So, it happened. I watched The Shining for the first time ever (yeah yeah I know). The thing is I read the book and I absolutely loved it. One of the few books that scared me and gave me chills. The thing is there's a cliche "books are much better than movies" and I used to disagree but this time yes, so much yes.
As usual many things that took place in a book were not even mentioned in a movie. Understandable, because you've got a limited amount of time and some things can be mentioned in a dialogue. But there were a few I'd die to see in a movie: Jacks anger fists, the reason he lost his teaching job, visions that both Danny and Jack had in a hotel before it went crazy, the struggle of Dick Hallorann's attempt to get to the Overlook in time etc.
The ending that went wrong. I just hate it when things go different from what has been written in a book. That makes me angry, because that's changing the way things were in your mind and it just makes me want to scream at the screen "NO, THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED!!!". Dick was not supposed to die. Man, for a reason it took him forever to get back to Overlook, and he came and saved Wendy and Danny and took them out and took care of them afterwards. His weird death makes no sence, because he had a shining. Yes, in a book he had a premonition that he'd die there, but he just got injured and he survived, cause his willing to help was too strong. I have no idea how he didn't know Jack was standing right there waiting for him.
Jack's chasing Danny in hotel corridors with a wooden club banging against the walls and saying TAKE YOUR MEDICINE (something that his father used to say to his mother btw) was one of the most scary things in the book! Chasing Danny in a snowy maze with an axe... I just don't think so. Also, Jack was being possessed by the spirit of the hotel and just before Jack died (killed himself with that exact club) he became himself and he told Danny that he loved him and that he should just run - man! That was very very strong and made me feel bad for Jack in so many ways!
Overlook blowing up. The place was haunted by SO MANY spirits, it became an incredibly powerful place. It was alive. In the book, it would do all sorts of crazy things to get what it wanted. The only solution to destroy it was to blow it up and it's exactly what happened in the very end, because the boiler was faulty. Thus the hotel's story ended how it should have ended. The fact is, Jack did a lot of hotel maintenance in the book. In the movie, he just sat there typing "All the work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" (the only thing I did like a lot in the movie) all day. And Wendy was the one taking care of it all it seems.
Cast: Jack Nicholson was the absolute best. I belive it's him who made the movie great. As for Shelley Duvall... I personally thought she made a very poor Wendy. Wendy was a strong woman in a book, a very deliberate one. She had her problems with Jack, but she also loved the man with her whole heart. She had a nasty mother and her lifestory was not pretty. I felt like she would be an iron woman with incredible beauty, not a weird hippie girl who would just cry and run in a funny manner and talk with an extremely high pitched voice. Danny Lloyd was very very good, though.
All in all, I've been expecting a lot from The Shining. The visuals and the sound of the film are perfect. Jack Nicholson is an absolute star. As for the rest of it... I say read the book, get to know all the characters and just enjoy the greatness of the story.
