The plot follows a farmer named Wilf, who kills his wife after she inherits a lot of land and voices intent to sell it. While Wilf does have interest in adding the land to his own, child custody also seems to be a large factor in what drives him. True, his wife does try to force him to sell it all, but she later says that she'll sell her land and leave him be. It seemed like the better option to lead with, but what can you do?
If we were supposed to feel sorry for Wilf's wife, it didn't work. She comes off as intentionally unpleasant to the point where you wonder why the two are even together. It also doesn't come as too much of a loss when she is taken out.
Of course, Wilf doesn't fare much better. Thomas Jane (who I hardly recognized at first) isn't really given a whole lot to work with. All he can do is don an oddly thick Southern accent. It's jarring and becomes grating after a while.
Oddly, one of the stand out characters was Shannon, the love interest of Wilf's son, Hank. We don't get to know too much about her, but she came off as really nice. Sometimes simply having a pleasant disposition can go a long way and this was one of those times. She's polite, shows concern for Hank when he starts to go into an emotional tailspin and even gets along rather well with Wilf. Even with only a handful of scenes, you grow to genuinely like her.
I think the bigger problem, however, is the fact that this was a story that's better suited to prose. The plot really doesn't have enough forward momentum to keep you engaged. Even with a run time of about an hour and 40 minutes, this thing drags like you wouldn't believe. I was repeatedly clicking the screen on my phone to see how much time was left. There are moments peppered throughout where it seems like the movie is finally going to start picking up steam, but then it regresses again.
Neal McDonough has a small supporting role. The movie could have used more of him. Even with only a few minutes of screen time, he manages to turn in a rather strong performance. His presence was one of the highlights of the movie for me.
There's also a scene where it seems like Wilf is being haunted by the spirit of a cow that he killed earlier in the film. It was random and I did get a legitimate chuckle out of it. Sadly, a later line makes it clear that that cow is still living...though it dies later. Had it actually turned out to be a ghost cow I wouldn't have even brought it up as the complete and surprising randomness added to the fun of the scene. Given the true nature, I didn't feel as bad about it. I mean, it might still catch you off guard, but the scene wasn't what it could have been.
The movie also falls into the trap of having a lot of scenes take place in the dark. It's strange because there are some scenes that are dimly lit perfectly and others where I had to struggle to see what was going on or flat out couldn't see what was going on. It was a real problem.
Is this the worst King adaptation? Oh, heavens no. I wouldn't even rank it among the worst. It's faithful to the source material and it isn't a complete misfire. Still, I have no desire to sit through it again and think that your time would be better spent watching something else. I really didn't find this to be worth the effort.
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