We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What’s a film adaptation that’s better than the book?
The article explains why they consider the movies Jurassic Park, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Devil Wears Prada, The Social Network, and Clear and Present Danger each to be better than their source material.
@memfree
I’m going to keep adding:
Stalker by Tarkovsky
And I will say that every work of Tarkovsky that is based on literature with the expiation of Solaris (it’s my personal take). I believe that if Tarkovsky had a better budget Solaris would be the best sci fi film of all times. Some production of that film distracts me from the geniality of Tarkovsky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker/_(1979/_film)
I don’t think it’s strictly speaking better, (but I’m biased because I love Strugatsky), it’s such a separated thing, it’s completely different from the Roadside Picnic, the book it’s supposedly based on
I’ve only seen four Tarkovsky films, but yes, he’s a fabulous director. I’ve not read the book and don’t know if an English translation would do it justice, so I’ll take your word for it that the extremely good movie was better than its source.
Note that I didn’t make that list of 6. I just thought the movie community might like to read the article. Y’all don’t have to call me out with all things they skipped because I’d have put stuff like the Wizard of Oz and Ran on there (and then quickly ducked because no one gets away with saying a movie is better than Shakespear’s original work).
Stalker has been on my watch list for ages, must find time for this