Excelsior: Movies that are Better than the Books they are Based On

How often have you seen a movie adaptation of a great read and said, “The book was so much better”? How often have you been downright disappointed by a film because you had imagined it differently, or they changed the story around, or it didn’t capture the spirit of the book? In an overwhelming majority of cases, literary adaptations don’t do the original justice. And yet, there are a handful of exceptions – The Excelsior presents four movies that are actually better than the books they are based on.

Fight Club

The story of a disillusioned insurance employee and his soap-making friend who step out of society by starting a nightly meet-up where men beat each other up to feel alive is a pretty great premise for whatever medium. But while the book is good, the 1999 film by David Fincher is a masterpiece.
Filled out with powerful visuals – from the color schemes of the wardrobe to the surreal feel of the sparsely used fantasy sequences – the story comes to life. Oscar-worthy performances by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt – who shed the pretty boy image once and for all with this – help too.
In a rare display of a voice-over that works perfectly, the film keeps the spirit of the novel while improving on some of the plot points – most notably the very ending, which is much more open in the book. Even the novel’s author Chuck Palahniuk saw the movie adaptation as an improvement on his novel.

The Graduate

“The Graduate” is the story of recent college grad Benjamin who has no idea what he wants out of life or even what he is going to do tomorrow. The decision is made for him by the somewhat pushy Mrs. Robinson who seduces him. He, of course, ends up falling in love with her daughter.
While the film inspired generations of young aimless people, the book by Charles Webb reads like a bunch of stage directions from your local community center’s latest play.
The most memorable scenes of the film – Mrs. Robinson taking off her stockings, Ben floating in the pool with his diving gear on – are purely visual in nature. It almost seems as if this narrative was supposed to be a filmic one in the first place – which is why the movie has a place in the canon of film classics and the book has, rightfully, been forgotten.

The Shining

Now this one is debatable: While Stephen King’s novel is a solid horror story, the 1980 film was dubbed one of the best horror movies ever as well as a great cinematic achievement. The tricky thing in this case is that director Stanley Kubrick made the story of a man going crazy in a haunted mountain hotel completely his own – to the point that the book and the film could be considered two distinct works of fiction.
But when we think of “The Shining” today, we think of the twins in the hallway, the blood splashing out of the elevator, Jack Nicholson axing the door and yelling “Heeeere’s Johnny!” – all things that are not in the book.
There is a reason that literal King adaptations like “Pet Sematary,” “Children of the Corn” or even the 1997 “The Shining” miniseries are largely B-movies. King is the master of somewhat over-the-top fantasy and horror scenes. Kubrick’s interpretation, on the other hand, is understated and rich in its visual symbolism. This makes it top-notch cinema, while the book remains a beach read – a hugely entertaining one, granted, but still a beach read.

American Psycho

If you like your serial killer stories with a side order of social criticism, “American Psycho” is for you. Patrick Bateman is a New York yuppie by day – and a sadistic murderer at night.
The book alternates between extremely detailed descriptions of status symbols such as dress shirts and wrist watches and just as gruelingly detailed descriptions of the rapes, tortures and murders the protagonist commits. In other words, it alternates between passages that induce extreme boredom and passages that induce projectile vomiting.
The film portrays society’s obsession in a much more focused way, and only insinuates most of the graphic violence of the novel, proofing that less is more. Plus, Christian Bale’s portrayal of the Huey Lewis-loving, prostitute-killing madman is absolutely mesmerizing.