Of course there were parts that I found funny at times, but the overall tone of the movie was great and the mysterious vibe was definitely kept.
Now lets keep in mind I never read the book so I really can't compare what I saw to what was in the text, though I find that in most cases the books are always better anyways.
Now I gave a summary of the movie in my previous post so I won't do much to summarize it here again...all I will simply say about the plot of the FIRST half is that in this half they introduce Mike Noonan, the renowned Novelist, and his wife(soon to be dead-wife) Jo. They have a seemingly awesome relationship filled with awkward sexy moments between an elderly man(Mike) and what could be his daughter(Jo)? As you can see, I really found the scenes between the couple kissing and climbing on top of each other just plain awkward. Pierce Brosnan who plays Mike seemed so shaky, like he needed to take some more Viagra before he partook in any kind of sexually arousing activities. Not to mention him trying to kiss his lovely and hot wife seemed completely forced beyond belief.
Fast Forward to his wife's untimely death just as she was returning back to her ignorant lover with a secret hidden away in her purse. BOOM! A bus hits her and her secret just like that is spilled out for everyone to see..literally. && What do you know? its a pregnancy test! Gosh. Now the question on all our minds, even Mike's, is whether it was his baby that just got run over or some hot young dude's baby from the lake house she so frequently visited while her husband ignored her so effortlessly.
Well, that question isn't answered in the 1st half.
Lets fast forward again, && now we find Mike at the lake house that he inherited from his wife after her passing. Many things could have prompted poor terribly acted-depressed Mike to come here(seriously his crying scenes were laughable, like a bad audition tape for acting school). It could have been his frequent nightmares that were acted out like a poor interpretive dance about drowning children and the lake house itself. But then again, maybe it wasn't the dreams that did it, maybe it was Jo's presence in his own house who was supposedly frequently talking to him through phone rings, "once for yes, twice for no". Hmm..maybe people are just calling you MIKE?! The only thing that actually convinced me he wasn't crazy(and NOO it wasn't the backgrounds of Jo all over his phone and computer that did it) was the fact that Jo pulled a "sixth sense/m.night shamala-dingdong" move on us by reaching out from underneath the bed to warn/scare Mike of something. Which by the way, I thought that scene was soo poorly done. It wasn't creepy, it was expected, and she was just THERE. No blood, no corpsy looking body. Just her being like, "Hey go the lake house f*ck tard && stop crying over spilled milk". Anyways, it actually wasn't any of those things at all that made him go to the lake house, but instead it was his sweet and lovable agent Marty who convinced him to write another novel in 4 months who made Mike think it was a good reason to go.
Anyways, we're at the beautiful lake house, that I now envy so much, and crazy shit starts happening almost immediately. Which I think is a good thing because the movie definitely picked up towards the second half of the first half =] If things moved any slower I'd probably be bored out of my mind, which is sometimes the case with Stephen King movies.
In the house, in my opinion, it feels like 2 spirits are fighting to control Mike's decisions and his life there at the house. One is obviously Jo, who is the good-natured spirit always asking him to help others, and the other being an angry spirit that we have yet to learn about(my guesses is that it's Sara). The ghosts that we are introduced to in this part are Jo and Sara Tidwell (a jazz singer from back in the day). Both of them seem to have secrets hidden in that house, and the creepy elderly people around town seem to know a little sumtin sumtin too about these secrets as well. There ways of communicating to Mike are actually quite interesting, though some methods are down right stupid. One way that Jo actually tries to communicate with Mike is through the same bell around the Moose's neck that they so often rang together each time they made love when she was alive. This was clever because it really played into Mike's preferred method of communicating with the dead with the once or twice method. The other way that these spirits communicated is through the preschool refrigerator magnet letters on the fridge. This made no sense to me because first of all why would 2 grown adults with no children have just 6 letters on the fridge. They obviously only have about a 4 word vocabulary. The other methods include Mike's visions and an old record player that played creepy lullaby's about the Sandman coming, sung by none other than Sara Tidwell.
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| Jo vs Sara |
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| The beautiful Sara |
We are also introduced to Mattie and her daughter Ky during this half, who are both wonderfully portrayed by the actresses. Ky is just soo damn cute =] Mattie is actually fighting for custody of her daughter against her daughter's maniacal grandfather, who ever since the death of the father(who tried to kill his daughter), has been trying to take her away. Honestly, I would not want the father of the guy who tried killing my baby to take my daughter away; bad genes run in the family hunny. Locals actually called the deceased father, "Dark Score Crazy" for attempting to kill his daughter. It's funny because these were actually the key words that gave me the idea that Sara Tidwell might have been killed by some of the older generations in the town back in the day, and that is the secret they're all hiding. Maybe the grandfather did it? Maybe he was Dark Score crazy too?
Of course in this custody battle there is no justice being served because everyone is on the grandfather's side even Mattie's lawyer. That's what happens when your rich and have a history of killing people.
Also, while at the Lake house Mike's visions become more intense and sexual. There is even 1 minute of the movie where he cycles through all the ghosts all while succumbing to all their seductions. Seriously folks, he makes out with all 3 ghosts, including his wife, with no conviction. At least he did gain some valuable information from his hands on approach to interrogating the dead. Maddie, who appeared as a ghost with a hole in the back of her head(no she's not really dead, confusing right?) before she disappeared said to Mike, "All will be revealed". My guesses are that Maddie knows more than she is letting off, and that everyone in Dark Score is pretty much keeping a secret.
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| "All Will Be Revealed" |
Part 2...to be continued.
Well guys, I gave a summary even though I didn't plan too. That's what usually happens when I start talking...I usually can't stop myself.
As far as the quality of the movie goes, it was definitely enjoyable and watchable. Its better than other Stephen King adaptations I have seen in the past such as the unmentionable, "Langoliers" and "Kingdom Hospital". There were creepy jump out of couch scenes and then there were the scenes that lacked in intensity. From this first half I have come up with the conclusion that, Pierce Brosnan sucks at being sexy anymore =[ and he is definitely not a good crier(way 2 much expression). Also, I couldn't help but notice all the similarities the film had to the Shining, another Stephen King film.
Here are a few:
- The bathtub scene: In the Shining we had the creepy old woman come out the bathtub and in this movie we had a little child reach out the tub to scare the shit out of us.
- The main character is a writer, who of course suffers from writer's block and because of it goes a lil mad at times.
- The subtle ghost precenses. In the Shining a lot of the ghosts weren't there to show up for 2 seconds to scare you and then leave again until the next "oh-shit" moment. This was similar to, "Bag of Bones", because in this flick the ghosts communicated with Mike, as they did in the Shining, and there presence at most times came quietly.
- The child and mother in both movies are the ones who are keeping the men sane to a certain extent or at least trying to. In the Shining, they struggled to keep there daddy with them and on the same page. In this movie, they are a means of bringing Mike back to the reality he lost with the death of his wife.
- The ghosts from the 20's-60's. In both movies there were spirits that were communicating with the main character that came from times way before there years. In the Shining it was the bar tender. In Bag Of Bones it was Sara.
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