Review – The Stand

This former TV mini-series is practically a movie marathon all by itself (four episodes, each of which come close to 90 minutes). Over the hours the story from Stephen King’s famous novel plays out with most of its plot and characters reasonably intact (no big surprise there, considering that King wrote the teleplay). The casting’s good as well, though a bit different from what King once wrote he had in mind. To be sure, slightly tighter plotting could have cut down the running time a bit, and the end was a little weak. But overall this is an entertaining enough version of the end of the world as we know it that the time goes by relatively quickly. This is a must-see for King fans and aficionados of apocalyptic horror, and a good show for just about anyone. Just be sure to check the tapes in the box before you rent them. I had my viewing experience disrupted by the stupidity of the last person who rented the copy, because whoever it was stuck the wrong tapes back in the box (so I ended up with two copies of episode two and no copies of the final chapter). Mildly amusing