Opiniones de usuarios

A passenger plane takes off from Los Angeles and flies into disaster as a group of sleeping passengers awaken to discover that the other passengers have mysteriously vanished.

This made-for-TV movie was based on a Stephen King novella and was originally shown as a two-part miniseries on network television back in the mid 90s. The acting is about what you'd expect from a TV movie, the dialogue is slightly corny at times, and the special effects aren't great, to say the least.

However, I thought the Langoliers succeeded in doing something that you rarely see in horror films in that it successfully took that slow-building feeling of fear and dread that you get when you read a scary novel and transferred it to the screen. Generally speaking, horror movies these days tend to rely on shocks and scares, but the Langoliers is a slow-paced mystery thriller, kind of like a really creepy Twilight Zone episode, where our heroes spend much of their time trying to piece together the clues in order to solve the mystery of their predicament, all while an ominous feeling of oncoming danger just grows and grows. Overall, I thought it was pretty good. 7/10

By sheer coincidence, I had JUST finished reading "The

Langoliers" when I saw that it would be on USA the next two

nights. So I said to myself, "Self...why don't you watch it and see

how it compares?" As an adaptation, this movie is just about as faithful as you can

get. Some minor changes were made for time (for example, an

entire character was dropped from the plane...he didn't do much or

contribute ANYTHING to the plot, he just slept the whole time), but

all in all, it was pretty much like an abridged audiobook with visual

images. Virtually nothing was changed in the transfer from page

to screen. As a result, the weaknesses in the movie mostly stem from

weaknesses in the book. I really like Stephen King's style, though

I haven't read very much by him. The most interesting thing about

the story is the horror of the unknown, and each character's

different reactions to it...hysteria, anger, disbelief, etc. My problem

with the story (and the movie as well) is that the Langoliers are a

bit of a letdown. Visually, they looked like computer-generated

images, not like real monsters. But even in the story, their

presence seems unnecessary. The most frightening parts of the

story are when the passengers of Flight 29 have no clue what's

going on. Wouldn't the Langoliers have been more interesting if

we never saw them, but knew they were there...i.e., seeing the

disappearance of the world, hearing the sound of the Langoliers,

but never seeing them...possibly a brief glimpse as the plane

takes off or as one of the characters gets eaten. Acting wise, the movie was a mixed bag. Some people really got

into their roles. I though Bronson Pinchot was great as Craig

Toomey, and I also think he's pretty underrated as an actor since

he was Balki in Perfect Strangers. Other people, I thought were a

little flat. I've never been too fond of David Morse (the pilot), and as

much as I like Dean Stockwell (Al from Quantum Leap, whoo-hoo),

he didn't seem to fit the role of the mystery writer Bob Jenkins. The special effects were pretty miserable. It all looked like pretty

low-tech computer effects - the plane, the Langoliers, the time rip.

Not too impressive. But hey - TV movie, what do you expect? Overall, this is an excellent adaptation of a pretty good story. Some

changes should have been made in the transfer, but that's my

opinion.

I have to say I enjoyed this film a lot. I hadn't heard of it before but I found the film interesting. This film provides an interesting take on time travel not depicted in other time travel movies.

To be perfectly honest I did not see this as a scare film. It was not remotely frightening to me, but that did not prove to be a negative part to it. The story is brilliantly told, and the sfx weren't that bad. It was clearly an unreal format of effects, but this added to the unique structure.

Overall I enjoyed the Langoliers, a story of mystery and adventure crammed with plot twists.

Deep within the video cabinet, my girlfriend pulled out a movie she wanted me to see. I had to watch it, and I couldn't question her choice. And so I watched Stephen King's The Langoliers. Seeing as my girlfriend is a huge mark for King's work, I wouldn't have been surprised by the choice, neither would I be surprised after watching the opening credits that I was in for a low-budget, made for TV effort. While thinking it was a late-80s, early-90s movie I still wasn't shocked it turned out to be a 1995 production. I sat there and expected ropey effects, some dodgy acting and uninspiring production, and again I wasn't surprised. When something like this gets the green light, you have to believe that at least there's a good underlining story. Thankfully that's where The Langoliers delivers. The medium expects you to suspend your disbelief, and you have to do so to get the most out of this, but the premise is strong and the characters, while clichéd which is unavoidable in this type of story, have enough depth to contribute to the plot and tackle the problems ahead.

