Ok, I've seen the writer is the same who wrote the novel, but wtf? The final scene with all that chase also happens in the book? Because it's like he thought, "ok, now I'm going to write a scene of an action movie that has nothing to do with what happened before".
shareBump
shareI'm very familiar with the author. The problem with his books (from an adaptation perspective anyway) is they tend to be long. I think the director and the studio, no doubt felt that Iles had a better shot at cutting things down and keeping the essence of the story.
The reason most authors want no part of adapting their own book, is directors have no problem telling a screenplay writer, "OK, I need an action scene to close things out. Maybe a car chase." The author, especially in this case, knows it doesn't fit, but if he puts up a fuss, there's 10,000 out of work script doctors in LA, that will be on the set to start writing in 30 minutes.
And....I'll bet money Iles never does it again. Believe it or not, an adapted book that fails as a movie, lessens the change that other books by the same author will be adapted. A perfect example of that is James Patterson's Alex Cross Series. Huge book sales, but two movie attempts both failed. His plots are two complex for movies.
I don't exactly remember how '24 Hours' ended, it's been too long. But the book was coherent, and everything made sense. Hollywood has their formulas. They think they know what the audience wants to see. But this movie failed miserably, which demonstrates that nobody knows anything. It's so universally panned, that I've never worked up the desire to see it.
havent read the book since the time the film was released in theaters, but I remember the ending being very similar as far as action and the planes/trucks/explosions, etc.
The only things that were truly different in the book was the grit-factor ... the book contained more nudity and sexuality between Charlize and Kevin Bacon, as well as more nudity from Courtney Love's character. There was alot more curing and it just felt more real and raw, whereas the movie felt a bit too ... Hollywood? Like it was almost trying to be PG-13... at least that's how I felt upon first seeing the movie. I also felt like Charlize's character was stronger in the book.
I find it odd that Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon, and Courtney Love did not appear nude in this film when they have all appeared nude in other films, especially since the writer of the book and the screenplay was obviously pro-grit and pro-realism. OH well. I love this movie but it could've been alot better.