sweeneytom

The Stand In

It's me, I'm going to be the piece of shit that loves this and prefers it over the '94 miniseries First off, stating the obvious probably but casting Alexander Skarsgaard as Randall Flagg was inspired and immediately had me interested in this adaptation, even if it still wasn't enough to get me into it on its weekly uploaded basis. The worst thing streaming ever did was make me enjoy binging shows, because now I can't watch weekly-released shows unless it's something I'm actually very hype for, which is usually either HBO, CW, or Syfy programming lol. Anyway, sexy evil Alexander Skarsgaard ruled in True Blood (singlehandedly keeping my interest way past the point of no return when I should have bailed on that show), and he rules even more here The rest of the cast is surprisingly good; I liked James Marsden more in Westworld admittedly, but Odessa Young does a great job as Frannie, especially in the second half of the miniseries. I'm gonna be cancelled anyway for this whole review, so I'll keep that momentum going by saying Amber Heard was a perfect Nadine, cruel (but with the occasional good intention visible beyond the surface) right up to nearly her last moments when the truth becomes clear even to her. Whoopi in her limited time as Mother Abagail winds up working effectively. Even minor parts end up making this feel oddly/surprisingly memorable to me, the highlights of which are members of Flagg's squad Fiona Dourif and THE Green Arrow my queen Katherine McNamara, who instantly grabs attention aiming a shotgun at two heroes in her very first scene Despite the rating, this obviously isn't without its flaws. I found the '94 miniseries bloated as I mentioned in my review of it, so giving this story more hours and more parts, and filling up the first half with flashbacks (which judging by the reviews here, definitely confused more than a fair share of watchers), weren't the best and brightest decisions to make to say the least But some of the new decisions and changes I really did enjoy. I appreciated the flashbacks. I adored the concept of the new ending, if not the complete execution; as long as there's good, there will be evil. One can't go away entirely without the other. And I definitely will stand out and say I liked getting the main plot over with an episode early, and leaving the rest to just fallout/aftermath; before Game of Thrones became, well, Game of Thrones with that final season, I loved the occasional twist D&D (before I realized they were hacks) would play on audiences where the biggest moments could happen, and sometimes Would happen, before the finale, the one episode where you'd expect them most. It provided a way of feeling like each episode was watchable/you couldn't inherently skip one without risk. I loved feeling that again here with the big main ending happening with a whole hour left in the story, making me genuinely curious what was next while also giving me time to breathe in the interim Also, stellar soundtrack. Love love love them doing Don't Fear The Reaper again, and even more love the use of Radiohead's "I Promise" during the long walk to Vegas. We even got a King Crimson song! So yeah, that's The Stand (2020). Not perfect, but my favorite adaptation of the Stephen King story, and one I'm likely to rewatch at least parts of again (if not the whole thing), and in the end that's close enough to it for me