Dean Stockwell treads water as mystery writer, Bob Jenkins, only delivering lines; a shame given the character's contribution. David Morse (Cpt. Engle) and Mark Lindsay Chapman (Nick Hopewell) do the most to carry the movie along both as characters and performers. I was most impressed with Morse's very matter of fact take of the pilot. Pinchot's Craig Toomey, the loopy head case that's always tough to get right, doesn't quite hit the mark but gets very close. The other actors are substandard TV movie fare, particularly Maberly's poorly acted blind girl, Dinah. She nails acting blind, but is otherwise terribly distracting (rather like Kimber Riddle's hippy breasts).

The plot is involving, the concept intriguing and the whole thing unravels from the characters' perspective so you're never that far ahead and waiting for the movie to catch up with you if you start sussing things out. Suspense does build and the tension with both the incoming noise (and the unknown threat it brings) plus Toomey's threatening insanity can be tangible at points, but the main set-piece is only as effective as the budget allows. The graphics certainly do the what they're meant to but don't quite pay off the build-up.

The biggest criticism is length. I sat through this in one sitting, and three hours really drag. The intended mini-series structure is all too evident and is the only way this piece works, it feels way too long for one sitting. If you can get past the trappings of a TV movie straining at the sides of its budget and you're prepared to watch with a pinch of salt, you'll get an interesting take on time travel adequately presented. If cheesy TV movies aren't your thing, then you'd be better of reading the book. It's apparently one of the truest adaptations of King's work so let's be thankful he didn't write a stinker to begin with.

As many have noted, the acting is mostly horrible, but the dialog was far worse, and I can't bring myself to think the actors weren't cringing inside while filming.

By far the most annoying and destructive aspect of the script is the huge number of scenes where the plot would seem to dictate great screaming urgency but the characters waste time with blank stares or senseless pauses. Any writer who thinks those devices work to heighten suspense needs to go back to school, preferably the 5th grade. It's enough to make you root for the bad guys, er, bad things.

That said, the story was incredibly engrossing -- sufficiently so that we kept the disc running with only one pause in the whole 3 hours. I'm still not sure if that was smart or stupid. I'd like to be able to vote both 2 and 9 simultaneously.

This one easily could have gone the other way and been very cheesy and annoying but the casting and direction made everything work. I like all of the actors in this one. None of them are annoying and the good guys are likable. Bronson Pinchot is the only bad guy and he's pretty good, as usual. I think the acting is pretty good! The special effects towards the end leave a bit to be desired but the story is so crazy it doesn't matter too much. I had not read the King book before watching this, which made the movie better, IMO. I was really wondering what those strange approaching noises were going to be! Other reviewers have stated it is a good adaptation, so it should be enjoyable if you've read the book too. Pretty decent sci-fi flick!

There is no doubt that in this version of "The Langoliers", despite being a very serious Stephen King novella, the material is quite cheeseball and (at times) very over-dramatic. Yet, at the same time, the brilliance of King's story still manages to shine through thanks to some great acting and the direction of Tom Holland.

For a basic plot summary (no spoilers), a small group of airplane passengers wake up and find the rest of the plane deserted. As they struggle to land the plane and figure out what is going on, they discover that the answer is beyond anything that has ever been seen or experienced before.

First off, it would take a great sight more than a bit of 90s cheesy-ness to detract from King's wonderful tale. This is a wide-ranging story (from drama to sci-fi to characters to fantasy) that has something for everyone. Most of King's writing shines through in this adaptation.

The acting, however, is what really drives this three-hour film. Great actors such as Patricia Wettig, Dean Stockwell, David Morse, Mark Lindsay Chapman, and Bronson Pinochet (among others) all provide new wrinkles to the overall storyline by portraying such a diverse cast. Is the acting over-the-top? You bet. But due to the diversity of the characters and their development, the craziness actually didn't bother me all that much. Perhaps this is because I "knew what was coming" having already read the story, though.

Overall, having prior knowledge of the story, I enjoyed this take on "The Langoliers". While I would still recommend King's written work to get the full extent of the tale, this one will suffice for those who won't pick up a book.

It's hard to rate this movie. The movie has moments of creative genius, others with banal stupidity. Some passengers on an overnight red eye flight awaken to discover most of their fellow passengers inexplicably missing, as if whisked away in some sort of biblical rapture.

This is a delightfully creepy mystery, as is the abandoned airport where the plane lands, but the film bogs down in its irrationally slow reveal of the facts. The director compacts a 90-minute script into hours and hours of excessive subplots. Some of these are necessary for character development, (since the movie focuses on how these different personalities react to the situation), but the script burdens itself with a lot of clutter. Some of the actors overact, others underact. I blame the weak direction, as even David Morse seems awkward at times.

