Recently shut off one streaming service wand switched to HBO Max. I can across Fahrenheit 451 by chance while scrolling through the movies and go pretty excited since it’s one of my favorite books. Hit play and settled in to see something great moved from paper to screen.
It seemed ok at first. Credits showed different books and paintings being burned, then faded in to Montag holding his lighter. Pretty much how the book starts. No way they got this right off the bat and fucked it up. Then the scene changed and he’s in a bathroom scrolling on a mirror like it’s Facebook or something. Ok, I get it. They modernized the “walls” a little bit. No big deal. He buys some boots (I think) and then the scene changes. He’s having a boxing match with his boss (name escapes me). WTF is this, it makes no sense and wasn’t in the book. Whatever, it moves on.
Now we are in a school and they are talking to kids about the “nines”. I guess this is the dark web or something, apparently where books are uploaded. Warning the kids of the dangers and then telling them the Bible, Moby Dick, and some other book are ok. That’s not right, who the **** came up with this. Did they read the book? They talk about burning books so the kids can be happy, the kids cheer. Whatever, I guess it goes to the conversation between Mantag and the chief in the book where the chief argues that all the conflicting ideas in books lead to confusion and people can’t be happy that way (basically arguing against independent thought). Scene is pretty annoying. Montage character is already shown to be completely foreign to how it was written by Bradenbury. No questioning, no hidden sadness. Just a brainwashed follower.
Next scene there is a fire call. They run out of the station and jump on their truck to head out. We get the displeasure of listening to some idiotic chant/cadence thing they do on the way. More completely idiotic fodder for those with ADHD that need a constant feed of flashy lights and noise I guess.
At the location of the call they find people trying to upload books to the internet. Now, from what I remember it’s at this point in the book Montag enters the house and finds a woman who burns herself alive and ends up bringing a book home to hide. In the movie it’s about 10 people in the house apparently uploading books. Montag fights a guy who’s got a knife for some damn reason, then moves on and finds a server in a closet. He looks at pictures flashing on the screen for maybe 2 seconds when the chief comes in and asks what he’s waiting for. This was the best they could do to show a questioning attitude I guess, but makes no sense given the movie characters anti internet book boner he’s shown to be constantly stroking and waving around so far. He says he was waiting on the chief, then smashes it.
Scene jumps to being outside the house, the book people, “eels” as it calls them, sitting on the sidewalk. One is pulled up for the news crews broadcasting live. It’s told he’s not a “native” and that his identity will be erased. They shove some weird thing on his hand that I guess is supposed to burn away his fingerprints. But then they remove it and put his apparently pointless finger on some scanner thing which somehow brings up his identity, but then shows it being burned away on the screen. Again, makes no sense. And seems to be far more of a reference to immigration or something than books and knowledge. He’s told he will have to be an eel forever now.
They crammed all of this stupid in to the first 13:49 of the move, which is when I hit pause to come here and bitch about it. My opinion: The only way this movie relates to the book is that it seems contain everything that Bradenbury’s book warns about. A mindless shitfest of a movie devoid of the any deeper meaning. Characters are so shallow you could walk through them barefoot without getting your feet wet, and any attempt to bring it online with modern technology failed so hard it makes Biden look like a picture of mediocrity.
I’ve wasted 13:49 of my life. Something I now deeply regret.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It seemed ok at first. Credits showed different books and paintings being burned, then faded in to Montag holding his lighter. Pretty much how the book starts. No way they got this right off the bat and fucked it up. Then the scene changed and he’s in a bathroom scrolling on a mirror like it’s Facebook or something. Ok, I get it. They modernized the “walls” a little bit. No big deal. He buys some boots (I think) and then the scene changes. He’s having a boxing match with his boss (name escapes me). WTF is this, it makes no sense and wasn’t in the book. Whatever, it moves on.
Now we are in a school and they are talking to kids about the “nines”. I guess this is the dark web or something, apparently where books are uploaded. Warning the kids of the dangers and then telling them the Bible, Moby Dick, and some other book are ok. That’s not right, who the **** came up with this. Did they read the book? They talk about burning books so the kids can be happy, the kids cheer. Whatever, I guess it goes to the conversation between Mantag and the chief in the book where the chief argues that all the conflicting ideas in books lead to confusion and people can’t be happy that way (basically arguing against independent thought). Scene is pretty annoying. Montage character is already shown to be completely foreign to how it was written by Bradenbury. No questioning, no hidden sadness. Just a brainwashed follower.
Next scene there is a fire call. They run out of the station and jump on their truck to head out. We get the displeasure of listening to some idiotic chant/cadence thing they do on the way. More completely idiotic fodder for those with ADHD that need a constant feed of flashy lights and noise I guess.
At the location of the call they find people trying to upload books to the internet. Now, from what I remember it’s at this point in the book Montag enters the house and finds a woman who burns herself alive and ends up bringing a book home to hide. In the movie it’s about 10 people in the house apparently uploading books. Montag fights a guy who’s got a knife for some damn reason, then moves on and finds a server in a closet. He looks at pictures flashing on the screen for maybe 2 seconds when the chief comes in and asks what he’s waiting for. This was the best they could do to show a questioning attitude I guess, but makes no sense given the movie characters anti internet book boner he’s shown to be constantly stroking and waving around so far. He says he was waiting on the chief, then smashes it.
Scene jumps to being outside the house, the book people, “eels” as it calls them, sitting on the sidewalk. One is pulled up for the news crews broadcasting live. It’s told he’s not a “native” and that his identity will be erased. They shove some weird thing on his hand that I guess is supposed to burn away his fingerprints. But then they remove it and put his apparently pointless finger on some scanner thing which somehow brings up his identity, but then shows it being burned away on the screen. Again, makes no sense. And seems to be far more of a reference to immigration or something than books and knowledge. He’s told he will have to be an eel forever now.
They crammed all of this stupid in to the first 13:49 of the move, which is when I hit pause to come here and bitch about it. My opinion: The only way this movie relates to the book is that it seems contain everything that Bradenbury’s book warns about. A mindless shitfest of a movie devoid of the any deeper meaning. Characters are so shallow you could walk through them barefoot without getting your feet wet, and any attempt to bring it online with modern technology failed so hard it makes Biden look like a picture of mediocrity.
I’ve wasted 13:49 of my life. Something I now deeply regret.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
