5 Best Book to Movie Adaptations

Being an avid reader and movie goer, book to movie adaptations, if done right, are the best 2 for 1 combo deal ever. Seeing a good book come to life in the cinema just completes the book – or at least it should. Usually a good book is ripped apart to fit the 120 minutes running time needed for movies. Or sometimes the storyline is abandoned altogether and the only thing linking the book to the movie is the title of the book, ala World War Z. But sometimes, both author and director seem to want to preserve the awesomeness of the book and work together to create an amazing movie. Here are BaDoink’s 5 best book to movie adaptations (in no particular order):

The Shawshank Redemption

Stephen King has always had hits and misses when it comes to adaptations of his books and while this movie didn’t do well in the box office, it still became a hit on video. This clever and touching movie really brings this great book to life.

The Lord of the Rings

With a book as rich and layered as this one, probably no adaptation will be able to satisfy everyone. However, it must be said that Peter Jackson did a damn good job. Never has Middle Earth looked so good. I had imagined the Ents to be more majestic looking but they were rather skinny in the movie. Ah well, that’s forgiven since Jackson gave us Legolas instead!

Fight Club

I’ve always been a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan and when they decided to make Fight Club into a movie I was beyond excited. I have to say they didn’t disappoint. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are amazing in it. Yeah, the story is a little more streamlined to fit the screen, but tell me the movie didn’t do the book justice and I’ll tell you you’re a liar.

Trainspotting

Reading Irvine Welsh’s novel is quite the adrenaline rush which Danny Boyle manages to capture really well in the movie adaptation. Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller lend a hand in making this book/movie about heroin addiction stay true to it’s punk rock roots. Boyle didn’t manage to stick to the books short story narrative but still, it turned out smashingly!

No Country for Old Men

The Coen brothers did an amazing job of staying true to this well written but bleak novel by Cormac McCarthy with a pretty terrifying Javier Bardem as Chigurh, the main antagonist. No complaints here!