Want to reignite your career? Make a pulpy pandemic thriller
The Stand Starz play ★★★ ★★
After the circus of the Johnny Depp libel trial, Amber Heard returns to the day job with a starring role in an enjoyably pulpy, if sometimes muddled, adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. Heard, whose 2017 divorce from Depp has been fodder for the tabloids, puts in a winningly villainous turn as a wicked temptress allied with the forces of darkness in a postapocalyptic America.
King published The Stand in 1978, explaining he wanted to a set a Lord of the Rings style good vs evil epic in 20th-century America. But it’s the contemporary resonances of this star-packed, nine-part retelling that land the hardest, as a lethal virus wipes out 99 per cent of mankind in just a few days.
The infection is christened “Captain Trips” and as it sweeps the globe it becomes clear that washing your hands and working from home are of little avail. Alas, director Josh Bonne ( The Fault in Our Stars The New Mutants) and showrunner Benjamin Cavell muddle this story by jumping back and forth between timelines. Such an approach detracts from the clean thrust of King’s tale, adding complications where none is required.
Captain Trips has soon reduced society to a dystopian nightmare. However, a tiny percentage of the population is immune and sets about rebuilding civilisation. Among them are wholesome (if slightly dim) everyman Stu Redman (James Mangold), sweet and innocent Frannie Goldsmith (Odessa Young)
and struggling rock star Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo).
But not all the survivors are on the side of the angels. Frannie’s creepily obsessive neighbour Harold (Owen Teague) is driven to the dark side by jealousy over her blossoming romance with Stu. There to meet him is Nadine Cross (Heard), a femme fatale plagued with visions of a Devilish figure named Randall Flagg.
Flagg is King’s attempt at creating an all-american Satan (with tinges of HP Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones). He favours head-to-toe denim, converses in a languid drawl, and enjoys old school rock’n’roll. Unfortunately, Alexander Skarsgård doesn’t quite capture Flagg’s menace and charisma. In particular, we never believe that this is someone for whom Heard’s Cross would kill.
If Flagg has the most wicked mullet in the West, the embodiment of good is Abagail Freemantle (Whoopi Goldberg). She’s a seemingly kindly
old lady who haunts the dreams of the “chosen” survivors – Stu, Frannie, Larry and a handful of others – and bids them travel to Colorado and make their home there.
Their journey into the American heartland and their subsequent betrayal by Cross (who initially presents herself as just another survivor) is proficiently told, all that time-hopping notwithstanding.
But The Stand never rises above competence. It certainly lacks the Hollywood gleam of the very best American television, and only truly comes alive when Heard is allowed to cut loose, giving it the full Jack Sparrow as she chews on the scenery. Following a tough year, The Stand is a reminder of her searing screen presence and will be a good showcase as she seeks to reorientate her career. Available on Starzplay (via Amazon) in the UK from Jan 3