Riding The Bullet Movie Review:


Sitting through the latest Stephen King film adaptation Riding the Bullet is tediously repetitive with its continuous mishaps, but the film is exactly like a King novel minus the chills.

Taking place in 1969 Maine, the film centers on a deranged college student named Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson). After his shimmering girlfriend (Erika Christensen) questions their relationship to go experience the wonders of flower power, Alan encounters a green faced and black robed grim reaper during a suicide attempt. Afterwards, with noticeably no doctor in sight Alan walks out of the hospital with a bandaged arm, but receives troubling news that his mother (Barbara Hershey) back home has had a stroke. Not having a car or the nerve to ask someone for a ride, Alan hitchhikes across Maine encountering the usual Stephen King customers. First is a deceptive hippie (Nicky Katt), then mourning old timer (Cliff Robertson), and of course death reincarnated in black tights (David Arquette) while driving a red vintage Buick. Towards the end of his journey, Alan is faced with a troubling decision that involves him and his ill mother.

The metaphor of “riding the bullet” comes into play from a rollercoaster that frighten Alan as a child at a theme park. This playful suggestion from King’s world is one of the film’s few workable devices. Writer/director Mick Garris is a Stephen King kind of guy, he previously directed two other King works (Sleepwalkers, The Stand) that have been adapted into a visual medium. The film has pointless gore and pointless situations, one which includes a rabid dog devouring a rabbit, then getting violently run over. Though this is actually a horror film that has a story of redemption and realization, it is far too busy and repetitive to be acceptable. Garris’ adaptation is probably right off of King’s works, but there are certain things that should be cut from page to screen. The nauseating problem with Riding the Bullet is the continuous hallucinations, flash forwards, and perceived thoughts from the film’s protagonist Alan. There are so many times, when this character thinks about the worst case scenario, not only once but at times twice. These choices hamper the film from being moderate to nearly disastrous. In fact the book was written shortly after King himself had a brush with death when he was hit by a vehicle in 1999. The time is altered in the film to 1969 from 2001, which does seem to work more in the film’s favor.

Jonathan Jackson (Tuck Everlasting) is mild as the issue prone Alan, his performance as the character’s conscious is actually better. David Arquette (Scream) has a lot of fun as the death figure, even though he understandably goes over the top with his antics. Erika Christensen (Traffic) is practically wasted in her underdeveloped role and after the first half of the film she literally disappears. Barbara Hershey brings the most emotion to her role as the widowed mother of Alan, in which most of her work is shown through flashbacks.

Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet is a little smarter than most slasher or pointless horror films; it does have a nice resolution. The problems arise from the overly perceptive choices from writer/director Mick Garris, even though these choices are essentially part of Stephen King’s novel structure.

Grade: C-

Bailey Henderson

 

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