A Good Film, But a Poor Adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (16 April 2019)

This film is a modern take on what is seen as a cult classic amongst many avid comic book and dystopian fiction fans, and what is seen here does majorly take that novel and make it a right proper film; however, it seemly has cut bits and pieces of the original story out, mixed them all around, and put them together again. Many key moments and characters are cut or scrapped, seemingly for cost or time reasons, leaving the movie to feel like somewhat of an empty husk of what the book was. It adds very little to make this feel distinguished from the novel, but it still lacks so much of what made the novel great that it seems we don't get much in the way of originality OR a revamped telling of the comic. Not to say that there aren't positives. Writing improvements have been made in most characters that make the ones we do see stand out more, and connect with the viewer better, and some of the casting choices are quite spot on, a personal favorite being John Hurt playing Chancellor Sutler, which stuck with me after the film had ended. This is an entertaining watch, but if you want to experience the best possible version of this story told, you're better off reading the original.