shinsrevenge
The first half of the movie can be described as interesting. Ron Perlman plays the role of a possessed cop, who has built his web like a spider on the town Desperation and the main road. He preys on travelers, catching them in his prison to use them as future hosts. Because the demon possessing him uses up the human bodies quickly.After catching quite a few people and killing some of them for... entertainment, I guess, he finds his mortal enemy in a boy. I forgot the name of the kid, but his message keeps ringing in my ears since he insists in repeating it for the rest of the movie in countless occasions. "Love god, trust him and endure whatever he wishes to bring upon you. Always do, whatever he asks without doubting anything." I'm not a religious man, but that isn't even what was annoying me. It was the hypocrisy. They spend time talking about the "free will", only to sum up that mankind is supposed to give up this free will and become nothing more than a puppet or slave to an omnipotent being. Which - even according to the movie - may or may not slay or save everyone at whim. Like a kid playing with toys and occasionally breaking some of them.Anyway, the fight between the demon and the humans isn't bad. It fulfills its purpose. The background story is kind of lazy though. They included some content with the former Chinese workers and the mine where the demon was accidentally freed some hundred or more years ago. And just when you might start getting curious about it one of them asks "What's the goal of the demon?" to which the boy answers "Does't matter. We only care about what god wants". They didn't even take the time to explain that. Like I said, lazy.Without these flaws it could have been a good movie, but as it is you might want to look for something better to spent your time on.
MsHoneyBee
This was entertaining. It's an older movie so I'll excuse all the clichés that were actually new when this movie came out but lame now... (we all have seen spirits travel from body to body in other movies, among other things). I found this movie entertaining and no, I haven't read the book. I don't think I will. 700 pages, yeesh...I do have some complaints about this movie.1. To much God talk: Now don't get me wrong. I believe highly in God and that everything that happens is his will but you know you are talking about God too much when it becomes predictable. One woman asked "What's the plan?" the kid answers "what ever is Gods will" or something like that. I know I'm a little off, but come on. We're allowed to make a plan and if God changes it then okay. We don't have to go in blind! By this time we knew the boy was working for God, we don't have to be killed with it. Ever hear the saying "actions speak louder than words"?2. Animals attacking turn adults into infants: My first thought in all animal attacks throughout the movie was "run up there and get a close shot!" everyone is a mile away and flailing their gun like an angry baby. They could have saved people if they would only man up.3. Red heads are supposed to be fiery: If I heard that red head scream like a girl (heehee) one more time I was going to kill her myself. I wanted her to be tough and she was just a pool of scaredy cat. I thought all the women characters were played weakly. I'm always down for a strong female character... not even a half of one in here.4. That smarty pants Tak: I did not like the voice of Tak nor did I like him getting snarky in the scene where he was going to be blown up... Really, I guess he was more like a Loki. I could see Loki having these jokes but it was annoying. I don't like disembodied voices that much anyway, so it was a turn off.All and all I think the movie was okay. A little annoying but not to the point where I turned it off. I may have if I had read the book but I watched it once. Not putting it on my list to watch again, but, watched it once.
tedrico
SUBSTANDARD ACTING & FX. however ... for the most part, like most Stephen King movies (not all), this was a B-rate film! Having read the "Regulators" by Stephen King but not "Desperation" by Richard Bachman (King's pseudo name). I was left wondering why the 2 don't quite match up ... or perhaps they do! In the film, "Desperation", God is a character with no equivalent in the book, "The Regulators". And in "The Regulators", Seth is a character with no equivalent in "Desperation". Or... is the Seth character the parallel universe equivalent of the God character in "Desperation"? If you've read them and are familiar with Seth -- you can certainly see a parallel between the two as Supreme & All Powerful Creator. The first hour of this film, is utter garbage, but it picks up immensely via use of Black & White flashback footage, that shows the viewing audience how the demon, "Tak", was unleashed from deep within the Nevada Silver Mines in the first place. This film adaptation only rates 2 stars in my book. NUFF SAID!
accauditor
The movie starts off promising, but the explanation for the supernatural occurrences is never really given. Once things finally pick up, out of nowhere 25 minutes from the end of the movie some story is given about miners and it is never really connected in the film to what has happened up to that point. I'm guessing the book hopefully does a better job of linking everything together. The dialogue for the last 40 minutes is just irritating. random character: "What's our plan?" boy: "We don't need a plan. God's will is our plan." writer: "I don't believe in god." boy: "That's okay, god gives you that choice."Those quotes pretty much sum up the dialogue for the last 40 minutes of the movie. Don't waste your time. As the movie nears the end you will be come extremely confused at what's going on, irritated with the annoying dialogue where suddenly every sentence is about (dis)belief in god, and wondering how any of it fits together.
AD
