The Road: Movie vs. Book

The Road by McCarthy was a suspenseful and interesting read. As we know Hollywood love’s to make Bestsellers into movies, and more times than not they ruin the story. In this case, the choice to make this movie may have not been such a bad decision. There is no doubt that the book is a lot more interesting and relates to you on a personal level, but in terms of being able to state the story just like in the book, the movie did a decent job. Whilst reading the book the little boy breaks your heart as you can see his conflict and his confusion in this new world. Being able to write such a character is a hard job, but being able to find an 11-year-old actor that can portray the little boy in the book is even harder. Fortunately, for the movie, they found an outstanding actor that conveyed a very believable portrayal of the kid in the book. People have to take in account that you CANNOT compare a movie and a book. A book can be read for days, while a movie only lasts 2 hours. A novel can be a lot more descriptive on vital scenes as they have no worry about the page length; where as a movie must know exactly how much time they can spend on a scene before shooting it. Viggo Mortensen, the actor who plays the boy’s father, stated, “But Kodi was unflappable, as usual. I don’t even think of him as a kid. There are things he’s done on this movie that I’ve never seen anybody do before. And there are many adult actors who never have a moment like he has every day. I can’t say I’ve ever worked with a better partner.” One of the main reasons why the film did so well was because of the amazingly talented actors that portrayed the characters.