Movie Review :: The Secret Window

Posts: 3258

Movie :: The Secret Window
Director = David Koepp (Stir of Echoes)
Genre = Thriller
Rating = 7/10

The task of translating a Stephen King story into a movie has proven difficult for directors to accomplish. More often than not, the result is a corny, poorly acted television special. Although, King did give us The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. And of course we'd all love to see a King film rise above Kubrick's The Shining, which proves that it is possible to prevail, and director David Koepp does just that with Secret Window.

Johnny Depp portrays Mort Rainey, an author of fiction who has withdrawn to an isolated cabin in the woods (remember that isolation is, as always, a necessary element in any suspense story). Rainey becomes very troubled and confused when one day, John Shooter (played by John Turturro), arrives and in his southern drawl accuses him of plagiarizing his story "Secret Window." Rainey had published it several years ago, but Shooter claims it as his own, and wants to receive credit for it. The author tries to write the man off as a lunatic, but Shooter persists and threatens to resort to violence. Resort he does. The plot thickens as Rainey tries to figure out what this stalker's problem is and why people are dying.

Depp plays the part perfectly, and does not try to impress viewers with a gallant personality or witty dialogue. He is simply the epitome of a very confused and aggravated author. Depp's realistic portrayal of his character drew me right into the story. The rest of the acting is solid and believable, especially John Turturro who proves to have a very wide range of talent (see him as Jesus in The Big Lebowski).

The only reservation I had regarding this movie was the expectation of it ending supernaturally, with bright lights devouring the sky and demons rising out of the earth, or maybe discover that Mort Rainey is an alien and have Morgan Freeman lead a military assault against him, or end with something else unrealistic that ruins a perfectly good story. But do not worry! We can all thank God that this movie does not have a typical Hollywood ending. In fact, it ends very well, with a clever twist (as a thriller should) and with a fun amount of gore (as it should). Best off all, it was devoid of any unbelievable explanation that indicates the director got stumped and couldn't rationally end the story. I recommend the movie to all, and if you are a Depp fan, you will not be disappointed.

Posts: 764

i thought it was a very good movie, very well done with deep characters and a kind of suspenseful and mysterious feeling, but nothing necessarily new, i had already seen that ending in another movie. (wont spoil it though)

Posts: 2723 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:17 am Post subject:

I'll have to check it out and get back to you after I see Underworld, Troy, Big Fish, and House of Sand and Fog.. Saw Mean Girls the other night... an entertaining comedy about highschool cliques

Posts: 764 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:19 am Post subject: troy

i heard Troy was unfaithful to 'The Iliad' which if you ask me is a sin, i mean the Illiad is the bread and all the other books out there are the crumbs that fell off of it.

Posts: 2723 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:23 am Post subject:

I still heard it was an entertaining movie all the same. So.. I guess I'll have to find out. I'm sure I'll hear about all of the places the movie deviates from the book because Ali (my girlfriend) knows a lot about what happend in The Iliad. Sometimes she and her family will have lengthy, in-depth conversations about the characters and the plot in the car. Aaanywho.. was there anything you especially liked/disliked about the Secret Window? (that you could share without spoiling anything major of course)

Posts: 764 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:27 am Post subject: uh...

well i guess i just liked Johnny Depp's acting overall, like in most of his movies he has a sort of cynical sense about him that fits in well with the movie. Also from the very beginning scene the mood is set very well so that it kind of makes your palms sweat a little bit. As i already said the ending was sort of dissapointing for me because i expected something i had never seen before. (PM me if you want to know what other movie i had seen this type of ending in)

Posts: 3258 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 9:31 am Post subject:

yah, I never saw SW, but i will when it comes out on DVD... I like Johnny Depp, good actor, tends to make movies much better =P

Posts: 764 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:26 pm Post subject: beginning

if you ask me the beginning of that movie is the best part plus it serves as the base for the rest of the conflicts in the movie.