Tubi Thursday: Doctor Sleep (2019)

 With everyone gushing about Mike Flanagan's work at Netflix (haven't seen it yet), let's look at his work in Film.

Can you (or Stephen King himself) follow up his most iconic work (and Film adaptation- even if he hates it)?

Danny Torrance was never the same after his time in The Overlook.

Can you blame him?

Hell, even his memory is going, as he's confused Carl Lumbly for Scatman Crothers.

In 2019, he's apparently gotten his act together and, unofficially, become Doctor Sleep at a Hospice Clinic, since he can see when he people are about to die (or, in his words, go to sleep).

I sure hope you think that the whole Doctor Sleep thing isn't key to the Story (in spite of it being the Title of the Book and Film)...because it isn't.

Danger lurks as a group of 'steam' sucking creatures known as the True Knot are on the loose.  

They are killing people with his kind of powers (and presumably also Firestarters) to stay immortal.

Beats Maybelline, I guess.

A young girl named Abra (whom King claims was not named after Abracadabra, but...come on!) inadvertently becomes their target, since she has untapped, raw power!

She's the best 'magical black girl targeted for her seemingly limitless power' I've seen since Rose Walker on Netflix's The Sandman.

They can stay young on her 'steam' forever, she explains.

Well, except for Carl Struycken- he's always looked old (even when he was Lurch).

Well, they teased you with it and the beginning of the Film and then made you wait 90+ minutes for it, so let's go back to The Overlook Hotel (which wasn't condemned and demolished?!?) for the Finale.

Eh, it still makes more sense than when they went there in Ready Player One.

Can they stop the True Knot?
To find out, stream the Film now.

A good Film, but I think it might be a double-edged sword.  By all accounts, Flanagan has been very successful with his long-form, limited series format for Netflix.

That said, he paced this one like one of those...and that's a problem.

Positives- the Film looks great.  

It has a decent enough Plot, good Acting (especially from Ferguson and McGregor), good effects, creative ideas and doesn't do a disservice to the original Film.  I can't point to any one Scene really and go 'This is bad' or 'This needs to be changed somehow.'

There's plenty to like here.

Mind you, the Film is very long and very drawn out.  Things seem to be set up, drawn out, expanded upon and then suddenly stop.  I'm looking at you, Villain who seems to be important...until they just die before the Third Act.

If you're patient and understand that this Film seems to not have an Editor, you can enjoy it.  My only other issue would be just how much it leans on the Overlook stuff to sell the Film.  The Film was considered a failure at the Box Office- it brought in about 13% of the sales of It: Chapter 2- so maybe that didn't work out too well.

Did we need the Stand-Ins for the Actors either too old, too dead or too retired though?  No.  It is just a step above using CGI to 'reanimate' the dead Actors.

In summary, Doctor Sleep is a good Film...that is just too damn long.  It is even longer than Kubrick's Film.  I'm just saying.

Ironically, the Film brought back the famous Twins...but won't get a sequel.  Oh well.

A great Film...that should have been a mini-series.  If only there was a way to turn Stephen King Stories into a Mini-Series- has anyone ever tried that?!?