Sounds like the ever present dilemma between great literature and the movies that are made supposedly based upon the books. For instance......
The Isaac Asimov book "I, Robot" (and frankly just about everything in his list of books) are classic literature that helped create the modern genre of sci-fi when it comes to modern books and movies. But the 2004 movie by that name, with characters (at least the names) taken willy-nilly from his works, had almost nothing to do with the written works of Asimov. As a stand alone movie its fine, but as an "Asimovian" universe movie its HORRID. This one is worth watching more than once, but you have to divorce it in your mind from Isaac Asimov or its just plain bad.
The 2011 book, "Ready Player One," by Ernest Cline, is another masterful work of literature in a dystopian future (a VERY popular genre), but the 2018 movie by the same name, is an almost completely different story just using the same names. As a movie from the book its again, Horrid. But if you only watch it for itself its ok...not great...but ok. I doubt I'll ever watch it a second time because its just not worth a second viewing, at least not for me.
Then there's The Martian, a 2011 novel by Andy Weir. For a first novel by an author, he hit this one out of the park. He cleared even the upper decks like the novel was a baseball nose cone on an N10,000 in a minimum diameter all carbon fiber rocket! You might guess that I really like the book. Its one of the best books of its kind that I've ever read and uh.......I read ............ a lot. The movie, unusually enough, is also excellent. Yes, they did the usual condensation of the book. I don't mind that as its usually only a roughly 2 hour movie. And yes, the movie changes a few details that were in the book, but generally only for dramatic affect. Can I say "Iron Man" without giving away too much? LOL! The reader will recognize the movie for what it is, a faithful rendering of the book into cinematic form.
I'm not going to get into the whole George R. R. Martin Song of Fire and Ice series of books and the TV adaptation called Game of Thrones. I don't know how the book series will end....as its not done being written yet. If the author finishes the novels like the TV series ended, then I'd say that his readers will be greatly disappointed. The tv series wasted the ending like I can hardly believe. I think a high school drop-out with a well used library card could have written a better ending for the tv series.......... sorry........
Another would be the 1960 magnificent piece of literature, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee that is currently being banned by the ignorant, stupid, or just plain evil in the "Woke-U-Verse," and the 1962 cinematic adaptation by the same name, staring Gregory Peck, which is a faithful rendering of the novel in cinematic form. Both are wonderful and should be required reading and viewing to claim and or remain part of the human race. For the fools who denigrate this book and obviously the movie? God help us all.
So literature and movies and movies from literature? Sometimes they're bad. Sometimes they're good. Like with most of like, its a mixed bag at best.
Brad, the "Rocket Rev.," Wilson
