Fenda No Tempo

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.

I don't look to this movie (or the Tommyknockers, which gets the same mixed reviews) for the special effects or the best acting in the world. I look to them because they offer insight into our imaginations, something that we tend to lose the older we get. These movies are made to get your imagination pumping, and make you think about other situations rather than our own current situations.

Immerse yourself in the film's story, not in the acting, or the music, or the plot holes that may or may not exist. In the case of this movie, it almost has to be watched in whole to get the effect.

Just my own opinion.

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!

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.

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.