Fahrenheit 451

I teach Fahrenheit 451 in my Freshman English class, and I was so excited for this film to come out, but I was deeply disappointed by the final product. Bradbury is a brilliant writer, but the beauty of his language is completely lost in this poorly adapted script. The story is entirely changed and many of the key scenes are altered or removed altogether and the central messages are warped. Beatty lacks all complexity and Mildred and Faber aren't in the story at all. I expected so much more for this classic, but instead, I am left discouraged by the warping of a beautiful book.

Subject line says it all, if you want an updated Fahrenheit 451, watch Equilibrium, and for true context, watch the original adaptation from 1966, as both are superior to this silly mess. I won't even go into the reasons why this film is bad, it just is, and other reviews have touched on many points why. Both films I cite above are far more entertaining and insightful, as this film has absolutely nothing to say.

...I'll keep this brief.

Bradbury would not be happy with this film. Bradbury appreciators are not and never will be happy with this film. Where is Mildred? Where is Faber? Where is the Hound? Who tore the beating heart out of a fine parable and crushed it? What possessed them? When did they sell their souls to the devil? How did they manage to get Bradbury's or his estate's blessing for this cartoon? Why, oh, why was that blessing given?

This film embodies everything Bradbury warned us about.

"Lecture's over."

This was going to be bad.... The line " you dream of running from me, you wake up and apologize" (Or something like that) made me think that I didn't know if I could make it through this movie. Which is a shame because I really like both lead actors. Maybe the director just didn't direct them correctly but Ray Bradbury must be turning in his grave at this retelling. I've seen the movie Equilibrium which is loosely based on the book, and while it's no masterpiece it is boatloads better than this

I found Francois Truffaut's film version of Fahrenheit 451 hard going, not helped by a distant performance from star Oskar Werner.

Ramin Bahrani reimagines the Ray Bradbury novel. He sets it in an era of fake news, fake history, disinformation. Propaganda at its best. Burn books and you can reinvent an alternative timeline.

Set in a future Dystopia, Guy Montag (Michael P Jordan) and his mentor Captain Beatty (Michael Shannon) are firemen after a second civil war America who burn books, a tradition that goes far back as Benjamin Franklin! It is easier to control people if they could not find information and think for themselves. It was easy to keep people happy if they do not get offended from what they read.

Montag carries out his work diligently and is in line for promotion but gets taken in by the Eels, a counter group who preserve the information contained in books. They learn books by heart, the upload it on the net, they rebel against the government.

Shannon can play the villain in his sleep. Jordan has the harder part but he is rather vacuous, maybe he is meant to be that way, a person who has never learned to think or question for himself.

There are some good ideas in this film but they never hang together or are fully realised. With two failed adaptations, I think Bradbury's novel might come across better on the page than on the screen.