Misery Review

I've slowly realized my liking for Stephen King novel to movie adaptions such as Christine, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Mist, Children of the Corn, ironic I haven't read his novels. So heres comes Misery, a pretty old movie that ranks very high critically.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I thought this movie was brillantly directed by Reiner, because even though we know Annie Wilkes is crazy, the movie makes you feel sympathetic about her. This is no doubt one of Kathy Bates finest moments of acting, but she somehow made me feel sorry for her as James Caan's character Paul Sheldon was being held prisoner. Making me feel sorry for the captor felt so wrong, and yet Annie Wilkes seemed like a desperate fan wishing for a happy ending.

What makes the movie unforgettable is the scene where she "makes sure" Paul Sheldon can't leave her, she decides to break his leg. Watching that happen made me cringe, no this wasn't simply Annie hammering his leg. She took her sweet time doing so by putting a board between his legs and hitting his left foot to the right. When that happened, I bugged out, oh my god that looked painful. I know it's not really happening, but it rendered me speechless.

It's so interesting that during the second half of the movie, Paul and Annie seem to bond. No, Paul clearly wants to get away from crazy Annie. But he realizes he has to appear content and submissive to her, and it seems they bond through the books that he wrote. Once again, having me feel okay with the situation during the movie even though Paul is a prisoner is infuriating and amazing at the same time. I've heard so many things about people falling for their captors, but this movie made that seem so true. I kept thinking how I would feel in that situation, and personally I probably would have been more frantic and hysterical. Haha.

Misery is a creepy movie, a memorable movie that is paced and timely executed so good. However, I will give it a 4 out of 5. I've been giving too many high scores but this one deserves a 4 for taunting me with the relationship between Annie and Paul that is so wrong but somehow had good moments where they bonded. It's so inconceivable, but it worked so well due to Kathy Bates.