Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Marty-the-monkey t1_ixz7n24 wrote

I believe in the saying: 'You can make a good movie out of anything'.

They question is less whether you can make a good movie out of something and more a question of people's personal demand/preference in terms of direct adaptations.

I think very few people would call 'The Shinning' a bad movie. Except the author himself (Steven King) who said Kubric destroyed his works themes. Having read the book I see his point, but that doesn't take away from the fact the movie is a classic.

Similarly, the Godfather as a book and the movie are kind of far from each other l, but I don't think anyone would call the Godfather bad.

Rambo First Blood is an adaptations which is miles away from the themes of its book counter part (not to mention significantly less violent)

American Psycho changed a lot from the book, and is also a great movie.

So it's not a matter of 'could it' but more a question of how faithful do you require the adaptations to be.

Lastly, a great video game adaptation of the work has been made with 'SPEC OPs the line'. So most definitely it can be done..

5

Jaggedmallard26 t1_ixztpg2 wrote

I agree with you but would take it a step further and apply it to meaning that good adaptations of Heart of Darkness have been done. Apocalypse Now, Ad Astra and Spec Ops The Line are all loose adaptations that capture the spirit and feeling of the book and fascinatingly each use it to explore the theme of the book through a radically different lens. They took the novella and turned it into a movie and a game by changing things to make it fit, its the loosest of adaptations but thats fine, Heart of Darkness was always about the themes and feel rather than the raw plot. If anything having adaptations tackle more recent issues is more in keeping with the novella which was very much a criticism of Imperialism in the Congo.

To me those are good adaptations of Heart of Darkness.

2

fifticon OP t1_iy2qr4s wrote

I'll have to check out that Spec Ops you have all been mentioning, thanks for the tip!

1

Jaggedmallard26 t1_iy2qxru wrote

Only thing to bare in mind is it very much intends to be a criticism of military shooters from the xbox 360 era. Some notable moments lose some of their kick without knowing what they're a deconstruction of. Still worth playing though.

1