FILM REVIEW: The Ruins

The RUINS [Directed by Carter Smith. Starring: Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, and Laura Ramsey (hubba-hubba)]

It's late and I need to vent. I just finished watching The Ruins and to say the least I am frustrated!! I can't believe they could butcher a novel so badly. The producers and director (and the writer) have successfully sucked all the life out of this book. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for a good summer read. Yes, the characters could be fleshed out more, but its still a page-turner. As for the adaptation (which I was looking forward to since Scott Smith was adapting his own novel) well, its pretty close to terrible if you read the book and enjoyed it in the slightest. Every original, creepy aspect of the book was diluted or simply ignored. And then the good stuff they did include they left hanging. They used nothing to build tension. Creating atmosphere I believe was key to the film and they failed in almost every way.

If you haven't read the book, you may moderately enjoy the movie. It currently holds a 6.2 out of 10 at IMDB after 8,000 votes so someone must have liked it. But the film is rushed (only 90 minutes long) and you even get less character development than the book.

A couple of things exacerbate the whole rage I am feeling right now. First and foremost is that they blended and mixed up all the characters. If one thing happened in the novel to a character it happens to an entirely different character in the book! Not just once, but at least four times and there are only like eight characters in the whole thing. Am I being petty? Anyone who has read the book will be utterly frustrated by the whole experience. Secondly, I shouldn't have watched the making of doc from the DVD because everyone is talking about how great the production is and the director, etc and they even talk about changing everything and are all happy and glad about it. I wanted to heave the remote through the TV right at their heads. Arrgghh! Okay. I feel a little better. I know I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't spew all this out. Which is the whole point of blogs I think.

On the juvenile side (or the libido side) Laura Ramsey is absolutely gorgeous. Wow.

So I give the Ruins a 3 out of 10 if you've read the novel. 5 out of 10 if you haven't read it. You've been warned.