02.16.07 From the Viking
The Ten Least Faithful Screen Adaptations That Came Out...Good
Just got back from seeing Ghost Rider. Dug it, thought it was fun, funny and entertaining. But guess what? The character Ghost Rider is only on screen for about 20-30 minutes during the film, the rest of the time being dominated by Nicolas Cage as the human, Johnny Blaze. It was cool and all…and again, very fun…but I have to admit, not that faithful to the original source material. Usually when a movie doesn't remain faithful to its source material, people throw up their hands in disgust, but there's a select few films that strayed pretty far from what they are based on and came out on top. So here are the TEN LEAST FAITHFUL SCREEN ADAPTATIONS THAT CAME OUT…GOOD
Dune: David Lynch got some studio money and...made a David Lynch film...meaning it's weird, it's long and it doesn't make much sense (and it stars Kyle MacLachlan). Not really like the novels at all, but pretty cool nonetheless.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban: People complained about the lack of some key Quidditch scene, blah blah. It was the best Harry Potter movie so far because it was ACTUALLY A MOVIE, what with a beginning, middle and end! I'm sorry your beloved novels don't follow traditional story structure, I don't care. I want to be able to follow ONE story when I go see a movie...and this film did that just fine.
Casino Royale (The Original): Talk about straying from the source material...with David Niven as a goofy, old James Bond, Woody Allen guest starring as Jimmy Bond and a Burt Bacharach soundtrack, this one certainly pisses off Bond "purists." But it's hilarious, so fuck off.
The Hobbit (the cartoon): I know I just raised the blood pressure of a lot of LOTR fanatics, but hear me out. As someone who hates Lord Of The Rings and Tolkien in general, the Hobbit cartoon is right up my alley. It's trippy and weird and actually FUN, something the original material (and all of Tolkien) lacks entirely. You may fling rocks at your computer screen now.
Blade: I'm sorry...no one read the comic book. If you claim you did, you're either a liar...or you need to reevaluate how you spend your free time. Either way, they took something crappy and turned it into Hollywood Gold.
Dr. Strangelove: The original book, Red Alert, by Peter George, isn't in the slight bit funny. It's just a cold war thriller. Leave it to Kubrick and comedic genius Terry Southern to turn the stiff thriller into a classic black comedy that is widely considered the best comedy of all time.
The Shining: Speaking of Kubrick, leave it to one of the best directors of all time to make Stephen King high brow. It's amazing, harrowing and haunting, despite straying from the novel. We saw what King would've done different, in the mid-90s made for TV version...and it was much, much worse.
The Godfather (and the Godfather II): The books are good, the films are essential. That's all there is to it.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: Have you ever tried reading this "classic" book? It's the definition of illegible drivel. I don't mind reading about people on drugs...as long as the narrative isn't written by someone on drugs. Leave it to Terry Gilliam to actually make the book understandable.
The Life Of Brian: Isn't this a whole lot funnier than the Bible? Just checking.
Share this on Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc.
I would say that if you have to take drugs for something to be genius, then it isn't genius.
If you can say, “I don't mind reading about people on drugs...as long as the narrative isn't written by someone on drugs.” with a straight face then you are someone who clearly is unable to “see the forest for the trees” and thus, would recommend only reading the books suggested to you by the English teacher from your highschool.
And its a work of genius, pure and simple. RIP Hunter
I'm can only assume you're about twelve. Perhaps you should stick with the books that have pictures on every page. In a few years they'll let you into the adult section of the library all by yourself.
Fear and Loathing was so close to the book that it pulled entire dialog scenes straight off the pages.
Don't quit your day job.
Want to write a comment?
