Fenda No Tempo

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.

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.

I saw this on Sci-fi channel a few days before. I haven't read the book but overall the movie was great. Kate Maberly does an excellent part playing the blind girl, Dinah. I'ts a movie for people to either love or hate it, I don't know, I guess I'm one of those people that like it.

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.

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.