Zarf and Makki’s Review Site

So Makki and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie this weekend (yes there is a review) and it got me thinking about reading books and then seeing the movie. I have read a number of good books that were later turned into movies and I am always a bit leery about seeing them.

Harry Potter is obviously a good example as they have now made five of the books into films and I personally can’t wait to see the remaining two. My excitement for the next installments doesn’t necessarily mean I like what they have done in all the films but I did enjoy them so far. The problem with these is that the books are so long that they need to pick and choose what is put into the films. As a result, things that I feel are important to the plots in later books sometimes gets dropped. Overall they do a good job of sticking with the books though which is a good thing.

Lord of the Rings is another widely popular choice. These suffer from the same problems as Harry Potter due to the length of the books. These movies also due a decent job of following the books but while they had to leave out certain items due to length they then added content that wasn’t in the books which I felt was a bit silly. They did this to give certain actors larger roles, Arwin comes to mind, and that is just not right.

Bourne Identity, Supremecy, Ultimatum. Ok, so I haven’t seen the third one yet but I can tell you already that I’m sure they blew it. The first movie was great and attempted to follow the plot of the book. I’ll admit I haven’t read the book in many years but I believe that it was fairly true to the book. The second movie was appalling. The movie didn’t follow my memory of the book at all although I plan on rereading it just to see if I am correct, which I undoubtedly am. The other problem which has nothing to do with the book is the action was all jittery and unwatchable. The director claims this was to add a sense of urgency and excitement. All I got was annoyed and thought they ruined an otherwise entertaining movie. The point with these films though is that even though I don’t think they have stayed true to the books, the movies themselves are still pretty entertaining.

James Bond. Pick one. Go ahead it doesn’t really matter which one. Yes, I have read a few of the original Ian Flemming books and they were pretty good. They were also fairly short. The movies however are basically only sharing the main characters and the titles as most of the plots are nothing like the books. I was intrigued with the latest Casino Royalle though as it had a certain closeness to the book. Of course, James Bond would rather be captured and tortured by Smersh than lower himself to playing Texas Hold’em which in a way is what happens near the end of the film so that works out.

Sahara. Yes, the second attempt at a Dirk Pitt novel on the big screen. This one really made me nervous as I am a huge fan of these books. I admit that at first I thought the casting was way off, but it in fact turned out great. After watching the abortion which was Raise the Titanic from many years ago I was hoping that they would get this one right. How shall I put this….. As an action movie it was loads of fun and I would recommend it. However, the changes they made to the structure of the plot was not only poorly conceived they were totally unnecessary. That is when the move from book to movie is a bad thing. I understand shorting the plot to make it work in two hours but there is no excuse for changing the basic elements of a story, especially one that has so many books involved just for the sake of change.

I’m sure some of you are probably wondering what I am trying to get at with this list. Lets see if I can explain.

Obviously I enjoy movies. I also really enjoy reading books. I do know some people that like one but not the other. I find that amusing as they really aren’t that different. Both are an escape into fantasy that the individual gets to enjoy. Movies just allow you to live that fantasy faster and that my friend is the crux of the problem. I often get into discussions about how the movie was not nearly as good as the book. Well DUH, of course it wasn’t. First of all you get to create your own visual images when you read a book so it is a personal experience. Even if the movie matched your mental image perfectly it would still need to be shorter and therefore leave out things which detracts from the overall quality of the experience.

Get over it. The movie will never be the book. If you can’t understand this maybe you shouldn’t see the movie if you read the book first. I will admit to the disappointment with some translations but I go in understanding the necessity of the changes and make the best of it. Maybe one day someone will just make a four hour movie version of a book and it will be awesome. Although with attention spans getting shorter rather than longer this seems unlikely.

Zarf