Post by: gregery on August 28, 2008, 06:27:41 PM
The movie is supposed to be a post-appocolyptic tale, very grey and dark. I got interested because Viggo Mortenson is staring in it, and I just dig him in most of his roles.
Anyway, I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the movie. I got it from the library, and I have made it about 25 pages into the book and, well...it just might be the most depressing thing I have ever read in my life. Worse even than the end of 'On the Beach.' Just nothing but grey drab setting and sad paragraph after sad paragraph. It seems very interesting, but I am a pretty down person most of the time all by myself, so I am not sure I can keep reading a book that starts out this sad.
greg
Post by: mfree on August 29, 2008, 03:24:32 AM
There could be promise if certain plot points were emphasized and others minimized, but to explain further would be to spoil the book.
Post by: MrRezister on August 29, 2008, 04:17:34 AM
Anyway, I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the movie. I got it from the library, and I have made it about 25 pages into the book and, well...it just might be the most depressing thing I have ever read in my life.
Man, I've got that book, and I'm in the same boat. I try to read it, and it's just page after page of this dude and his boy trudging through nothingness with a wheelbarrow, being hungry and not talking. It's a tough read, that's for sure!
Post by: AJ Dual on August 29, 2008, 05:20:28 AM
Ugh...
This book if given a true adaptation is going to be about as uplifting as "Beloved" set during an Asteroid/Comet/Supervolcanisim-winter...
Maybe they'll pull it off, but IMO, they're really going to have to mess with this book badly to bring it to film. You can have an absolutely depressing nihilistic story like this in print, because an author can play with style, or third-person omniscient to find pathos and interest in internal thoughts of the characters etc. In literature, there's ways beyond plot to give value to the reader in other forms. You try to do it in film, and you wind up with the 80s version of "Dune"...
You can also play with privation, suffering, and depravity in literature to make artistic points that you can't in film without an NC-17 rating that will kill the movie's profitability.
IMO they're going to have to "lighten" the story a lot to make it watchable, or get all "art film" on it, or something to bring it to film.
Post by: Dntsycnt on August 29, 2008, 06:51:14 AM
The stills I've seen look just about as perfect as you could get in presenting the tone of the book visually. I read some reviews on the script, and it seems it's supposed to have captured "every single thing from the book," and this was an independent script review.
I am very excited about it, and very hopeful.
Post by: griz on August 29, 2008, 08:00:09 AM
Post by: AJ Dual on August 29, 2008, 09:04:39 AM
I guess they're going for it. (shrug)
Honestly, I say I'll go see it just because it's NOT yet another CGI/superhero/romantic comedy. Damn few things that aren't one of those three come out, and they should be rewarded just for that.
Post by: Tallpine on August 29, 2008, 11:22:34 AM
Quote
Viggo Mortenson is staring in it, and I just dig him in most of his roles.
I prefer girls, myself
Post by: MillCreek on August 29, 2008, 11:45:57 AM
Post by: Perd Hapley on August 29, 2008, 12:31:27 PM
trudging through nothingness with a wheelbarrow
Sounds like someone we know...
Post by: gregery on August 29, 2008, 05:24:22 PM
Viggo Mortenson is staring in it, and I just dig him in most of his roles.
I prefer girls, myself
Well, Tallpine...I prefer girls myself, but, I am secure enough in my manhood(and ocasionally drunk enough) to admit to three 'man-crushes'. Viggo is one of them, with Mike Rowe and Tom Brady being the other two.
And now, I'll go dip my brain in a vat of hydrogen peroxide, and establish some plausible deniability from my last statement.
greg
Post by: RevDisk on June 27, 2010, 11:22:48 PM
I enjoy a good post-apocalyptic movie. This movie is about the random unnamed, unskilled and uninteresting wandering survivors that the heroes of an actual post-apocalyptic movie see in passing.
This was ALL grey and depressing, bloody little else. There was no progress towards "something". Just a friggin journey that ends nowhere. Yes, I get the whole literary "deepness" of the movie. I have walked part of the scenery used in the movie, it's south of Pittsburgh on the abandoned stretch of the Turnpike. I couldn't stop thinking of what I could theoretically do with the place. This was just walking to stay warm. Gah!
Spoilers beyond here!
