I Like the Kubrick Film, But...

It really wasn't THE SHINING. He used the title and setting and pretty much chucked out everything to do his own thing. The characters have the same names, but they are not the same characters from the novel or miniseries. And the fate of two of the characters (Jack and Halloran) are different.

Any fan of the novel can enjoy the Kubrick version, but none with a straight face will call it superior to the miniseries. And I chuckle over everyone praising how great a job Jack Nicholson did in the film; he was so over the top, cold, distant and ready to go mad at the drop of a hat. Now, a lot of this can be blamed on Kubrick, who shot many takes (as he was infamous for doing) and he used the over the top takes Nicholson gave him instead of the more tempered ones. In contrast, Steven Webber was a loving father and his decent into madness takes quite a while in the miniseries.

Danny Lloyd was so bad in the film that there is no real comparison. I see people saying "he was creepier", but the kid character was not supposed to be creepy, so this is pretty much nonsensical. Rebecca De Mornay was a far better Wendy than Shelly Duvall, who was nothing like the character from the novel. Scatman Crothers was OK, but his role was limited and Van Peebles did a much better job, although he was given more to work with.

There is so little of the novel in Kubrick's version. Kubrick is a master filmmaker, but there is a coldness to his films that THE SHINING needs to make us care about the characters....otherwise, you are just waiting for Jack to go over the edge and pick up the axe.

And the Kubrick film isn't all that scary. The twin girls' ghosts was and remains the best image from the film. I did not find the lady in the tub to be as near as effective as in the miniseries, whose main flaw is that it was directed by Mick Garris. Garris is a mediocre director and, I feel, the miniseries would have been even better if someone with more visual flair had been brought in.

Regardless, I own a copy of both and watch both from time to time, but for all his technical brilliance, Kubrick simply did not make THE SHINING.