Day 241

movie: Stephen King's the Stand
starring: Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer
genre: Drama, Horror
year: 1994
format: Online

plot: A plague spreads across the U.S.A., killing almost everyone leaving only a few hundred people immune. Soon, the survivors are finding each other and following a set of odd dreams that leads them to an old religious woman they call Mother. Meanwhile, a man calling himself Flagg is setting up a camp in Las Vegas with less pure intentions. Before long, the two camps must battle it out for the land and souls of everyone.

Based on the novel by Stephen King.  That should be all I need to say, but it's not.
This was the first time I've ever seen The Stand.  I spent nearly 8 hours watching this and after the first four hours, I was yawning thinking I might turn it off. But I've only turned a movie off once in my whole life.

I was expecting more.  It just felt like it was too predictable.  This is a writer who can capture the imagination with the simplest of sentences, and this story is considered one of his biggest and best.  But, I just felt let down after about midway. There was no big payoff for me at all. Some of the characters just seemed way too one dimensional, not too mention, there wasn't a deep enough explanation of the character of Flagg for me.
There was one sentence that hinted at him being one of the Four Horsemen -Pestilence- but then why weren't the rest of them hanging around?

This movie (mini-series are still movies) left me with more questions then anything else and a bad taste.

what do I think I learned from this film?
Society as we know it has forgotten what the real meaning of being alive is. We have to be aware that even if it's not in a literal sense, the end of the world is still a possibility. Becareful who you lend your loyalty to, because they might turn on you anyway. You never know what you are capable of til you're put to the test.