Wednesday 30 September 2009



“Stand By Me“- Film Review


The film I’m reviewing is called ‘Stand By Me’ directed by Rob Reiner, based on the novella (short story) by Stephen King. I give this film a 4 out of 5 stars as it has a good storyline about friendship and trust. It is rated a 15 as it has strong language throughout the film.


I expected the film to be about friends getting into trouble and them working together to get out of their problem. I didn’t expect for the boys to go out looking for a missing dead boys body.
This film covers many genres like growing up, sticking together and has lots of adventure. The message of this film is to stand by each other through the bad times and also hold people you love close because you never know then their going to slip away.


The story is about 4 friends living in a small town called Castle Rock in the American state of Oregan. It is set in the 1950’s as you can tell by the clothes they wear and the music they listen to. The plot is that the boys hear that theirs a dead boys body in the woods and they set off to find him to be seen as heroes for finding the body. I think the plot makes sense as it comes together as the story progresses and at the end. I think it is believable as lots of dead bodies are not found, also anyone can go out and search of a body.


The five main characters are ‘sensitive’ Gordie played by Wil Wheaton, ‘tough’ Chris played by River Phoenix, ‘mad’ Teddy played by Corey Feldman and ‘scaredy cat’ Vern played by Jerry O’Connell. I think the actors are good at their parts as they act like real friends.
The camerawork is good as they are seen on the train tracks through the woods. There is some beautiful scenes as it is in the countryside but most of it is not as it is about finding a dead teenagers body. The camera is used in a interesting way when two boys, Gordie and Vern were running on the tracks away from a train on a bridge over a large, wide river.


I enjoyed this film because it has humour and adventure. A scene I enjoyed was when they fell into the muddy water and got out screaming after finding leeches on them. A bit I didn’t enjoy was when Gordie was telling the story about “Lard ass” in the pie eating contest and people were being sick over one other.
The scene I remembered most was the one where the boys were running away from the train because the train was right behind them, the camera was used in a interesting way as they had to jump off the bridge and viewers don’t know if the had to jump into the lake below as we didn’t see where they landed.


I would recommend this film to all ages through teenagers aged 14 to elders, as the film contains frequent strong language and people who like adventure and films about friendship and sticking together.