HBO Max The Last Of Us review (SPOILERS!)

[hanselthecaretaker]

Jackson as a safe haven in ‘The Last of Us’ is science fiction - High Country News

Only the extremely wealthy might survive the Apocalypse in today’s western Wyoming town.

www.hcn.org

 

[gorfias]

The finale was fine. All the "correct" pieces were there, but I guess my feelings are a bit like I had with the Watchmen film. It was a technically well executed Adaptation, but something about it lacked the emotion punch of the games ending. Maybe it's because it's so expected? Like I knew beat for beat what was going to happened so there's no surprises...

If I were forced make a comparison, it just occurred to me that Station Eleven has very similar beats. Now that show, that one ripped my heart out of my chest. I think one difference is that Station Eleven is slightly longer in run time and takes place over 20 years, so you actually see these two characters grow together and it makes the big reveal a tad more gutwrenching. If you liked this I think you'd like Station Eleven.

Terrific comparison.
One thing they had in common to me is that too many people really seemed to be loving the end of the world. In TLOU, you have a gay romance complete with piano and gourmet meals with fine wine. You have a commune, which unlike, say the US Pilgrims who all nearly starved to death, they're doing dandy. In Station Eleven, you want to be in the theater, just do it. You want to be a medical doctor? No institutional requirements at all. Just be one.

Adaptations are a tricky thing. Stray too much from the source material and you risk betraying your audience that was excited about seeing an IP they love brought to life. See also Netflix's "The Witcher". Be too adherent you risk what you describe from The Watchman Film. You know the beats. I liked the 1st Spiderman movie but, 20 year old spoiler, Gobby dies in exactly the same manner as the comic book version.

That's an odd show for me because I loved like all the past stuff but really did not care for the future stuff at all.

Saw my father watching Station Eleven a while back and it looked pretty bad to me. The traveling theater made no sense in the setting and the story was trying to talk about too many people in too many different places and times and it just stonewalled my ability to care. All the best parts were in the flashbacks while the future stuff couldn't suspend my disbelief.

The future stuff deviated from the book a lot. Nice surprises but lacked moral sense. In the book, that kid who disapears himself?

Spoiler

sounds like the book has no moral ambiguity. That kid becomes a monster who rapes children. In this show he seems to be highly moral yet blows some kids up (Pretty sure that was him that strapped little kids to land mines).

This lack of continuity harmed the show, even as it helped the show be much more light hearted than the book given it is such a bleak topic.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Phoenixmgs]

The future stuff deviated from the book a lot. Nice surprises but lacked moral sense. In the book, that kid who disapears himself?

Spoiler

sounds like the book has no moral ambiguity. That kid becomes a monster who rapes children. In this show he seems to be highly moral yet blows some kids up (Pretty sure that was him that strapped little kids to land mines).

This lack of continuity harmed the show, even as it helped the show be much more light hearted than the book given it is such a bleak topic.

Ah, I definitely felt like the show was trying to build up the kid as like a Joker type character or something and it totally fizzles out at the end. And the more and more you see of that comic book the more and more it comes off as some pretentious piece of shit.

 

[ralfy]

What they could have probably done was create new background material, and then make the story of the two protagonists a subplot.

For example, one of the most interesting parts for me about the show but that doesn't appear in the game was the episode about Indonesia.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[ralfy]

The Jakarta scene:


Doing more of that might have led to a remarkable TV show.