Assessment: The Stand begins out robust after which whiffs the touchdown

James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgård, Whoopi Goldberg, and Amber Heard are among the ensemble cast of a new miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's sprawling 1978 novel, <em>The Stand</em>.

Enlarge / James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgård, Whoopi Goldberg, and Amber Heard are among the many ensemble forged of a brand new miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s sprawling 1978 novel, The Stand. (credit score: CBS All Entry)

A lethal virus wipes out many of the human inhabitants, and the survivors discover themselves caught in an apocalyptic battle between good and evil in The Stand, the newest miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s sprawling 1978 novel. However regardless of a powerful begin, terrific performances from the all-star ensemble forged, and spectacular manufacturing values, as a narrative, The Stand begins unraveling halfway via, culminating in a meandering, seemingly pointless finale.

(Spoilers for the ebook beneath; a few main spoilers for the brand new miniseries beneath the gallery. We’ll provide you with a heads-up after we get there.)

As we reported beforehand, The Stand is broadly thought of to be amongst King’s greatest work, with a sprawling forged of characters and a number of storylines. It is also his longest, with the 1990 Full and Uncut Version surpassing even It in web page rely. King has stated he wished to jot down an epic darkish fantasy akin to The Lord of the Rings, solely with a recent American setting. “As an alternative of a hobbit, my hero was a Texan named Stu Redman, and as a substitute of a Darkish Lord, my villain was a ruthless drifter and supernatural madman named Randall Flagg,” King wrote in his 1981 nonfiction ebook, Danse Macabre. “The land of Mordor (‘the place the shadows lie,’ in keeping with Tolkien) was performed by Las Vegas.”

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