Post-Apocalypse Movies Are Metal: The Road Movie Review
Cormac McCarthy writes some really crazy stuff. Look at No Country For Old Men. Chances are you saw the movie but didn’t read the book. Imagine reading that story on paper. Though the movie was pretty good, I imagine the book was even better. They almost always are.
I read The Road last year and I stayed up very late many nights because it was very hard to put down. The movie on the other hand, well, not so much. Again you get the basic idea that this is a post-apocalyptic movie, but it seems so rushed you miss a lot of the little things that the book has to offer. The movie, especially if you didn’t read the book, will leave you with many questions and a bit of confusion.
The barren land that is in the movie would probably best describe the way a real post apocalyptic Earth would be. Populations decimated, a sunless sky, contaminated water and shortage of food supplies. On top of that you have the people of little moral value, cannibalizing and hording people for their food supply.
The book ads a lot more to the gore factor of the story and puts so much more in to detail and understanding. I waited in great anticipation for this movie to come out and when I watched it, it was like most movies you see after you read the book; a huge disappointment. Even if they made the movie longer to push in more detail from the book, I still think it would not have been any good, simply because the book is better and putting the story in to film makes the story boring and bland. I mean, the story in itself is no action-packed thrill ride. It’s already kind of dull, but there is something about it that draws you in and keep reading, wondering what is around the next corner, when and how will they eat again, so-on and so-forth.
Bottom line; if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, read the book. Then you can prepare yourself for disappointment, but at least you read a great book.
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5 Responses to “Post-Apocalypse Movies Are Metal: The Road Movie Review”
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Havn’t read the book, but I would say this movie is Good.
Movies as adaptations of books are difficult, but you can never expect the level of detail that was in the book ( the exceptions are short stories. The most notable examples for me are : Shawshank redemption, The mist, Stand by me all by S.K)
I for one thought that the movie was pretty well paced, very well acted, and I thought the feel of it was right on. I also didn’t have that many questions about it. obviously we arn’t told everything that is going on, but i was ok with that. I’m just glad that they didn’t pace it really fast just to try to get everything that was in the book on film because that is usually why i dislike the adaptations.
just my thoughts anyway. I think that if you havn’t read the book and arn’t expecting an action movie (and don’t mind depressing movies) you’ll probably think this is a good film
The acting was good. There was a great cast, but I suppose since I read the book, it was hard to build expectation. The book, yet very detailed, was simple enough as it went along. I might have to read The Shawshank Redemption, even though I have seen the movie about 100 times. The mist and Stand By Me was also very good. The Stand was quite disappointing, but it was a tv mini-series, so not a lot is ever expected.
i’m usually not a huge fan of anything that stephen king writes a screenplay for (like the mini-serieses) but i usually love everything that someone else adapts from his work “Rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption” was very good. It was part of the “four seasons” short story book which also included “the body” ( of which stand by me was made from). The other two in the book can also be enjoyed although they wern’t the best.
both shawshank and stand by me were very close to the books so i liked the books/movies almost equally.
another that was very similar book/movie wise was Fight Club. It uses almost every single notable quote that was in the book in the movie.
don’t mean to write your eyes off, but i enjoy discussing these things
I haven’t read many Stephen King books but I think my favorite one was The Talisman. I tried reading Black House but I couldn’t get in to it. From A Buick 8 was great but I wish it was a bit longer.
The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons were great book, but the screenplay left a lot to be desired. I’ve read ever Dan Brown novel (that I know of) with the exception of The Lost Symbol. All of his novels are great reads, but he always has the same basic plot. A man and a woman who will eventually have a romantic connection, a villain, a mystery or conspiracy, and a twist where you find out that there was actually a mastermind villain that was behind it all and the person you thought was the villain was just a pawn. I guess that must be some type of format for most adventure/mystery novels, though.
Scott,
I believe in the saying “the medium is the message”, no matter how hard you try you cannot beat the medium on which it was originally created.
If you want to read another good book I would recommend “Let the right one in” by John Ajvide Lindqvist. If you love cats then I would warn you that there is a very unpleasant scene in the book.
The guy has a talent for horror though. I still have to watch the movie to see if it is any good.