Worst is the inconsistency of the menacing attackers. It takes them a zillion years to cut through some fields--you see objects collapse in the distance, but you see this same "approaching unseen monster" shot again and again. Then, when the things do emerge, they race around at a hundred miles an hour. The nature of how they go about annihilating their targets follows no logical pattern. The things are so bizarre looking they are both funny and scary, so you don't know whether you're supposed to laugh or not. The "corruptions of the time stream" are not consistent, either. It's as if the script made up rules how this would work, and then changed those rules whenever it felt like it.

Even though some of the effects are confusing, others are downright cool. I love the portal; it was ethereal yet sinister at the same time. It evokes the intended curiosity: what lies beyond it? Overall, the movie is so weird that it holds your interest, but don't expect any sane continuity. If you look for sound thought in this one, you'll wind up as nuts as the movie is.

THE LANGOLIERS

As soon as I read the novella "The Langoliers" by Stephen King, I knew it would make an amazing movie. It was by far the scariest piece of writing I have ever read and I was delighted to see that it had already been made into a TV movie. It took me over a year to find a copy, but it was worth it.

People complain about the crappy computer FX and the bad acting, but if you pay attention to the amazing storyline and the logic and thinking that went into this story, you'll find that it is an enjoyable movie that will keep you glued to the screen.

Truly entertaing stuff. Loved the pace of the movie. No Oscar winning performances but the actors work hard and I liked the way they handle their characters. I recommend it for a cold winters evening. Enjoy.

At face value, "The Langoliers" looks like a "Twilight Zone" episode. But there seems to be more to it than that. It's as though what happens to the ten passengers forces them to confront their problems, but is aimed primarily at the hysterical businessman. To be certain, Stephen King -- who has a brief appearance -- once said "We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones." Aside from that, the movie is pretty fun. Tom Holland moves the action along just right so that the characters slowly figure out what happened...and what is about to happen. David Morse, Patricia Wettig, Dean Stockwell, Bronson Pinchot, and the rest of the cast put on some good performances. I recommend the movie. Because they WILL get you!

It is possible that a movie can be so bad that while not exactly being "so bad it's good," can still achieve a kind of transcendence that defies categorization. This is one of those films for which criticism fails, is utterly irrelevant. Yes, I saw the movie, I experienced it, but I still don't believe it. It happened but I am much too frightened to repeat the experiment. There is something so incredibly off and wrong about this film, that it was like watching the antics of a doomed expedition exploring an unknown literary continent, where everything you have ever learned about characterization, plot, consistency of tone, are banished leaving only a void. I remember watching it in it's entirety one Saturday night. My wife had just turned it on and I was in the vicinity and decided to just check it out for a minute or so.

Now, you have to understand my wife not only has terrible taste in films. No, not only that, but she has some kind of radar that permits her to find ghastly things that even if I went searching for them could never stumble across in a million years. So I glanced at the thing, expecting to get up and leave very short order -- and found myself frozen on the sofa. I could not move. It was like I was caught in some tractor beam of dumb rays pulling me out of this world. As each minute passed, I expected the movie to bottom out and maintain some level of consistency from then on. But it kept getting worse in a strange, dare I say perverted way, as if a demented Shakespeare had twisted everything he knew upon itself to create a monster, a mind virus that once it infected you, would never let go. I was absolutely enthralled (I have no other word to describe it.) There were no limits to this thing. Where had it come from, why had it been permitted in this universe? There were no answers, because there were no answers possible. It was something about a plane going back in time, then forward in time, while people went crazy and all the while the past was being consumed by creatures I guess could be described as super Pac-men -- yes, they were "eating" the past -- and for all that, all I could do is give up and submit. It was like whiffing ether, but never quite going under -- for hours.

I had never been a Steven King fan, though I liked "Stand By Me." I realize he has a compulsion to write and like every other writer has his good and bad days. I respect him for his success. But even drugs could not explain this. Even mental illness could not explain this. King did a story I recall about a strange cell-phone tone that turned people into zombies. That story I believe is a metaphor for this movie.

Watch it if you must, but do so at your own risk. You have been warned.

Those here who whine about how cheesy and cringy some acting, cgi, and how long it is. This was TV miniseries and made according to budget and tech available for this kind of production.

