The Book was better.

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2008)

The movie does stay true to the book, although some may consider this a chance for the movie makers to bring more life to the characters and the dialogue. My personal feeling is that most (not all) people who didn't like this movie did so for reasons other than being entertained. I thought this movie was well-cast and well-played. The direction was good, and the cinematography was excellent. I think the film's drawbacks are directly related to the difficulties inherent in adapting a novel to a screenplay, and particularly a novel that is as didactic as this one. There was a lot of explanation in the book, and it would have been impossible to include it all in the film version. I think they did the best they could to balance the need to explain what's going on and the need to keep the film under three hours. Overall: AWESOME movie for people who haven't read the book, or have but not understood it.