Movie Review--Doctor Sleep

"Our beliefs don't make us better people; our actions make us better people."
--Dan Torrence, Doctor Sleep


From the performances to the themes to the careful recreation of the Overlook Hotel, Doctor Sleep radiates quality.  It easily towers above most other 2019 releases, regardless of their genre.  The thematic content is handled much more competently than that of this year's Pet Sematary (not that this is a difficult thing to accomplish in itself), but the overall film surpasses even It: Chapter 2 thanks to the tightness of the script and the strong character development.  Doctor Sleep is a shining example (I couldn't resist) of how to successfully continue an established cinematic legacy after almost 40 years.


Production Values

Every level of the production values succeeds in forming a consistently brilliant film, from the directing to the script to the score.  The returning musical themes from The Shining are used to great effect, but the recreated Overlook Hotel and its macabre inhabitants from the The Shining are the best callbacks the film could have used.  It is important to clarify that Doctor Sleep does not simply rely on the nostalgic affection some people have for The Shining; it stands tall as its own work, and the movie does so in no small part thanks to its superb characters.

Dan Torrence, son of Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrence, has one of the most thorough onscreen character arcs of the decade, while Rose the Hat and the members of her True Knot are given a degree of attention that few other contemporary films give to their villains (their fears, desires, and motivations are explored very well).  Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson are excellently matched with their respective characters Dan and Rose, but the child actors provide performances that complement theirs quite well--one scene where a young boy is tortured for his "steam," a spiritual substance released when people who shine are harmed and killed, is especially memorable because of the quality acting on the part of the child.


Story

As usual, some introductory spoilers are below!

After his traumatic experiences at the Overlook Hotel as a young boy, Dan Torrence is pursued by the ghosts from The Shining as he and his mother try to rebuild their lives.  The spirit of Dick Halloran helps him learn how to psychologically trap the entities, but Dan descends into drugs, alcohol abuse, and seeming promiscuity.  As he metaphorically gets back on his feet, a young girl named Abra displays evidence that she too can shine, unaware that a group of malevolent beings who feast on the shining is targeting young children to consume their mental energy.


Intellectual Content

With examples including dying patients expressing concerns about the possibility of nonexistence after death to telepathic people who use their abilities for selfish gain, numerous characters in Doctor Sleep grapple with questions and matters of explicit spirituality, even if the emphasis is on their personal narratives more than on true epistemology.  The very title of the film and the novel it is derived from is the name given to Dan when he uses his shine to comfort elderly people who are minutes from death, speaking into their minds and assuring them that "We don't end."

It is in this context that, when pressed about his worldview, Dan declares that one's actions, not beliefs, make one a better person.  Considering that the character evolves more on a behavioral level than on an ideological one, the statement is a great reflection of his worldview, but it is only partially correct: while accurate beliefs without accompanying actions are incomplete, the intentional, rationalistic acceptence of verifiable beliefs does make one a better person if truth has objective value.  Moreover, right actions are cheapened when they are not conducted with the right worldview and motivations behind them.


Conclusion

Few sequels are are excellent as Doctor Sleep, and even fewer sequels of such a caliber would be made 39 years after the initial film.  Hell, few films are as excellent as Doctor Sleep.  The deep characterization, lack of jump scares, and attention to detail separate it from many other horror movies of the last 20 years, and whether you like Stephen King's novel of the same name (and its predecessor) or Kubrick's film version of The Shining, Doctor Sleep is competent enough to honor both.  Director Mike Flanagan had an enormous task ahead of him, but he reconciles King's writings with the classic film in a way that does not belittle either.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  A young boy is tortured and killed for his steam.  Other violent scenes include a gunfight and an attempted invasion of a child's mind where the intruder has her hand shredded.
 2.  Profanity:  Variations of "damn," "shit," and "fuck" are used.
 3.  Nudity:  The naked ghost of the old woman from Room 237 in The Shining is shown several times, sometimes in shots where her full torso is shown facing the camera.  Dan Torrence wakes up naked next to a naked woman in her bed (she is laying on her side and strategically covered).  His buttocks are briefly shown as he gets up.