I watched this when I was like 20 and the movie freaked me out. The feeling of impending dread was palpable. And this is precisely what Stephen King based movies are supposed to do. Mission accomplished. To the effect that I sort of experience similar eery feelings when I find myself arriving early in the morning to Europe after red eye flight, especially on connecting flights. Empty airports that haven't woken yet evoke the same feelings. Like all these passengers who just arrived and wandering in empty halls are out of the time that hasnt caught up yet. Closed shops, bars and minimal or almost absent personnel complete the picture. Almost feels like Stephen King wrote the story based on similar experiences. Eerie experience of liminal spaces.

Twilight zone.

And I am totally on-board with the concept of time travel that is explored in this movie. Plus even more intriguing that the whole thing might have come to reality based on nightmares that a neurotic passenger was having. This is rather head spinning to think about.

Let me begin by saying that the performances are admirable. The actors really try to convey a sense of eeriness and horror. Unfortunately they're stuck with some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard.

The plot is interesting enough; nine people fall asleep on a flight from LA to Boston and when they awaken all that's on the seats next to them are change, retainers, and surgical pins. There are no other passengers. I don't remember seeing any clothes which seemed curious to me, but I digress. As they attempt to make sense of, and come to grips with, their plight they land their plane in Bangor, Maine. Luckily one of the sleeping passengers is a pilot.

Not a bad start, and some of the actors are able to pull it off. Bronson Pinchot is good as Craig Toomy, a businessman tortured by fear of his father and the mysterious Langoliers. Though he does tend to scenery chewing, I've never seen him in a part like this and thought he was quite good. My favorite was the always excellent David Morse as airline pilot Brian Engle. His calming presence is just what the travelers need. If I was on this flight I'd definitely want Captain Engle there. His quiet strength is a great contrast to Toomy's madness. David Morse has such a fabulous voice, so calm and soothing.

The other actors don't fare as well. Dean Stockwell gets stuck with an overly verbose mystery writer. You can hear the cheesy dimestore novel in every line. Mark Lindsey Chapman spews out every bit of cheesy English slang that can be found. Kate Maberly is the little blind girl who sees more than everyone else and gets stuck with some clunker lines. I also don't think she had quite the sense of calm dread that the character needed. Patricia Wettig (in a slight part, even though she's first billed, I believe) is the schoolteacher looking for excitement and adventure. She of course latches onto the little girl and the dashing, mysterious Brit. How she could pass up David Morse I'll never know. Then there's the opposites-attract teenagers, first-time grandfather machinist, and a constantly hungry businessman, which are pretty incidental characters.

If you can overlook shoddy dialogue and occasional melodrama, it's really pretty good. I think the story makes some interesting points about the past, present, and future and I really liked it. It's diverting and entertaining (though sometimes for the wrong reasons) and isn't that what movies are all about?

How could anyone give this anything more than the award of "Worst Movie Ever Made"? I mean, I thought that honor went to "House of Death" (aka "Death Screams"), but after three hours of the worst film quality, lack of plot and dragging pointless dialogue, "The Langoliers" easily gets my personal Razzie Award.

So much is wrong with this movie, I cannot hope to list every last thing in this review. But let's start with the acting. The blind girl is a bit extreme in her acting, and maybe it can be dismissed because she's a child, but it was still over the top. Bronson Pinchot was utterly horrible, being quite annoying. I understand his character was neurotic, but Pinchot played this up to the point of being unrealistic stupid. The only decent performance came from Dean Stockwell, who was given a cheesy character but played it off well (he would have made a good VanHelsing).

The animation for showing the airplane flying. In 1995, it wasn't like footage didn't exist of flying airplanes or that it wasn't easy enough to superimpose a model over a sky of clouds. So why the horrible cartoon drawing of a plane? The Langoliers... who don't bother to show up until past halfway and only stay around five minutes. This is either a blessing or a curse, because you wait forever to see them and then become disappointed by the ridiculousness of them.

The pace. Absolutely nothing happens in the first 90 minutes, a little bit happens in the next half hour, and then the final hour drags on with nothing more than pointless dialogue to pass the time. The whole first hour is the same line over and over again ("where is everybody?") and this whole movie could have been made as a one-hour episode of "The Twilight Zone" with better acting, better directing and probably a bigger budget.

A time travel aspect comes into play, and it makes very little sense. Apparently when you travel to the past, things are more stale or spoiled than they would be in a few days. This seemed really pointless (unless they were implying the taste of things wouldn't show up for a while, but that's really dumb and wasn't made clear).

Two romances exist in this film, both very contrived and leading absolutely nowhere after blossoming from absolutely nowhere. My emotional reaction? Absolutely nothing.

