The Shining
39 year after the release of Stanley Kubrick ’s adaptation ofStephen King ’s novelThe Shining , audiences have been treated to a continuation . It comes in the form ofDoctor Sleep , the 2013 follow up novel toThe Shining , this fourth dimension conform to the big CRT screen by Mike Flanagan . While most of the film stands inviolable on its own , the weak aspects of it come when it tries too hard to be what it really only loosely is , aShiningsequel . This tug - of - war between being a sequel to Kubrick ’s repulsion classic and being a faithful adaption of King ’s work has a lot to do with the material it ’s working from .
It ’s well get laid Kubrick took plenty of liberties with King ’s original employment , whichKing has been very critical of . Kubrick prefer for a far more cinematic adaptation as defend to a simple retelling of King ’s narrative . Key details such as Jack Torrance ’s relationship with his family were altered to give it a far substantial horror feeling . Not to mention scene such as the death of Dick Hallorann and the now - iconic " Here ’s Johnny ! " line were straight from the mind of Kubrick . King often describes the film as " like a openhanded , beautiful Cadillac with no locomotive inside it . "
Because of this , Doctor Sleep ’s conductor Mike Flanagan had a monumental task set before him . He needed to shine a rest between the story Kubrick’sShiningtells while also rest faithful to theDoctor Sleepnovel , which is , after all , a subsequence to the narrative of theShiningnovel . Flanagan was confront with the intimidating task of bridging the spread between the book ’s story and the film ’s story , which operate ( or does n’t ) to varying degree .
Doctor Sleep Is A Stephen King Movie For The First Two Hours
Doctor Sleepis a film that is very front - with child in regards to how it handles its beginning material . Much like the novel it ’s based on , it does not feel very much at all likeThe Shining . In fact , it almost feels like a freestanding story , carefully dust references and citation of its predecessor before continuing along its own path . This glide path is proof alone that this film did n’t needThe Shiningin order to still tell an challenging story . It introduce Dan Torrance in a way that makes him come along as a completely unexampled persona , and the inclusion Abra Stone and Rose The Hat as the arguable stars of the show seem to make it very cleared that this will not be aShiningrehash .
For the first two hour of the film , apart from some smaller detail , the story is fairly by - the - bit in regards to the Good Book . It is a Stephen King picture show , and is very clearly conscious of how to deal the story theDoctor Sleepnovel tells . It stays aside from Jack Torrance , The Overlook Hotel and really anything and everythingShiningrelated , boldly going out on its own to be a light continuation of the news report King had told . This is in like way to the novel , in which The Overlook is burned down and the event that happened within it are nothing more than minor point . King did n’t bank on theShiningstory in his piece of writing , so , therefore , Flanagan did n’t need to , either .
Doctor Sleep’s Ending Is Just Shining Fan Service
With that being said , Doctor Sleeptosses all of that away in the final 30 minute or so , much to the humiliation of many . Trading in a unique fib for something consanguineous to aShiningcrash grade , let in just about every pop culture reference Kubrick ’s film made famous . To word it simply , the finale of the film is allShiningfan service . From Dan acquit around an axe in similar fashion to his forefather , to the bloody elevator , Flanagan hit every individual note he could to prompt audience that yes , they are in fact watch a sequel to Stanley Kubrick ’s 1980 film as opposed to Stephen King ’s 1977 novel . In some way these references were subtle , but in many ways appear gratuitous , all in the name of nostalgia .
This approach is no new phenomenon . It ’s the same thing many major franchises such asStar WarsorJurassic Parkhave done for years . specially given thatDoctor Sleepisn’t on the nose as well - known as King ’s other works , there needed to be some extra effort put in so that audience knew why they should like . Nostalgia is a major Hollywood merchandising point right now , and what good means to get people to go see the film that includes name fall , references and set pieces from one of the most iconic horror films of all time ? Yes , merchandising is a very crucial component when producing any film or video series , however there was clearly more than just the omnipotent dollar bill that work howDoctor Sleepended .
Doctor Sleep Has To Change The Ending To Fit The Shining
The bad sticking point to all of this , and perhaps is the rationality whyDoctor Sleep ’s final act fell flat in the originality department , was because it was trying to adjust two very different works at once . Kubrick ’s vision of whatThe Shiningwas bore little resemblance to the novel it was based on . Most of the most iconic scenes of the film were 100 % Kubrick , especially the ending . There was no elbow room for the original finish of the novel in the film because Kubrick ’s story did n’t allow it to work organically .
In the novel , The Overlook cauterise down with Jack inside , who had experienced transformations similar to the ones Dan does in the motion-picture show , allow Wendy and Danny to escape , which is clearly a divergence from the end we got involving the hedging labyrinth and Jack becoming a human popsicle . Due to the changes made by Kubrick , Flanagan needed to incur a way to reason out the level in a way that did DoJ to the original cinema . The resolution was to essentiallygraft the proper end ofThe ShiningontoDoctor Sleepin the name of persistence .
Doctor Sleep Should Have Ignored The Movie
to respect the works of both King and Kubrick , there had to be compromise , which came in the form of buzz off the trueShiningfinale in its sequel while also including as many Kubrick reference point as potential to attach everything together . For as darling as Kubrick’sThe Shiningis , it would have doneDoctor Sleepa favor to guess the pic did not subsist . Not only did it make the final bit ofDoctor Sleepfall aside in its terminal 30 minutes , but it kept the plastic film from get its footing and stepping out from the shadow of the previous picture . The focal point shifted from being a for the most part standalone dangerous undertaking set in the same continuity to a bloated nostalgia trip .
It was clear from the start that the motion picture was capable of standing on its own without the aid of its predecessor , hence why the first two hour feel so much more natural compared to the ending . In shoehorn the ending ofThe Shiningnovel in at the last minute , Doctor Sleepbecame less of a continuation and more of a monitor of why most viewers come to see the film in the first place . It remains to be envision where the news report will unfeignedly end , but at the very least it appear that Dan , Jack , The Overlook andThe Shiningstory can finally be laid to residue .
NEXT : Doctor Sleep : 5 ground Why It;s A Worthy Sequel To The Shining ( & 5 Why It ’s Not )
