Stephen King’s epic apocalyptic thriller The Stand is brought to television as a four part miniseries. When a plague wipes out 99% of the population a number of survivors begin to receive mysterious dreams calling them to Boulder, Colorado, to begin anew, but a rival community rises up in Las Vegas lead by the demonic Randall Flagg. Featuring Gary Sinise, Laura San Giacomo, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Shawnee Smith, Matt Frewer, and Ed Harris, the cast is quite impressive. Yet the performances aren’t very good, and neither are the production values. The storytelling’s also rather weak, failing to capture the dyer tone of this apocalyptic tale. The Stand clearly has an ambitious vision, but it’s unable to deliver on it.
Well, that was a compulsive five hours. Snappy dialogue, and some excellent excellent chemistry between Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn. Hello my new obsession.
