Book Vs the Film

booyaka

The Beach - Alex Garland.

Great book, god awful film

ukbootlegs

Liked how they interpreted his tactics of delaying boredom by playing games in his head within the context of the film tho

ukbootlegs

Watched Filth at the flicks today based on the Irvine Welsh book of the same name

I was shocked the beastility scene was missing from the movie adaption

namastebuzz

Whilst I enjoyed Filth and thought James McAvoy was brilliant it lacked the depraved ferocity of the book.

The best book adaptation I can remember is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Although told from a different perspective to the book it pretty much captured - or even bettered - a great book.

The main issue is squeezing a 500 page novel into a 2hr movie often just doesn't fit.

The Bourne Trilogy is a good example though. There's no way the story from the books would fit into 3 movies. You'd need three 6hr TV series. So they took the basic premise and put it into a pared down, alternate but similar-ish story line and it worked well.

The first two Bourne books are fantastic thrillers. Well worth a read. The third is totally overblown.

ukbootlegs

100% agree

Buzza

Trainspotting - enjoyed both of them, having read the book first. Did regret changes and omissions in the film e.g. traveling to London by train.

Gangs of New York - whether you liked the film or not, it was not a story from the book as much as some threads loosely gathered together round the main film characters. The book was interesting in the chronology and historical narration of New York gangs over a long period of time.

Steve N

What was your opinion of the book overall?

Buzza

I actually liked the book of Gangs of New York!

In context of how it told the story of gangs and the 'notables', it kept my interest and educated me in something I knew little of previously. It is not a thrilling novel as such so may be rather dry for those looking for something akin to the film.

Steve N

Sounds like my kind of thing.
I get more of a resonance with historical stuff that's real rather than sexed up and fictionalised.

coral

We watched The Shawshank Redemption (again) last week, I'm always impressed at how the film enhances the story without changing much.


ETA: I say 'much', Red is a red-haired irishman in the book.