, I'll get to right now. During the torture, Rose discovers that Abra has been watching her the entire time. Because she was shining from a far distance, Rose sees this as a potential chance to have an abundance of steam. Believing months, maybe years of prolonged torture, would give them enough to last for more centuries. So naturally after extracting the steam from the baseball kid, she sets her sights on Abra.
Taking a chance, Abra goes to meet Dan to inform him about the True Knot and the baseball boy and asks him for help finding is body, so they could track them through Psychometry. Dan refuses and advises her to hide her shine. However after Azzy alerts him to Dick Halloran's presence, Dick urges him to rescue Abra as repentance for his dark past.
Rose tries to enter Abra's mind through astral protjection, but Abra set a trap for her. Locking her hands in a filing cabinet while she invades Rose's mind instead. Causing Rose to panic and flee while Abra gets the information she's looking for. The location of the Baseball kid, which she sends to Dan through her own projection. Dan in turn recruits his friend Billy Freeman, who didn't believe him at first, but upon finding the body, offers to help him further. They go to Abra's house, but Abra's father, Dave Stone, mistakes Dan for a pedophile and tries to harm him. Forcing Abra to use her powers to show what happened to the boy. Leading to one of my favourite parts in the movie. The man at first pours the biggest drink he could find in his kitchen. Which is especially hilarious for the following reasons:
In reality if you discovered your kid had psychic powers, you'd want to drink to. Even if you're 100% a teetotaller, that shit would make you want to drink. That's hilarious enough, but what makes it even more funnier, is that he does it in front of two people who are known recovering alcoholics. To top it off, while they're normally supposed to discourage drinking, said two have a look on their faces that says "I don't blame you man." And before you all say how this is not funny because Recovering Alcoholism is a serious business. I agree it's serious, however bare in mind this was based on a book written by Stephen King, a known recovering alcoholic and drug addict, whom even post sobriety has no qualms taking the piss out of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous. While at the same time talk about their merits. Hell the Shining miniseries had Steven Webber's Jack Torrance go on a long comedic impression of the meetings he attended.
Moving on. They stage a plan to trap the members of the True Knot. Said plan apparently involves Abra sitting on a park table waiting for them. The only one seemingly left behind is Rose, due to the injury she sustained in her last encounter. Snakebite Andi leads the charge trying to use her Push Abra. And this is my Reason Two. She's going after a little girl using the same tactics the people she despises used on little girls like herself. So no fucking sympathy. She tries to Grab Abra, only to find that it's a stuffed Rabbit that Abra projected her astral self onto. The trap is set. Danny and Billy fire on the group reducing their numbers and making them suffer, knowing that Rose is feeling the pain of each one of them dying. The last one remaining is Snake bite Andi. She makes Dan sleep, but Billy gets the drop on her. In her dying moments, she makes Billy shoot himself with her own rifle. Danny barely awake in time to stop her. However, while they know Rose has stayed behind, Abra and Danny realize there's only one person left. Crow Daddy, who got the drop on her and her father. Killing the father and drugging Abra. This was a bit of a Peeve of mine because they survived in the book, but a lot of people lived in one King book to die in a King movie, so I'll save my anger for the worst parts. Which I'll get to later.
