BAG OF BONES (2012)

SYNOPSIS: Based on the award-winning bestselling novel by Stephen King, Bag of Bones is an unforgettable psychological thriller.Two-time Golden Globe Award nominee Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day) stars as Mike Noonan, a novelist who suffers from writer's block after the death of his wife, Jo (Annabeth Gish, Pretty Little Liars). A dream inspires him to return to the couple's lakeside retreat hoping to find answers about his wife's sudden death- but he is plagued by ever-escalating nightmares and mysterious ghostly visitations from Sara Tidwell (Anika Noni Rose, Dreamgirls), a blues singer whose spirit lingers in the house. As the inhabitants of Dark Score Lake haunt him, Mike comes to realize that his late wife still has something to tell him.

MOVIE REVIEW:

There was a time when filmmakers looked religiously at Stephen King for their next horror movie project, which the author certainly did not disappoint with his prolificity. Nonetheless, those days are over; today, horror is pretty much defined by the low-budget high-concept thrillers that Jason Blum churns out from his Blumhouse Productions – think ‘Saw’, ‘Insidious’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’. Instead, Stephen King’s tomes are relegated to the goggle box, being the source material for event miniseries such as this one.

Truth be told, it’s not every filmmaker that is able to translate King’s books effectively for the screen, whether big or small. Frank Darabont was regarded as one of the best of them, his ‘Shawshank Redemption’, ‘The Green Mile’ and even the under-appreciated ‘The Mist’ among the best print-to-screen King adaptations. Because King writes a lot about the thoughts that go on inside the head of his characters, it takes a filmmaker with a certain vision to be able to translate that atmosphere without the use of voiceover.

We say that, because Mike Garris – though a King veteran of ‘Sleepwalkers’ and the TV version of ‘The Shining’ – is not such a filmmaker. Working from a screenplay by Matt Venne, he goes through the necessary motion of condensing plotlines and diminishing some characters to fit the 500-plus novel into a roughly three-hour running time, but the result is oddly disengaging and hardly compelling, missing out what depth and soul that the original novel had going for it.

Bearing in mind the fact that the miniseries had aired over two nights and was interspersed with as many commercial breaks as would have been possible, the story proceeds in stops and starts with well too many fade-outs for the TV ads. We’re not nitpicking here, but the cadence at which the story unfolds just makes you tune out even before it hooks you in. And given the fact that relationships among the various characters are underdeveloped, there is really little left to hold your attention.

Indeed, the first half feels too ambitious by juggling more pieces than it can handle – the unfortunate passing of bestselling author Mike Noonan’s (Pierce Brosnan) wife Jo (annabeth Jish); his subsequent writer’s block; his move to their vacation house on Dark Score Lake; a troubled local woman Mattie Devore (Melissa George) he assists in a custody battle with father-in-law Max (William Schallert) and not forgetting of course the ghostly stuff that happens in the house. Flitting from point to point doesn’t help the disjointed plot, nor enable us to identify with Mike’s predicament dealing with his emotional loss.

It doesn’t help too that the second half becomes no more than a routine murder mystery with ghosts. While there is more focus than in the first, it nonetheless implies that the narrative could have been more fluently trimmed.  On the other hand, the horror scenes could do with much more verve; going against what we have seen of late, they seem mild at best (and we’re not talking about the use of gore) and boring at worst.

The only saving grace remains Brosnan’s performance, which packs dignity and gravitas to his portrayal of a grieving man who finally finds purpose in his life again by helping the widowed Mattie. The other actors redeem themselves adequately in their respective supporting roles, but it is Brosnan who owns the screen from start to finish and the only reason that the show remains watchable.

Loyal King fans may also wish to note that the original ambiguous ending has been altered to allow things to end on a more conclusive note. Nonetheless, that’s a small aggravation compared to how Garris botches this adaptation. Coming off as no more than a condensed version of the novel, it is but a bag of bones left from the skin and flesh of one of King’s better regarded novels. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Some Deleted Scenes make up the only extras on this disc. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visual transfer is good, though colours look more muted in line with the low-key small-town setting of the movie. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track puts the back speakers to good use during the horror scenes. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong