Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Watchin Movies This was very entertaining and easy to binge watch.

bowmanblue 'The Stand' is a four-part TV serial which Stephen King adapted from his own book. Yes, it came from a book, which means everyone that read the book first basically doesn't like the TV version. Personally, I haven't read it, so I can't comment on that, but, when you consider how bad some of the other adaptations of Stephen King's work are when they're transferred from page to the screen, this one is one of the better ones (not that it'll be for everyone).First of all, the four parts basically total almost six hours in length, so you'll have to be prepared to invest a fair amount of your time into watching this. The story is about a highly contagious (not to mention FATAL) disease which is released from an American laboratory and basically wipes out the entire population in a matter of weeks. Only a few hundred people remain in the country - some are haunted by dreams of an old lady calling herself 'Mother Abigail' as she directs them to her farm, others see visions of a mysterious 'dark man' calling himself 'Randall Flagg' and demanding their loyalty. So, and you probably guessed this, the 'nice' people head on over to Mother Abigail and the 'bad' ones side with Randall Flagg. And it's not too long before the very real prospect of war starts to rear its head between the two factions.It's all a very good premise. The post-apocalyptic world is nicely done (considering the made-for-TV budget) and most of the actors pull off their roles. And there are a lot of roles. Having six hours to play with and two 'sides' to portray, you meet many different people. Naturally, not all of them will be 'fully fleshed out' and three-dimensional. Some don't really have the character arcs that they deserve. Gary Sinise does well as the 'hero' and both Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg are believable as their respective roles as 'good' and 'evil.' However, as with many of King's adaptations, it's also far from perfect. For a start, the (few) special effects which are there are pretty awful. But that's a minor gripe. The major one is that King makes some pretty weird choices in places to move the plot on. Sometimes you're left wondering why something pretty major has happened and offered little in the way of answers. Plus, this film should come with a warning to atheists: this tale is very 'God-heavy.' If ever someone does (or doesn't) do something, it's 'God's will.' God is mentioned all the time and some may get a bit sick of the overtly Christian messages constantly being forced upon them.But, if you can overlook the film's shortcomings and are a fan of slow-moving, multi-cast supernatural apocalypse stories, then you may like this. Although... I haven't mentioned the ending yet. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen the film, only to say that I have yet to find anyone online who actually LIKES the final 'pay-off' of the film (including those who love this film more than me). It is a bit stupid.King described The Stand as 'Lord of the Rings in America' and, if you look closely, you may see some similarities. Only don't go expecting Peter Jackson style special effects and acting quality. If you're prepared to invest six hours into a so-so tale where you may have to suspend your disbelief and not mind being converted to Christianity, then this one isn't so bad.

agentbinky-74-891144 I watched this because I recently read the book and wanted to see what the differences were. Forgive me, but you must expect a lot of comparisons and contrasts between the book and miniseries in this review. Another reason I watched it is because it is a perpetual favorite of Weaponode, one of my closest friends. Any time Weaponode gets drunk, there's a good chance that he'll fire up "The Stand" on Netflix and watch some of his favorite scenes. So, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.The book is more subtle than the miniseries, for one thing. There are no "transformations into Satan" on the part of Flagg, no voice of Mother Abigail at the very end, proclaiming that "the promise has been fulfilled." As a matter of fact, when I read the book, I assumed that Flagg himself had set off the bomb inadvertently by summoning his ball of flame. That took a lot of the wind out of the sails of the so-called "Stand" on the part of the main characters. After all, what was the point of them traveling all that way, with no food or water, only to be wiped out in an instant via a cataclysmic accident?! The film adds the voice of Mother Abigail and references to the giant hand as "The Hand of God," so that's definitely an improvement over the ambiguous ending of the book.There are other things in the miniseries that were a lot clearer than the book version, as well. For example, the instructions given to Tom Cullen while he was under hypnosis were a lot more clear and direct. However, some things were left more in the dark. Howard's turn to evil, so aptly described by his decision to begin keeping a bitter, acerbic journal, is completely left out of the miniseries version. Nadine's turn is a lot less detailed as well, she's sort of Flagg's by default in the miniseries, whereas she struggled with it a lot more in the book. It's a shame, because I thought the turning of these two characters were some of the most compelling parts of the book.To be honest, I think the miniseries as a whole is better than the book. The main reason being that the miniseries is only six hours long, whereas the book is over 1,200 pages in its "uncut" edition. The miniseries cuts out a lot of useless filler, like the establishment of the Boulder Free Zone and the endless bureaucratic meetings involved. I said in my book review of "The Stand" that King could have cut out most of the middle third without significantly hurting his narrative, and I stand by that assessment. The miniseries does a good job of this. There's only one Boulder Free Zone meeting featured, enough to establish that the mechanisms of democracy are functioning again, and it is relatively brief. Thank goodness.Even so, I think watching it was mostly a waste of time. The acting was passable, only Molly Ringwald came off a little stale, and the actor who played Flagg was way campy and over-the-top, as seems to be the case for a lot of these Stephen King miniseries. Overall I'd say I have to give it just barely a "thumbs down," with a rating of three stars out of five.

BA_Harrison A virulent man-made strain of flu accidentally escapes from a top-security army facility and rapidly spreads around the world, killing millions. A small percentage of immune survivors find themselves courted by the forces of good (lead by aged Mother Abigail Freemantle) and evil (commanded by the devilish Randall Flagg) in a final battle for dominion over the Earth.At nearly six hours long, Mick Garris's TV mini-series of Stephen King's chunky post-apocalyptic epic is an arduous journey to undertake, maudlin sentimentality and religious pondering frequently making the road very hard-going; many, mayhaps, will fall by the wayside. It all starts off promisingly enough, with a terrific, truly chilling first half in which the last of the living—a wide ranging group of well-drawn characters performed by an impressive cast—are left to wander a world strewn with corpses, looking for fellow survivors; however, it all goes a bit awry in the latter half, which is laden with corn (and I'm not talking about the crops surrounding Mother Abigail's home!).Increasingly hammy performances (worst offenders: Jamey Sheridan as Flagg and Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man), moments of unintentional hilarity, and a sense of the absurd proliferate matters, with a ridiculous anti-climax that sees God himself saving the day, obliterating his enemy by reaching down a giant sparkly hand to detonate an atomic bomb. No, really! 5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.