Date: Fri 06-Mar-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

screenplay-Koontz-Crichton

Full Text:

Harmon On The Big Screen: Screenplays That Should Never Have Been

(with book cover)

BY KIM J. HARMON

"It wasn't as good as the book."

It's a popular turn of phrase, something that is said more often than not

after one views the cinematic version of a popular novel. Whereas someone

can't wait to see how a Hollywood director envisions said novel, it almost

always ends up in disappointment.

Right?

For me, watching movies like these -- adaptations from novels -- has been one

long string of disappointments. While I like almost anything and have seen far

more movies I have liked than those I have not, books simply do not translate

well to the big screen (or small screen, if it is a TV movie).

The two most abysmal adaptations were of Stephen King's novelette, The

Langoliers, and Dean R. Koontz's Phantoms .

Koontz's Phantoms, in particular, was one of the spookiest horror novels I

have ever read. I looked forward to the movie, only to watch -- in a different

kind of horror -- how bad it really was (and for that, I have to blame Koontz,

who wrote the screenplay himself).

The movie did nothing to foster fear and the somewhat intriguing myth of the

Ancient Enemy. All the movie did was make everything seem silly ... right down

to the monstrous bug that popped out of nowhere and left without a plausible

explanation.

Awful.

Michael Crichton's Sphere is simply the latest in this string of

disappointment.

Sphere is a thrilling novel of a spaceship found on the ocean floor and the

speculation of where it came from and what, if anything, is still on board. In

the book, Crichton did a great job of fueling this speculation and then

drawing out the suspense when something was, indeed, discovered still on board

the ship.

But in the movie adaptation, directed by Barry Levinson ( Wag The Dog,

Sleepers ), everything was rushed so much. The team of scientists who were

sent to study the ship were inside within the first 15 minutes of the movie

and they discovered where the ship came from (I won't ruin that, not that it

matters) about five minutes later.

The rest of the movie was spent trying to create some sort of spooky

atmosphere and then exacerbate the tension between the scientists as the thing

aboard the ship began to endanger the expedition. One by one, members were

separated from the rest of the crew in a conspicuous attempt to kill them off.

In time, each attempt became more illogical than the one before.

I guess Levinson felt the star power of Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone, in

particular, was enough to focus the film on but, for someone who loved the

novel and all the subtext, it certainly was not.

There are reasons film adaptations fall far short of expectations, but the

thing that bothers me the most is that the director never sees the book the

way I did. Maybe I'll learn not to expect too much, but I'll be there,

watching, if anyone adapts The Regulators by Stephen King.

I know no director could do the book justice, but I'll watch just the same.