After giving the world two such wonderful films as 'Shine' and 'Snow Falling On Cedars,' I guess Scott Hicks as earned the right to make a bad one. The central problem here is the story. It made sense alongside the others in Stephen King's book, but here, deprived of its context and meaning, it just doesn't play. It looks, sounds and feels just like a film that should have you crying and gives you everything but a reason to do so. Hopkins still manages to be excellent as Ted Brautigan, Anton Yelchin as the young Bobby is fine, and Hicks manages to evoke the period very well. But in the end there's something missing at the heart of this film a point. There might be a lesson here in the adaptation of Stephen King stories if you're going to hold back on the violence or the supernatural, then you need to replace them with something else. Bryan Singer's 'Apt Pupil' did this very well.
Review of Hearts in Atlantis
