Mike Flanagan masterfully adapts King’s source material, and Ewan McGregor and Kyliegh Curran are perfect as Dan and Abra. Speaking of Dan Torrance, poor dude. What a life. McGregor inhabits him with sadness and heart. I like to think Abra will have a better go of it.
Also, I’m always glad to see Cliff Curtis and Bruce Greenwood in anything, and they’re excellent in this one as Billy and Dr. John. And who’d have thought to cast Henry Thomas in the part he plays (no spoilers)? Not me, for sure, but wow.
It isn’t for everyone, and some of the scenes, even as they faithfully serve the story and characters, are difficult. Nearly all of the novel to film changes work for me, but I still prefer the novels’ versions of the fate of the Overlook. That said, Flanagan and his crew duplicate Kubrick’s sets perfectly enough that it’s downright eerie, which, I suppose, is the point, right? 4/5.
