Book to film adaptations

[DeadPoolX 9]

DeadpoolX - Totally agree about the movie "Adaptation" of Starship Troopers....it completely distorted many of the scenes in the book - for example, the bit where the recruiter says "The Mobile Infantry made me the man I am today!", and it shows him with a robotic arm, leg, etc, was done in the movie as dark humor, whereas in the book it turns out that the recruiter is delibrately like that to show recruits the kind of sacrifices they may have to make in the service.

Also, I would have liked to see a "proper" adaptation with the full robotic suits and proper tactics, instead of "Let's just charge blindly into the enemy and get slaughtered!".

The whole "in order to understand democracy you must have helped defend it" concept went out the window too - and despite what some may think, in the book, military service wasn't the only option if you wanted to vote - it was any type of "Federal Service" working for the government. IMHO, something like that might not be such a bad idea these days anyway, with voter apathy going sky-high, but that's just me.

That movie is pretty subversive - deliberately so in fact. I actually quite like it now, though I really hated it when I originally saw it.

That recruiting scene was done as satire in the movie - you don't lose the fact that the officer sacrificed his limbs doing his duty - but the implication is that the recruit should question whether joining up is actually worth the price.

Its actually an anti-war movie disguised as a shoot-em-up action movie.

Probably the one thing I really enjoyed about the movie were the "Would you like to know more?" propaganda videos. Those, I have to admit, were really amusing and scarily realistic in some ways (I could see the U.S. or any nation doing that, especially since we already have in WWII), none of which could accurately be portrayed in the novel. Otherwise, the book is far superior in my opinion.

[Illinois 0]

I saw that film recently and loved it - I'd say that immigration is a backdrop to story about family, identity, love and loss.

Certainly, I agree. However, the way certain events and practices are described is very much found within the larger S. Asian immigrant community (and possibly others too, I am speaking only from my own experiences).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I Am Legend. Great book, ####### movie.

That is a great book - shame that every major movie adaptation has buggered up the ending by adding irrelevant Christ metaphors.

The Vincent Price movie - "Last Man on Earth" is actually the most faithful to Matheson's novel - if you can deal with the pre-George A. Romero zombies taking the place of the vampires, and of course Vincent Price as Robert Neville.

I still like The Omega Man - though there is a heck of a lot wrong with it. The 70's groove it has going makes it worth watching - though the sight of Charlton Heston wearing an crushed velvet suit identical to the one Austin Powers would wear 25 years later is a tough sell..

[almaty 19]

i alos, like the book better and also, the one based on do android sheep dream? much better, than blade runner...altough, blade runner was a good film

[NavarreMan 10]

King Rat - Catagory 1

[GabiandVi 34]

King Rat - Catagory 1

That reminds me. I've never actually read the book, but All the King's Men is a great movie. I liked the new version too.

[NavarreMan 10]

Loved The Hunt for Red October - Catagory 1

also: I think any movie version of Heinlein's works would prove a difficult challenge. I did not like Starship Troopers. I thought it was corny. From a book standpoint, Time Enough For Love is my favorite book. Don't think I want to see it made into a movie though.

[almaty 19]

King Rat - Catagory 1

excellent book.....also, Shogun was a great read

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

i alos, like the book better and also, the one based on do android sheep dream? much better, than blade runner...altough, blade runner was a good film

BR is a lot different to the Philip K ####### novel - its an adaptation in the sense that There Will Be Blood is an adaptation of that Upton Sinclair novel - Oil! Or how Apocalypse now is based on Heart of Darkness. Very loosely based - different enough for the movie to stand as a unique work in its own right.

The problem with #######'s books specifically is that they are hard to film in a literal sense - at least to the degree necessary for it to make sense to the audience. Hence a lot of the best adaptations of his are the ones that are the least faithful to the book - Total Recall, Blade Runner etc.

They made a version of A Scanner Darkly a couple of years ago very true to the original book - but a complete nightmare to make sense of if you haven't read it.

Same thing with Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho - the movie is quite a bit different from the book, out of necessity...

Are we counting graphic novels BTW? If so - Sin City and 300 are pretty decent adaptations, though I really hated 300 for other reasons.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Number 6

[almaty 19]

Sin City was good......300 was not....frank miller was involved in 300, maybe he has a bias against certain ethnics

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Sin City was good......300 was not....frank miller was involved in 300, maybe he has a bias against certain ethnics

The 300 movie adds more material than is in the graphic novel - but it is very close to that graphic novel in content and tone. The half-human Doom creatures weren't in the book - but presumably they were added with Miller's approval.

That's my biggest beef with it - its deliberately over the top and fantastical in its depiction of the ancient persians (and indeed - of the Greeks, the Spartans being the closest to totalitarian fascism in the Greek World) - that might work if the movie itself were based in a fantasy (like Lord of the Rings) but it isn't. Its a real historical event involving real historical civilizations.

Its an example of Hollywood bigotry - but far from the only one. Hollywood's treatment of religion is worse IMO.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Number 6

[Mononoke28 135]

Now that you bring Upton Sinclair. Is there a movie based on "The Jungle"?

Diana

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Now that you bring Upton Sinclair. Is there a movie based on "The Jungle"?

Diana

Not that I'm aware of.

[almaty 19]

Sin City was good......300 was not....frank miller was involved in 300, maybe he has a bias against certain ethnics

The 300 movie adds more material than is in the graphic novel - but it is very close to that graphic novel in content and tone. The half-human Doom creatures weren't in the book - but presumably they were added with Miller's approval.

That's my biggest beef with it - its deliberately over the top and fantastical in its depiction of the ancient persians (and indeed - of the Greeks, the Spartans being the closest to totalitarian fascism in the Greek World) - that might work if the movie itself were based in a fantasy (like Lord of the Rings) but it isn't. Its a real historical event involving real historical civilizations.

Its an example of Hollywood bigotry - but far from the only one. Hollywood's treatment of religion is worse IMO.

excellent points

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Now that you bring Upton Sinclair. Is there a movie based on "The Jungle"?

Diana

There is actually a version of it from the very early days of film directed by George Irving - good luck finding it though!