Bag of Bones (2011) starring Pierce Brosnan, Melissa George, Annabeth Gish, Anika Noni Rose directed by Mick Garris Movie Review

Bag of Bones (2011)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Pierce Brosnan in Bag of Bones (2011)

Once for Yes, Twice for No

Mike Nooman (Pierce Brosnan) and his wife Jo (Annabeth Gish) were a winning partnership with Jo helping him with his novels. But then during a book signing for his latest novel Jo pops out to get a bite to eat and ends up killed when she is run over. Struggling with the loss of his soul mate as well as feeling the pressure to write his next novel on an earlier deadline he heads to the remote retreat which Jo had inherited and done up. It is there that not only does he find himself helping a single mum, Mattie (Melissa George), in her custody battle with her ex-father-in-law but also dealing with paranormal phenomena as he believes he is in contact with not only Jo but something else, something darker.

The joys of not being a great reader is that I don't get disappointed when an adaptation, be it movie or TV minis-series as it is in the case of "Bag of Bones", doesn't match up to the novel from which it is adapted which seems to be the case for many people who have voiced their opinion on this mini-series. But whilst I wasn't disappointed by "Bag of Bones" I can't say that I was impressed either as it seems to be a usual ghost story drawn out to much longer than it needed to be which makes me think that perhaps Stephen Kings' novel featured much more depth and intrigue.

Annabeth Gish in Bag of Bones (2011)

So let me put this simply, for the first half of "Bag of Bones" we have Mike dealing with the death of his wife, struggling to deal with it, hitting the bottle and then thinking he can communicate with her all of which I have seen done in other movies. Now this is effectively done with Pierce Brosnan carrying this fist half single handedly just through his responses to the paranormal stuff going on, be it the jubilation of believing his wife is there with him to the fear caused by a sudden deafening noise. If only this half had been edited down to just half of what was shown this mini-series could have been a movie and a lot more interesting. I say that because it is during the second half is where things get more interesting as each story goes somewhere although in doing so it becomes extremely contrived with some strange scenes.

The thing is that "Bag of Bones" is very much the Pierce Brosnan show as whilst he is surrounded by a good supporting cast which includes Annabeth Gish, Melissa George and Anika Noni Rose they don't get enough to do. The thing is that Brosnan is on fine form through out "Bag of Bones" in fact it is a better than expected performance from an actor you wouldn't necessary pick for a horror movie but there needed to be something more.

What this all boils down to is that "Bag of Bones" is not bad for those who watch having never read the original novel from which it is adapted. But at the same time it feels drawn out and repetitive especially during the first half with scene after scene reiterating the same point over and over again.


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