Why do they ONLY run into cannibals 99% of the time? Not one shred of civilization, good or bad?
Why are they always wet? Do these people not know how to make a poncho?
Why is the kid such a whining idiot? You'd THINK growing up surrounded by cannibals, starvation and the end of the world, the kid would grow a spine. He's always pissed that his dad is keeping him alive and making hard decisions. Every time someone is trying to kill them, it's always "Papa, no!" when the guy saves their bacon. I'm guessing that's the moral of the story? Kill yourself, be a defenseless sheep, or be a cannibal if SHTF.
Post by: MicroBalrog on June 27, 2010, 11:27:00 PM
Post by: RevDisk on June 27, 2010, 11:41:41 PM
A lot of 'mainstream' post-apocalyptic fiction is like that: "If SHTF, we are all screwed, please lie down and die slowly."
#&(%(@) that!
I need to write a post apocalyptic fiction film about a proper American's response to SHTF. It involves the main character sticking his head out the side of the lead helicopter waving a bottle of moonshine screaming "WHOOO!", then taking a leak on the emo Hollywood types huddling wet and shivering in their postmodern bleakness 2000 ft AGL below, on the way back from swiping supplies to set up greenhouses and other critical infrastructure.
Post by: Viking on June 28, 2010, 01:25:09 AM
Also, I agree that the kid is a whiny idiot. Probably the father's fault, who apparently enjoys raising him to become nothing more than a snack.
Also, not having seen the movie, what the hell is with this "only a revolver and 2 rounds of ammo"? There's hundreds of millions of firearms in the US, there's probably a bazillion rounds in private hands at any given moment, yet all he carries is a damned .38 with two shots and nothing more?
Post by: mtnbkr on June 28, 2010, 06:05:37 AM
The flashbacks in the movie depict a slow decline over the lifespan of the boy. He's about 10, so that's plenty of time for all available resources to be used up.
Notice there are few, if any, animals in that world. The one dog at the end is the only non-human creature I can recall.
Chris
Post by: Devonai on June 28, 2010, 07:10:56 AM
Post by: mtnbkr on June 28, 2010, 07:12:41 AM
During one flashback, the wife says of the revolver, "only two shots left?" So, I figured he started with more and used 'em up defending his home.
IIRC, one flashback showed more ammo, maybe multiple boxes. It was fairly early in the movie.
Chris
Post by: myrockfight on June 28, 2010, 01:48:43 PM
Hell. If it even hiccups people start keeling over for lack of water. *thinking of Katrina Not only do people have no idea how to fend for themselves, even if they did - where are almost half-a-billion people going to find enough meat and potatoes to sustain themselves in our country. Even if there isn't an enviromental disruption to screw up the ability to produce enough food, actually producing and then delivering it is an entirely separate act within itself. It hurts my brain to even think about it. =|
Just think about how hard it would be to feed the people in your own town. A small town could hunt down every living animal within shooting distance and run out of food within what...weeks?
The movie was very depressing though. I watched it at the completely wrong time too. ;/ Then I just got freaked out thinking about the logistics of how we live.
Post by: Viking on June 28, 2010, 05:48:39 PM
I'm thinking pigs, dogs, goats (who supposedly eat everything), possibly cats? Would there be any chance of any wildlife surviving in the less populated parts of the continent? For all we know from the book, the crappy sunless sky could be something regional for the East Coast of the US due to freak atmospheric conditions and whatnot. Besides, life survived worse things in the past than what could possibly have happened in the book...
Post by: Cromlech on June 28, 2010, 07:45:02 PM
During one flashback, the wife says of the revolver, "only two shots left?" So, I figured he started with more and used 'em up defending his home.That reminds me of Max Max 2: The Road Warrior, where The Humungus has only a handful of rounds for his scoped revolver, and he carefully loads each one.
Post by: dm1333 on June 28, 2010, 10:54:09 PM
I didn't really like the book. Too grim. I'm reading "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett. Pretty good. And rereading all my S.M. Stirling. Gotta like a guy who sends the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle back in time.
Post by: RocketMan on June 29, 2010, 12:16:33 AM
Heh. I thought you were an Elton John fan.
He's okay. Have a couple of his albums. I think he wrote a song 'bout a guy what pilots a rocketship...