Film Reveiw: Stand By Me

Stand By Me

The film, Stand By Me is a very famous movie adaptation of a Stephen King novella, The Body. It is a simple story of four 12 year old boys who go on an adventure to find the body of a missing boy, Ray Brower, only to discover that something like this will change your life forever. The story itself is narrarated by an older Gordie who is in the process of writing a book about the events of that summer and is reminiscing. Despite it being Gordie at the centre of the movie, it almost feels like a tribute to Chris in the eyes of Gordie.

The four main characters of our story are Chris Chambers, (River Phoenix) the loveable leader and peacemaker who comes from a bad home, Geordie LaChance, (Wil Wheaton) the quiet writer who feels unloved by his parents ever since his brothers death, Teddy Duchamp, (Corey Feldman) the exuberant trouble maker, and Vern Tessio, (Jerry O'Connell) the ditzy sweetheart and reluctant target for Teddys jokes. A very diverse group of best friends who all bring something special to the story being told.

I personally love this film and could easily class it as one of, if not my favourite film for a number of reasons. I am a huge fan of a simple plot in films as long as the script and characters have enough personality to make up for it, and this film is basically the epitome of that. The film synopsis I've written above isn't very shortened down at all, it pretty much sums up the movie, give or take a few elements, scenes and extra characters. The plot, when first heard wont sound very appealing to most people, but you discover very soon into the film that its much more than that. Each character has many layers that are explored further into the story, and this makes them much more realistic and therefore, much more interesting to watch. On the boys journey to find the body, most of the scenes are nothing more than idle dialogue and quips, which I enjoy because it truly shows who the boys are and what they're like at that age; still growing up but slightly mature beyond their years. A lot of the scenes are not very relevant to the plot. Scenes like when Gordie sees the deer in the morning, or when they are running from 'Chopper', the junkyard dog, but these random quirky scenes all give the film alot more personality and makes it feel less forced. And then of course, the final scene, which is one of the most touching scenes in the whole film. There are no over dramatic tears shed or too much given away about the future, but it is just a simple conversation between two best friends who are scared about the future; it's genuine and its heartbreaking, especially when you find out that Chris had gone on later to be killed. This makes the whole movie just that much more tragic when re-watching it.

With a film like this, I have very few critiques as for me, it ticks pretty much all of my personal preference boxes. One thing I would change slightly is the end confrontation seen with Ace and his gang, I feel like it should of went on a little longer and more should have been said, I feel as though it was slightly rushed.

In conclusion, I have very few critiques to make about this film as I feel like, as I said before, it ticky every box and is fully deserving of every award and nomination it picked up along the way. Each character was perfectly cast and the acting was true to the book. In my opinion, it is one of the best coming of age movies ever made.

I would give this film 4-5 stars.