It's hard to rate movies which are based on books, especially if you really like the book. So while the movie is entertaining in itself it's a huge disappointment in terms of "sticking to the original story".
---------Spoilers---------
The book can be divided into three parts: 1) Rob's time in England 2) His journey to Isfahan 3) The time in Isfahan
Part 1 is based loosely on the book but very well done. It's hard to transfer a 700 page book into a 150 min movie so I guess I can live with the shortcuts the movie took in this part especially because of Stellan Skarsgård's wonderful performance as Rob's mentor. I was very skeptical at first about the movie because I love the book so much and I've read it five times, but the beginning exceeded my expectations and I was really looking forward to the upcoming 2 hours. Unfortunately it all went south from there. Part 2 (the journey) was almost completely cut out of the script. That's really disappointing because that is the time in which Rob first bonds with his future wife (a redheaded Scottish Chritian), learns to read, the ways of Judaism and how to keep his cover. Part 3 - the biggest part of the book by far- is completely different from the book. It's pretty much a redone story, something Noah Gordon (the author of the book) was not too happy about either. I recommend to anyone who saw the movie and at least kind of liked it to read the book: The movie took basically nothing away from you, it contains no spoilers to the real story whatsoever which is great. Of course there are a few parallels like Rob illegally performing autopsies or the outbreak of the pest, but all in all it's nothing like the book.
But the thing that really baffled me the most was the poor character development of Rob Cole. Tom Payne did a decent job, no question. But at no time during the movie could you sense all of Rob's struggles: losing his family; traveling England and finding himself to emerge from being a young roughneck who fought with every man and slept with every woman to wanting to become a real healer; having a sixth sense about upcoming death; betraying his religious views; learning to deal with all those new cultures...to name a few
Also another big part of the book is completely canceled out of the story: The development of a great friendship between 3 very unequal men. In my opinion the most important and best part of the whole book. Karim was a joke in the movie. Ben Kingsley was good, not great. The Shah was played very well by Oliver Martinez but the character's relationship with Rob Cole is not even close to what it is in the book.
Furthermore the topic of Islamic radicalism is unnecessarily blown out of proportion.
Don't get me wrong, the movie was entertaining and everybody who did not read the book and saw it with me liked it or found it to be at least all right. But this movie compares to the book like two football games: Sure, it's 11 on 11, the fan's scream in the stands and the grass is green but what really happens on the field differs a lot.
Watch the movie if you like, but you have to read the book to understand why it is considered to be one of the best books ever written...
---------Spoilers---------
The book can be divided into three parts: 1) Rob's time in England 2) His journey to Isfahan 3) The time in Isfahan
Part 1 is based loosely on the book but very well done. It's hard to transfer a 700 page book into a 150 min movie so I guess I can live with the shortcuts the movie took in this part especially because of Stellan Skarsgård's wonderful performance as Rob's mentor. I was very skeptical at first about the movie because I love the book so much and I've read it five times, but the beginning exceeded my expectations and I was really looking forward to the upcoming 2 hours. Unfortunately it all went south from there. Part 2 (the journey) was almost completely cut out of the script. That's really disappointing because that is the time in which Rob first bonds with his future wife (a redheaded Scottish Chritian), learns to read, the ways of Judaism and how to keep his cover. Part 3 - the biggest part of the book by far- is completely different from the book. It's pretty much a redone story, something Noah Gordon (the author of the book) was not too happy about either. I recommend to anyone who saw the movie and at least kind of liked it to read the book: The movie took basically nothing away from you, it contains no spoilers to the real story whatsoever which is great. Of course there are a few parallels like Rob illegally performing autopsies or the outbreak of the pest, but all in all it's nothing like the book.
But the thing that really baffled me the most was the poor character development of Rob Cole. Tom Payne did a decent job, no question. But at no time during the movie could you sense all of Rob's struggles: losing his family; traveling England and finding himself to emerge from being a young roughneck who fought with every man and slept with every woman to wanting to become a real healer; having a sixth sense about upcoming death; betraying his religious views; learning to deal with all those new cultures...to name a few
Also another big part of the book is completely canceled out of the story: The development of a great friendship between 3 very unequal men. In my opinion the most important and best part of the whole book. Karim was a joke in the movie. Ben Kingsley was good, not great. The Shah was played very well by Oliver Martinez but the character's relationship with Rob Cole is not even close to what it is in the book.
Furthermore the topic of Islamic radicalism is unnecessarily blown out of proportion.
Don't get me wrong, the movie was entertaining and everybody who did not read the book and saw it with me liked it or found it to be at least all right. But this movie compares to the book like two football games: Sure, it's 11 on 11, the fan's scream in the stands and the grass is green but what really happens on the field differs a lot.
Watch the movie if you like, but you have to read the book to understand why it is considered to be one of the best books ever written...
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