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Riding the Bullet
Lionsgate Home Entertainment // R // April 19, 2005
List Price: $26.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Mick Garris had high hopes for taking Riding the Bullet to the big screen when he set out to make it; however as anyone can tell you, movies based off Stephen King's stories tend to be sent directly to TV and after a paltry opening theatrically (100 screens) Riding the Bullet made it's way to cable in a highly edited form.
Mick Garris, no stranger to Kings material, not only directed Bullet but he also wrote the screenplay and I agree with the quote from King on the cover, that this is one of the best films adapted from a King story. Changing the time period of the original story, which was 1999 to 1969, Garris was able to introduce more of the timeless charm that this summer camp tale spins.
Jonathan Jackson plays Alan Parker, a young man whose obsession with death permeates his thoughts and his artwork, even when drawing a nude model he introduces the Grim Reaper to the scene, turning things grotesque. Things start going from bad to worse for Alan, when his girlfriend (Swimfan's Erika Christenson) hints that she may be breaking up with him, on his birthday. Then in an interesting way of making the viewer care for the character, Alan is preparing to commit suicide when his friends barge into the room to surprise him. Once out of the hospital he gets a phone call from an old neighbor, telling him that his mother who raised him (his father died when he was young) has had a stroke and is in the hospital.
The journey then begins as Alan tries to hitchhike his way to see his mother in the hospital, meeting strange travel companions while on route. The first of which, a weekend hippie who ends up running off the road while trying to light a joint, then he meets a seemingly nice old man who misses his dead wife dearly, so much in fact that he tends to speak to her still. Ultimately, Alan meets George Staub, played by David Arquette, a man in an Plymouth Fury that tends to move very fast. As Staub and Alan are talking to one another, Staub starts calling Alan on his lies, such as the fact that he has never rode the Bullet, a wooden roller coaster at a nearby theme park, and he also tells Alan about other things in his life that are all true. Soon, Staub tells Alan that he needs to make a life and death choice, the life being either his or his mother's and he has but a few miles to make the choice, and the dead travel fast.
Throughout the movie there are times when Alan's internal thought process comes into view, and unlike in books, it's a tough thing to pull off in movies. Here what Garris does is has a Jackson play another version of Alan who becomes the voice of reason in many of the scenes, this is surprisingly well pulled off for what could otherwise be a very tricky thing to convey to the screen.
The DVD
How's it Look:
Riding the Bullet takes place mostly at night, and thankfully the transfer is very well put together here. Blacks are black and there is no noticeable grain in the scenes, yet the detail in each shot is still intact. Bullet is presented in it's original widescreen 1.85:1 ratio.
How's the Sound:
Two audio options are here, a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack as well as the requisite stereo selection. The levels in the 5.1 option are very nicely balanced, with the dialogue coming through quite sharp and clean for the bulk of the picture. One nitpick I have though is with the soundtrack to the movie, it's a very low brow sounding type of heavy metal that comes into play in the scenes that are to be more on the horror side, however given the time period of the movie, this type of electric guitar and heavy bass sound doesn't fit well with the movie at all. This really distracted me from the movie, and actually did lessen my enjoyment of it.
Extras:
Lions Gate has given a fairly loaded DVD for the collectors out there. Two separate commentaries are here, the first being a solo effort by Mick Garris who speaks about making the film from all aspects, such as financing, and what it was like to have German financers and some of their demands (Such as having Michael Keaton play the role that Arquette played).
The second commentary is with a large portion of the crew and cast, with Garris also joining in and helping to keep the dialog moving forward. I actually enjoyed the solo commentary better than the group, and Garris was an entertaining speaker throughout.
A selection of mini-featurettes are also included, each one is quite short and describes some aspects of the movie making, from makeup to shooting a car crash. Unfortunately, there is not an option to play all, so you'll be seeing the menu quite often.
Also included are a series of storyboard to film comparisons, and the theatrical trailer for Riding the Bullet.
Conclusion:
Definitely a step in the right direction for a treatment of a King story, but not quite to the level of Stand by Me, Shawshank or the Green Mile, Riding the Bullet was an entertaining ghost story that I felt did great justice to the original work, while setting itself apart from it at the same time. Not well received in it's initial theatrical run, and then highly edited for TV, it's nice to have the original version available on DVD, and the set of extras that are included make it a pretty good set. For fans of King who cringe when the story is put to film, rest easy as this is a fun ride. I recommend this to fans of the ghost story genre and King fans alike.
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