What film adaptation of a book has annoyed you the most?
- Thread starter Dufaunce
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Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!Gormourn said:
Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
The only thing I have wrong with the LoTR movies is that they left out Tom Bombadil, but otherwise they're still good: A shortened version of a good book that is easier to digest for the general public who are all bibliophobic, but inferior to actually reading the book.
Now, though... Eragon. The movie sucked ass. It had so little to do with the book, it's like they just assumed that no one would notice or care. I mean, when they got to the Varden's stronghold, there weren't even dwarves. And in case I don't recall, didn't they refer to Arya being a princess (Accurate, but early) rather than an elf? And here's one thing you won't hear ever again: They conclusively ended it. If you're going to butcher a novel by filming it, at LEAST butcher its sequels if only to show you've read (or skimmed) them all.
Now, though... Eragon. The movie sucked ass. It had so little to do with the book, it's like they just assumed that no one would notice or care. I mean, when they got to the Varden's stronghold, there weren't even dwarves. And in case I don't recall, didn't they refer to Arya being a princess (Accurate, but early) rather than an elf? And here's one thing you won't hear ever again: They conclusively ended it. If you're going to butcher a novel by filming it, at LEAST butcher its sequels if only to show you've read (or skimmed) them all.
I'm with all the people who said Eragon. It's completely unrecognizable. They cut out the entire journey to the Varden stronghold. I can't remember if they completely cut out Murtagh or had him leave, but either way they fucked up there. The dwarves were human size and Arya was utterly human. Basically the only good thing about it was Jeremy Irons as Brom.
It would have been a discredit to the book to finish it in any other way than what he did.Dufaunce said:
Watchmen. It's not a bad film by no means, I'll say right now. However, there were so many things that were either left out, modified , or, in the case of the ending, totally changed that it just annoyed me in numerous ways. Plus, the amount of blood splatter was far too over the top when compared to the book, and the almost pornographic sex scene in the movie wasn't nearly as explicit in the book either (and trust me, I'm not the type to usually complain about too much blood or sex!).
It was a pretty good film on its own right, but as an adaptation of the fantastic graphic novel it was severely lacking.
EDIT: Oh, and the film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" annoyed me as well. Say whatever you like, that the film was a great portrayal of an important event from a child's eyes and the like. The fact that various characters that were truly important to the theme of the book were axed in the film, and that the book's ending monologue, which left me stunned after reading it, was reduced to nothing more than a single line in the film that totally ignored the main point of the book monologue pissed me off like you wouldn't believe.
In my opinion, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the most overrated book adaptations I have ever seen, and is nowhere near as excellent or moving as the book was.
It was a pretty good film on its own right, but as an adaptation of the fantastic graphic novel it was severely lacking.
EDIT: Oh, and the film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" annoyed me as well. Say whatever you like, that the film was a great portrayal of an important event from a child's eyes and the like. The fact that various characters that were truly important to the theme of the book were axed in the film, and that the book's ending monologue, which left me stunned after reading it, was reduced to nothing more than a single line in the film that totally ignored the main point of the book monologue pissed me off like you wouldn't believe.
In my opinion, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the most overrated book adaptations I have ever seen, and is nowhere near as excellent or moving as the book was.
It has to be The Golden Compass by a long shot.
Not only could they not take the effort to market it by its original name in Europe, but they drained quite possibly the greatest ever literary trilogy of all meaning and purpose and filled up the black hole left behind with CGI and Nicole Kidman.
The lead female was alright; she wasn't especially good, but her acting had a naturalistic quality and it certainly wasn't as bad as some sceptics made it out to be.
I'm sure anyone who has read Starship Troopers the book will be highly irritated by the film version, although I personally enjoy the latter more than the former and believe it to be Verhoeven's best film since RoboCop.
Not only could they not take the effort to market it by its original name in Europe, but they drained quite possibly the greatest ever literary trilogy of all meaning and purpose and filled up the black hole left behind with CGI and Nicole Kidman.
The lead female was alright; she wasn't especially good, but her acting had a naturalistic quality and it certainly wasn't as bad as some sceptics made it out to be.
I'm sure anyone who has read Starship Troopers the book will be highly irritated by the film version, although I personally enjoy the latter more than the former and believe it to be Verhoeven's best film since RoboCop.
Eragon. Because the book was a rather good and quite detailed fantasy epic, and the movie ruined it in every way possible. To the extent that every single thing that drives the second book was either killed or never appeared at all. They effectively made it impossible to make the sequel.
Also, Dune. Frank Herbert crafted an absolute masterpiece of science fiction with the book, but the movie was absolute crap. Part of it was that they just really couldn't make the movie with the limited technology of the time, but most of it was just that they completely changed the story and everything else to the point where, having just finished the book, I couldn't even figure out what was going on. It was terrible.
Also, Dune. Frank Herbert crafted an absolute masterpiece of science fiction with the book, but the movie was absolute crap. Part of it was that they just really couldn't make the movie with the limited technology of the time, but most of it was just that they completely changed the story and everything else to the point where, having just finished the book, I couldn't even figure out what was going on. It was terrible.
The Count of Monte Cristo. It is one of my favorite books, I was really excited to see the movie when it came out. I didn't expect it to be amazing, so much happened in the book that a movie would have to be 3+ hours long to really capture it all. But they butchered it so badly, they left a ton of stuff out and stupidly changed key parts of the story, making it incredibly lame. Probably one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen.
I've been a fan of The Spirit comics by Will Eisner for years. When Frank Miller's film came out, I wanted to beat the director to bloody pieces with hard-cover copies of the magnum opus he literally spat on and ran through the mud.
On the upside, at least in response to the film, new generations of writers and artists have given The Spirit a revival in monthly comics.
The downside is us Spirit fans are left defending the integrity of Will Eisner who pretty much took every gambit of human sin and emotion and presented it to us in seven-page comic liftouts every week during the Golden Ages of comics. Eisner was embarassed in slip-shod fashion on screen - and Miller thought it would be an honour to direct the film! He should've approached it with respect rather than wave his whole ego in front of the camera for 80 minutes.
On the upside, at least in response to the film, new generations of writers and artists have given The Spirit a revival in monthly comics.
The downside is us Spirit fans are left defending the integrity of Will Eisner who pretty much took every gambit of human sin and emotion and presented it to us in seven-page comic liftouts every week during the Golden Ages of comics. Eisner was embarassed in slip-shod fashion on screen - and Miller thought it would be an honour to direct the film! He should've approached it with respect rather than wave his whole ego in front of the camera for 80 minutes.
Goddess, how could I have forgotten that piece of crap! When just the other day I was discussing this very movie with a friend. I was telling him about how the original comics were butchered and distorted beyond any recognition, and how it was made worse by the fact it was from Frank Miller, who is so obsessed with faithfulness when his own comics are adapted to the big screen... Talk about hypocrisy.Elexia said:
Everything Zack Snyder touches turns into vapid visual folderol.
Well, to be fair, 300 was crap to begin with.
Well, to be fair, 300 was crap to begin with.
