Reviews

Having been a fan of Kubrics interpretation of The Shining, I was immediately cautiously optimistic when I heard they would be making a sort of sequel. After an average trailer, I expected very little of the film to deliver. I was in for a shock.

The films main protagonist is Danny Torrence, a now morally grey, depressed alcoholic. It could have so easily come across as a cliche, but the writing really nails how the literal demons in Jack's life are what drove him to this state. A scene towards the end of the film set in the hotels bar, is extremely powerful, as we see Danny confront his inner demons, which in this case are his father's influence over him as well as his alcoholism. Danny's story in this film is poignant, and was most certainly the highlight of the film for me. You can tell the creators really wanted to give him a satisfying redemption arc.

The new elements of the film are where things were a bit less strong. The villainess, Rose the hat, was fantastic, and was portrayed with an enticing, evil energy. The same could be said for all the newcomers, performances were generally strong across the board. However, the film falters when it loses focus on Danny. The antagonists themselves arent very interesting, and the fact that the new girl is shown to be so powerful really eases the tension, as you can ultimately tell she will end up completely unscathed (she almost beats Rose in their first fight?!). However, I feel as though no villain introduced would be able to beat the Overlook Hotel, so at the very least we got some good performances.

A couple of side notes. The soundtrack was fantastic, if not sounding a little too similar to the original film. Some of the visuals were incredible and creative, especially during shining sequences. I have no issue with them recreating scenes from the original. It wouldnt work reusing old footage and mishmashing it with new ones.

Overall, I'm happy with how the film turned out. You could tell passion for the source material and Kubrics vision were poured into this film, and the result is a worthy successor to the shining and a faithful adaptation to the novel.