Billy Pilgrim: It's time for me to be dead for a little while. And then live again. I give you the Tralfamadorian greeting: Hello. Farewell. Hello. Farewell. Eternally connected, eternally embracing. Hello. Farewell. "Billy Pilgrim lives- from time to time."I believe Slaughterhouse- Five to be a pretty good adaptation
of Vonnegut's masterpiece novel. First off, Vonnegut himself said that this is a worthy adaptation and he should probably have the last word on that issue. The book is one of my personal favorites. So obviously the movie isn't going to be as good, but I didn't expect it to be. I hate when people criticize a movie for not being as good as the book. They can't include every little detail from the book, so obviously some areas are going to suffer slightly. This adaptation left out a lot of stuff, but that's normal. Only one exclusion made me slightly angry and that was Kilgore Trout; the science fiction novelist from the book. I think his inclusion would have helped a lot of people who hadn't read the book understand the story a little better.With the comparisons to the book out of the way, I have to say I was fairly satisfied with this movie. Going in, I didn't really know how this movie was going to be. The novel had to be incredibly hard to adapt, but George Roy Hill and company do a fantastic job with Vonnegut's structure. It's incoherent, yet coherent, both at the same time. Michael Sacks is everything I pictured when I read the book. He does a fantastic job. The only part of the story that did leave me a little underwhelmed was Tralfamadore. But to be fair, I wouldn't know how to make it any better; I just such high hopes for those scenes going in.It's obviously flawed, as every adaption is, but it's still a good film. If you're interested in the movie, I'd read the book also. You won't be sorry. The book is amazing and the film is a pretty solid companion piece to it.
August 28, 2011
