Book > Movie

Rating: 4/10 (11 August 2012)

I bought the book on a train journey home one day and absolutely loved it - finishing it later that evening. I then decided to watch the film online to see if it lived up to the hype. In my view it didn't... and here's why:
1) Ending in the book: shocking and dramatic. In this: lazy and uninspiring. Obviously I won't go into detail to risk ruining it for others.
2) The characters in the book are depicted as 12-18 year-olds, yet the leads in the movie are all in their early 20's. This somehow makes me feel less sorry for the characters as the killing of annoying, talentless adults compared to teenagers is less shocking and doesn't help me imagine the book in a literal sense. Plus the acting from about 90% of the actors is god-awful.
3) Forgive me for sounding like a bit of a sadist, but those who have read the book will know there is a fair amount of gore described in the deaths of the characters. This, however, is a watered down version showing very little gore at all - obviously, to try and appeal to a younger teenage audience. This again takes away some of the sadness as the deaths seem quick and painless compared to the books gory depiction. Even the trailer describes it as a 'bloodbath', but I can assure you it's not. The most blood you will see in this movie is probably on the weapons themselves.
4) The directors have definitely focused on quantity rather than quality in this. Admittedly, they try their best to cram in as much of the story as they can, but the scenes they depict are very flat, dull, uninspiring and rushed. All of the best moments in the book are literally squashed into 2-3 minute segments leaving the audience to think "was that it?". All of this, of course, being shot by the worst cameraman in the world.. which brings me onto my fifth and most important point.
5) During the little action you see in the film, the camera is so unbelievably shaky that it is impossible to see what is going on. Whether or not this was intended, it simply doesn't work. And may leave some feeling a bit nauseated.
There are very few good points I could give without ruining the plot, not that there are many, but the depiction of Cinna by Lenny Kravitz was very very good admittedly.
Overall a BIG disappointment after the book.