Apart from looking in pain and conveying the desperation of his character, James Caan isn’t given all that much to do. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s nothing short of great, as he always is; it’s the character that calls for nothing more. But it’s the performance of Kathy Bates that truly makes this film as thrilling and sometimes downright terrifying as it is. The character of Annie Wilkes in the novel is one that needed to be captured to perfection that it, again, seemed impossible to adapt onto screen. However when you see Bates in the role, wearing those clothes, in that house, doing the things Annie does, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing her. She doesn’t just play Annie Wilkes, she is her. One of the most perfect casting choices in the history of film, which even the Academy recognized when they gave her the Best Actress Oscar.
The only real problem with Misery is the way in which it ends. Although virtually the same as the novel (minus a couple of scenes at the finish line that would have been unnecessary for the film anyway) the way in which it was done just didn’t seem exactly right to me. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve seen it for yourself but the best way I can think of is that it just seems to sort of end suddenly, with a kind of throwback to the rest of the film. Although the final scene is preceded by one of the most thrilling confrontations I have ever witnessed in a film, its final few frames left me kind of miffed.
Such brilliantly done book-to-screen adaptations as Misery are hard to come by. Reiner is clearly a director who knows what he’s doing, whatever the genre might be, and this just might be his finest hour. And overall I am very pleased to say that thrillers just don’t get much more thrilling than this.
Article comments