Movie Review - Doctor Sleep

Mainly positioned as a fantasy/thriller but you wouldn’t be too far off if you originally thought that this was a horror movie, at first glace Doctor Sleep certainly looks like it. Its dark nature presents an intriguing prospect that encourages most to want to see it, at least when we first saw the trailer we knew that we wanted to indulge in it and thanks to the guys at Empire Entertainment we got to see it earlier than most.

Officially on the movie circuit from today, Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor who is a very familiar face in the movieverse with his previous movie credits including Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Angels & Demons, T2 Trainspotting and much more. He’s also scheduled to appear in the anticipated Birds of Prey. So yes, quite the impressive CV he has and that’s one of the reasons why this one was always going to be an interesting prospect to check out:

Doctor Sleep is the continuation of Danny Torrance’s story 40 years after the terrifying events of Stephen King’s The Shining. Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality. Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before-at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

The best way to describe this movie is freaky and just plain weird, that’s the impression we got while watching and right after it ended. We get the impression that it tries to be too many things at the same time, yes it’s a fantasy/thriller but it also tries to be a horror movie that also has flashes of comic book hero status with characters who have supernatural powers and use them to battle against a creepy foe. So yes, this one is a tad all over the place and in the end presents itself as an okay watch.

It also feels longer than it should be with its 2h 31m running time feeling like overkill (excuse the pun). It’s not the best of movies we’ve watched but it’s also not the worst. It does have some really cool moments and scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat, sadly these are few and far in between. The movie had the potential to be something more, with a clear direction from the onset this and more might have been achieved.

Doctor Sleep tries to be too many things at the same time. Picking up from the classic 80’s horror movie The Shining, we expected this one to be much more. It’s not the worst movie we’ve seen, it does have some cool features and sequences in patches despite. A bit average in our books though and that’s why it gets a 5 out of 10 rating from us.

Our thanks to Empire Entertainment for hosting us and of course the great screening.

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#Doctor Sleep #Empire Entertainment #Ewan McGregor #Stephen King #The Shining

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Thabiso Moloi

With many, many years of PR, digital & influencer marketing work under his belt, Thabiso has worked on a great number of technology, business and consumer brands. In addition, he has become obsessed with most things under the sun including music, series, sports, movies etc which he now regularly writes about. You can find him on Twitter: @Thabz_14