I have never been more happy in my life for a film to be over so I could return it to the video store. The fact I could sit through such vile waste of film is a miracle, and I certainly hope they never let Stephen King get involved with horse apples like this again (I mean, he made "The Stand" and "It" for TV, how did they botch this one?).

Ten passengers wake up during the flight from Los Angeles to Boston and realize that all the other passengers, including the crew, disappeared. Everything is fine with the plane, they are on the right course and, fortunately, one of them is a pilot. But soon they discover that the unexplained disappearance of their companions is the smallest problem they have.

The adaptation of King's story "The Langoliers" was done as a three hours long film, broadcast as a mini-series of two ninety-minute episodes. This mysterious SF drama has a very interesting premise, excellent characterization, and a good atmosphere, and the first "episode" promises a great movie. The second "episodes" keeps these qualities, but unfortunately also introduces some new, completely unnecessary ones, which have severely lowered the level of the film. I could forgive unconvincing reactions of the characters in certain situations, as well as a few pathetic scenes but CGI, that is so bad it will make you laugh in disbelief, I can not. If these CGI scenes were necessary for the development of the story, and if the technology of that time and the budget did not allow them to do them properly, that might have somewhat mitigated my reaction. But these scenes are not only unnecessary, they are also completely uncalled for, and they would spoil the film even if they were made at the level of today's multi-million blockbusters, so the film is tainted and corrupted without any need. If it had stayed a psychological SF drama, "The Langoliers" would be a strong eighth, but with this tragicomic attempt of CGI horror, I really can not rate it higher than

6/10

I don't consider it the worst Stephen King adaptation by all means, Thinner, Sleepwalkers, Dreamcatcher and TommyKnockers I feel are worse. But that doesn't make it good, in my opinion The Langoliers is a very problematic adaptation and probably the only Stephen King adaptation I've found difficult to rate.

I do give it plaudits for some decent filming, a good story that I appreciate for being faithful to its source, an atmospheric score and good performances from David Morse, Dean Stockwell and Bronson Pinchott.

However, The Langoliers's biggest flaws are in the CGI, length and I think pace as well. The CGI is some of the worst I've seen, the Langoliers themselves are incredibly inconsistent in looks and meaning, excepting the wonderfully ethereal portal. The pace is often slow and meandering with a lot at first not happening, and the fact that the adaptation is too long doesn't help either.

The story is a great idea and it is great to work from, but in execution The Langoliers leaves a lot to be desired. There are various subplots, some work but most don't either being superfluous or underdeveloped, while the ending is particularly stupid and illogical. The direction occasionally has flashes of invention, but often very weak and one of the main reasons why the ending fell flat, while the writing suffers from being too cluttered.

There are three good actors, and several pretty bad ones. Some underact, and some overact, the latter of which applies to the lead actress Patricia Wettig. And the less about the blind girl the better, she is very annoying and the only part of the character the actress nails is the blindness itself. It doesn't help though that the characters in general are clichéd and thinly sketched.

Overall, difficult to rate. I guess it is a disappointment but apart from some big problems it wasn't as crappy as I thought it would be. 4.5- 5/10 Bethany Cox

Not sure why some people reviewing this come out with "This movie was crap" or this movie was worse than "Plan 9 from outer space"

I liked it and thought it had an exellent plot. I didnt think that they did too bad considering it was a TV Movie. Maybe a little too long, but worst movie ever? Not really just certain people who disliked it a little didnt want to review this and say " I disliked this movie a little.......erm" The Langoliers did also look pretty poor, but the build up to the Langoliers was more important.Very Good and certainly not worst movie ever.Have you people ever seen Death Wish 3 and 4 or Titanic or Hobgoblins? I can assure you that they are much worse.

I enjoyed this despite some flaws. The acting is actually quite good. The story is engaging and interesting. I think it fulfills that childhood-like fantasy-'what would you do if you woke up and everyone had disappeared?' We see that here and it is well done.

There are some things that bothered me. True, when the plane is flying through the night sky you can see some blue screen around the edges of the plane and perhaps the stars don't appear too realistic. Also, I agree with one other member here regarding the blind girl. She does indeed have a habit of looking right at another actor while reciting her lines. She even runs into the arms of Patricia Wettig with perfect accuracy which is funny. I agree that her acting could have been better. Also, the Langoliers are animated and appear like walnuts opened up with chrome plated, shark-like teeth.

Despite the small production issues though I did enjoy this.