I generally have little time for movies based on books (or novellas) by Stephen King - the only decent adaptation of a Stephen King book being The Shining, and, even then, mostly because the prodigiously talented Stanley Kubrick directed it.
However, this movie, unlike, say, Sleepwalkers, was directed well; the suspense was suspenseful, the creepiness creepy, and the violence grisly.
The narrative stands thus: Johnny Depp, an author who has recently separated from his wife, is menaced by John Turturro, a menacing hick who accuses him (Depp) of having stolen a story demanding that the ending be changed. From there on a tense game of cat and mouse is played between the two main characters.
Both Johnny Depp and John Turturro turn in fine performances, and it's in these performances that your fourteen dollars and thirty cents are well spent. If Depp's Mort Rainey wasn't quite so endearing and if Turturro's Shooter wasn't quite so menacing it wouldn't have been half the movie it was.
Ironically, in a movie that constantly propounds the idea that the ending of a book is it's most important feature, it sure suffers a lame ending.
I'm gonna ruin it now by saying that there's a twist. There's a twist. I won't actually ruin the twist, but I will say that some people (not me) saw it coming.
I don't particularly mind if I know where the narrative of a story is heading. I am, however, sick and tired of movies with twists in them. It's over, people! The whole twist thing has become cliché and, consequently, has no place in any sort of artistic medium whatsoever.
Secret Window is a pretty enjoyable movie, well worth your money. I wouldn't suggest that you go, right now!, and watch it, but, if you happen to be in cinema with a few friends and have a little time to kill, well, you can't really go wrong, now, can you?
I went with a Captain Dan and a PrEtZel - much love and much respect.
Nine, nine, 9 for a lost god...
Reviewed on Friday, 9 April 2004