And, there’s a very good reason for this: the movie’s original script wasn’t based on the novel at all – it was an original story called “Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine.”
When it was pointed out that there were some similarities between the original script and Heinlein’s novel, the decision was made to license the novel and its name for use in the film, and to retrofit some elements of the film script (such as character names) to fit the novel.
Verhoeven, himself, only read a bit of the novel, and decided he didn’t like it.
Of the worst offender, the space dock video tour: in one period review (probably in Starlog, again), the person mentioned that he went out to the lobby for popcorn and by the time he got back to his seat, they were STILL flying around the Enterprise! I think it was five whole minutes. I think it was even longer in the director’s cut.
I can think of two big disappointments, both from the 90s- Highlander 2, which I think everyone knows was bad- There should have been only one! and Strange Days, which I thought was supposed to be a trippy cyberpunk noir mystery set on New Years eve, 1999. Awesome! But no, it actually sucked.
We saw it in the theater, on opening night. We were agape at the ridiculous retconning of the canon (“Immortals are actually aliens!”). I’ve never watched it again, and don’t ever want to.
Ang Lee’s The Hulk was not disastrous, but it was disappointing.
Everyone involved with the movie–the producers, the director, the writers, the actors–
They all wanted to make a good movie.
They all tried to make a good movie.
You could see the effort they put into it.
But it never quite jelled.
I have mixed feelings about Dungeons and Dragons.
As a Work of Cinematic Art, it is complete garbage.
As a representation of a D&D game . . .
Well, I’ve played in worse.
Hell, I’ve refereed worse.
Four Rooms. Four segments directed by Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Allison Anders, and someone else I forgot, outstanding cast…and it was stupifyingly bad.
More recently, The Dark Tower, although thanks to the internet I was prepared for that one.
I grew up loving the cartoon, getting the toys, and watching and re-watching the 80s movie. I was very excited to see a big-budget CGI version. And they even got Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime!
But, wait, the next movie will have the Constructicons and Devastator! Awesome, this is suck-proof!
But, wait, this one will have Grimlock and the Dinobots! My favorite Transformers, this will turn the tide!
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee - I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, ‘Fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me - you can’t get fooled again.’”
Apt Pupil. Came from the same novella collection as Stand by Me (“The Body”) and The Shawshank Redemption, so it was a golden opportunity for a perfect trifecta. Sadly, 'twas not to be.
The Shadow with Alec Baldwin. I’ve been a lifelong fan, and the fact that they started it off by telling his origin ruined the whole film for me. He’s supposed to be a mystery to the audience as well as to the criminals.
A Little Night Music. Love the play. Looks like a good cast. But… no. Elizabeth Taylor stars, and was smart enough to not even try to sing, just recite the lyrics, but, still, no.
I thought it was a good movie and that McKellen and Renfro were both great in their roles. I haven’t read the novella it’s based on, but I own the trilogy - Different Seasons - that it’s part of. I’ll have to read it and try to discern whether or not it was a good adaptation of the novella. But I thought the movie was pretty good, just as a standalone movie.
i liked Starship Troopers! A guilty pleasure. I never heard of the book and was inordinately amused by all those vehement objections to a dumb movie starring ex-Mrs. Charlie Sheen and giant space bugs. I remember Entertainment Weekly magazine’s review, wherein after a long philisophical article of the pro’s and con’s they came to the conclusion it was the first movie they absolutely could not decide what kind of grade to give it, (A? B, C, D-?) and therefore couldn’t come up with a rating at all.
Babe (the charming story of an adorable piglet who became a sheep herding pig) was one of our family favorites. Then along came Babe Two: Pig In the City. Huzzah! Another charming movie about the adorable piglet!..OMFG. It was appalling. We watched this depressing ugly thing for about 45 minutes and got up and left. I hope copies of that stinkbomb have been collected and buried in a landfill somewhere…
To me more of a failure of imagination. After Neo was shown to be able to affect things in the “real world,” I was certain that in the 3rd film they’d show that it was simply another simulated world one level above the Matrix, but, then again, no. A truly compelling story could have been crafted out of that-could Neo ever reach Earth Prime? Was there even such a final level? But they instead went with the safe and simple plot instead, alas.
Jurassic World. I love Dinosaurs. I liked Jurassic Park a lot. I wanted to love JW but the movie was shit. The script was awful and felt like six movies that were mixed in a blender. The trailer for the new one looks crappy too but I will be there in the theater most likely because I love me some Dinosaurs.
Godzilla. What do I love as much as Dinosaurs? Radioactive dinosaurs that fight other radioactive dinosaurs. I an a huge Godzilla fan. I liked the director. I like Bryan Cranston. This movie had to be great. It was not. Not shit like JW, just dull and constantly cut away from the monsters. So disappointed.
Prometheus. My god, it looked so good, and all the characters were too stupid to live. I’ve rarely walked out of a movie angry, but I felt like I’d been ripped off.
Just be glad it strayed from the text. There were a lot of, shall we say, goings-on in the book that, if rendered to the extent that I remember from the book, would have made the movie unwatchable.
The one that disappointed me was that attempt at the story of Sissy Hankshaw. Every part of it was flat. If you have ever read the book, just pretend that no one has tried to make a movie of it.