Six Films Better Than the Books They’re Based On
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
The Shawshank Redemption - a good book (Stephen King) made into a richer and more complete movie. In my opinion, so few of King's stories were better on the screen than the original writing.
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The Hunt For Red October
I head heard about the book for years before I finally got around to reading it.
When I got to the part where the Soviet sub commander writes a letter to the head of the KGB telling him that the crew was going to steal the most powerful weapon in the fleet. Then I threw the book away and swore never to read a Tom Clancy book.
I only watched the movie to see if they'd keep that part, or come up with a reasonable explanation.
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I head heard about the book for years before I finally got around to reading it.
When I got to the part where the Soviet sub commander writes a letter to the head of the KGB telling him that the crew was going to steal the most powerful weapon in the fleet. Then I threw the book away and swore never to read a Tom Clancy book.
I only watched the movie to see if they'd keep that part, or come up with a reasonable explanation.
What's the problem with that part? That a letter is too slow for such important news, or that the thief gives himself away intentionally?
I've not read the book so I didn't know which sub commander you mean.
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Soylent Green. The book (Make Room! Make Room!) is not bad but average, while the film is very good.
Have you rewatched it recently? I ask because I rewatched it a few years ago and (while I still love it) I thought that modern audiences would complain about the pacing and such.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
While not a book, The Boys tv show is vastly better than the original comics it’s based on.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
For me it has to be Forrest Gump.
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Have you rewatched it recently? I ask because I rewatched it a few years ago and (while I still love it) I thought that modern audiences would complain about the pacing and such.
wrote last edited by [email protected]No, I watched it only once and it was years ago
. I remember that I loved it, but it may have aged badly. -
We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
No Country For Old Men was such a masterpiece that it managed to be better than the book, which is a feat given it was written by Cormac McCarthy.
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Imo also Edge of Tomorrow. All You Need Is Kill is good, but the alien is so goofy and the ending is kinda mid, and no real ending to the war. Edge of Tomorrow kinda fixed that. I also love how they handle the crew Cage first met and fight along instead of let them be fodder.
This is one of my favorite movies to catch people off guard with. Tom Cruise in a sci-fi blockbuster that actually turns out to have nuance and a brilliant time mechanic. Surface level, the box makes it look like schlock.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
I found the novel Jurassic Park to be superior to the movie though I enjoyed both. They were just different.
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While not a book, The Boys tv show is vastly better than the original comics it’s based on.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Better than the comic BOOK's?
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Maybe less popular here, and definitely a closer call, but The Martian. Damon’s performance elevated Watney, the book’s Rover drive started to drag, and dear god you could just FEEL how uninterested and inexperienced Weir was during every single scene in the book involving anyone not named Mark Watney. Those scenes were still mostly bare bones plot progression in the movie, but the script doctors and professional actors made them much more palatable.
The movie’s ending was even less plausible than the rest, with the lampshade of picking an idea that book-Watney had rejected, and the book just had more of the “I’ma science the shit out of this!” Robinson Crusoe in space competence porn, and that was cool.
So like I said, there are points in favor of both, but I think the movie was a bit better than the book.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
Jurassic Park the novel is superior to the film, and by a large margin. People who say this are either viewing the movie through a nostalgia filter or haven't read the book.
One thing in particular that is obnoxious about the film is the messy themes. The book critiques capitalism just as much as irresponsible scientists, which is completely lost in the movie. Movie John Hammond is practically the good guy and suffers no consequences, which is makes it feel like borderline capitalist propaganda.
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Jurassic Park the novel is superior to the film, and by a large margin. People who say this are either viewing the movie through a nostalgia filter or haven't read the book.
One thing in particular that is obnoxious about the film is the messy themes. The book critiques capitalism just as much as irresponsible scientists, which is completely lost in the movie. Movie John Hammond is practically the good guy and suffers no consequences, which is makes it feel like borderline capitalist propaganda.
No nostalgia filter here. I just recently re-read the book and rewatched the movie and…. the movie is better in my opinion.
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Maybe less popular here, and definitely a closer call, but The Martian. Damon’s performance elevated Watney, the book’s Rover drive started to drag, and dear god you could just FEEL how uninterested and inexperienced Weir was during every single scene in the book involving anyone not named Mark Watney. Those scenes were still mostly bare bones plot progression in the movie, but the script doctors and professional actors made them much more palatable.
The movie’s ending was even less plausible than the rest, with the lampshade of picking an idea that book-Watney had rejected, and the book just had more of the “I’ma science the shit out of this!” Robinson Crusoe in space competence porn, and that was cool.
So like I said, there are points in favor of both, but I think the movie was a bit better than the book.
Hard no on the Martian. They skipped out on a lot of details of the journey because of time. I agree with their choice as far as movie pacing but that chunk of the book really showed off the dangerousness of Mars.
The really, really big reason the movie isn’t better though is because of the ending. That garbage Hollywood ending with him rocket boosting back to the ship was so stupid. It couldn’t ever happen and the whole idea of the action hero ending ran contrary to the theme of the story.
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No nostalgia filter here. I just recently re-read the book and rewatched the movie and…. the movie is better in my opinion.
Fair enough. It's a fun movie with an excellent cast, but the capitalist edge leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Even Dennis Nedry in the book was an overworked, disgruntled employee who was partially a victim of capitalism himself. In the movie he mostly comes off as a greedy criminal. Although they did mention his "financial problems" in the movie.
It's been years since I've read the book, maybe I need to reread it. Maybe I'm viewing the book through a nostalgia lense.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
@memfree I am going to make angry a lot of people but here I go. The Shinning by Kubrick of course. I personally dont care for Stephen King Literary work I think in the whole context of human literature is absolute TRASH. But in the History of world Cinema Kubrick is up there in the mount Olympus of the Best of the best. The fact that Stephen king cannot understand a medium like Cinema made me choose this one even more. PLUS the fact that Stephen King Made a TV series because he didn't like Kubrick version and is ABSOLUTE FORGETTABLE TRASH is the cherry on top. Im not sure if Kubrick did the same with Eyes Wide Shut... that is debatable.
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For me it has to be Forrest Gump.
I was really surprised this wasn't on the list. First thing I thought of too. The movie is pretty good, while the book is awful in my opinion.
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We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
Starship Troopers
But mostly because it isn't really based on the book at all. Paul Verhoeven famously tried to read the book, got immediately bored and decided to make it his own thing.