After Danny discovers Dave dead and unable to find Abra both physically and telepathically, he gets tempted to drink once more. However his need to save her outweighs his addictions and he uses his shine to tune into her weak signal. After finding her, he possesses Abra and has a conversation with Crow Daddy. Letting him know he killed his friends and informing him that he didn't put his seatbelt on. Danny, through Abra forces Crow Daddy's car to hit a tree killing him. Leaving Rose for last. Rose in a fit of rage, drinks the remaining steam canisters and in the words of the Major, gets White Girl Wasted off psychic energy. Danny finds Abra. Knowing that Rose is tracking them, Danny takes Abra to the one place where he knows they have a fighting chance against her. The Overlook Hotel. Now since the hotel was intact in the Kubrick movie, it was merely condemned, meaning that it still has the entity responsible for the ghosts inside. To wake it up, Danny goes in. Taking a stroll down memory lane. He meets the ghost of his father in the form of Lloyd The Bartender. Who tempts him into going off the wagon and tries to persuade him to kill Abra so the Overlook can have her steam. Much like the True Knot, the Overlook has a craving for psychic energy. Rose approaches the hotel and Abra goes inside with Dan. They wait for her in the common room with Danny armed with Jack's axe. Their plan initially was to try to trap Rose into another box. Like he did with the Overlook Ghosts. However she proves too strong for the track and Danny forces Abra to run while he tries to fight her off. She wounds him in the leg with his own axe and discovers, Danny too had an abundance of Steam even in his adult age. Upon looking trough his memories, she discovers the boxes. Which was Danny's back up plan. He unleashes the Overlook Ghosts upon Rose, who proceed to feast upon her until she's nothing left but steam. However, still starving for more, they go after Danny, feeding on him and possessing him like they did Jack. Abra finds the Ghosts loose and is confronted by the heart of the Overlook possessing Danny. However Abra informs them that Danny set the boiler to blow. Allowing Abra to escape. Fearing for their unlife, they flee to the boiler and find it too late to stop it, while Danny stays to die, reuinting with his mother's ghost as the Overlook finally goes up in flames. Abra is back at home and Danny visits her one last time. Advising her to shine on and look for others like her. The story ends with her dealing with the Bathtub Woman, that Danny trapped in 1980.
The movie as a whole is not bad, but there are a few things I didn't like about it.
For starters, the ending. In the Novel it was implied that Jack's Ghost helped Danny and Abra destroy Rose. Now that can be easily justified, because that version of Jack was more loving and caring than the Kubrick version. So it'd make no sense for him to suddenly try to save his kid. That I can let slide.
Second off, this one is minor too, but it needs to be said. Abra's relation to Danny. In the book Abra was Danny's niece, where in the movie she isn't. Now it would have not bothered me because of the obvious reason why she isn't related to him. When I saw the trailer, I initially assumed, that because she was played by a POC actress, that her parents were both POCs. And it could easily been explained that she was one of the many rare kids like Danny that have a better shine than most other people. Or if you really wanna go there, they'd be distant relatives of Dick Halloran, in an effort to explain the Shine hereditary in a different way. However, her mother is white. Now this also wouldn't be a problem, because I don't hate interracial couples and even to this day it's rare to see any both straight, gay and bi in terms of media. To go even further, if not for interracial couples, greats like Brandon Lee and Vin Diesel wouldn't exist. That there isn't why I have a problem with that. However, in the book, it's mentioned that Abra's mother, is Danny's half sister and that both got the shine from their father Jack. Storywise it would have made a lot of sense if they were still related and it would have kept Dave from punching Danny in the face if he knew that the guy posing as her uncle was really her uncle the whole time. He'd even probably welcome the guy with open arms had he lived through the movie.
Which leads me to my third reason. Why the fuck did you kill Danny Torrance off? I mean if you wanted Ewan McGregor to play a psychic mentor who will eventually die, you should have just watched Star Wars instead. This was a man who experienced unspeakable traumas when he was a kid, from ghosts haunting him, to his dad trying to kill him and his mom to his dad killing a man he became fast friends with. A man who after 8 years, managed to rid himself of his own demons and used his powers to help people. A lot of King characters have already gotten enough shit end sticks before death since he first established himself as an author: Carrie White, John Coffee, Eddie Kasperak, Andy McGee, you name it. All haunted with special powers, all had to endure abuse and trauma all ending up killed for their trouble. If anyone though deserves the mother of all breaks it's Danny. King takes a lot of shit regarding the endings of his own books and adaptations, yet this is the one time where I preferred the book ending more than the movie ending. The book ended with Danny not only living, but having more to live for. And the fact that on top of taking away any relation between the two and killing him, I feel like he's been done dirty in this movie.
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