Review: J.J. Abrams and Stephen King's 11.22.63 is a Thrilling and Fun Series
I think it's kind of funny that my first review from the Sundance Film Festival this year is for a Hulu mini-series. The film festival hosted a screening of the first two episodes of J.J. Abrams and Stephen King's 11.22.63. This is a show that I've been incredibly excited about, so of course, I had high hopes that it would be something I would thoroughly enjoy.
I'm happy to tell you that this series delivers some fantastic, thrilling edge-of-your-seat entertainment! King's story is in good hands with this talented team of filmmakers, and they are going to deliver a top notch production.
The first two episodes that I saw basically set up the characters and a few of the main players in the story, but it moves quickly and from the opening scene, you are immediately drawn into the story.
For those of you who don't know, the premise centers on high school teacher Jake Epping, who is tasked with the mission to travel back in time to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This mission comes with a lot of moving parts, and there are lots of puzzle pieces that need to be connected before he is able to do it. For example, before he attempts to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, he has to make sure that he was the actual person who pulled the trigger.
One of the most fascinating things about the story is that when Jake gets to close to changing the past, the past pushes back and tries to prevent him from doing what he needs to do. That includes harming him. It's such an awesome concept!
I wish I would have been able to watch more. After watching the first two episodes, I could have binge-watched the whole series right then and there! I'm completely hooked on this series, and now I have to wait to see what happens next.
The series stars James Franco and Chris Cooper and both of them give wonderful performances. It was great to see these two talents work together and they perfectly fit the characters that King has created. Cooper, especially, is one of those actors I can't get enough of and it's great to see him get to play characters like this.
If you don't subscribe to Hulu, you seriously might want to consider doing that for this series. This is hands down the best original series they've done, and it offers a viewing experience you won't want to miss out on. I love when a series like this comes along that turns out to be better than going to the movies.