.jpg) |
| Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones |
Alice Sebold’s bestselling novel The Lovely Bones, when transferred to the silver screen, contains no fully animated role for Andy Serkis to worry about, a running time well under three hours and it wouldn’t come anywhere near ‘epic’ if placed in a genre. A doddle to director Peter Jackson after The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, one may presume. However, the 2002 book was certainly never going to be easy for anyone to adapt.
The story of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) murdered by a neighbour and then watching from her vantage point in Heaven as her family and friends cope with the tragedy and subsequent healing, had to be handled correctly, both logistically and emotionally. The 12A certificate surprised me prior to seeing the film and upon watching it couldn’t understand why the decision was made to tone it down so much. Among other things, Susie’s murder is not shown, there is no indication she is raped and her hat is found by police instead of her elbow, thus glossing over the most harrowing stuff and making everything a bit too rosy.
All book-to-film adaptions will have changes. They are different medias, after all, and for obvious reasons the movie versions will be condensed, but I have never known one so severely shortened. The Road, Fight Club, Atonement, Little Children (not to mention The Lord of the Rings!) are all examples of quality adaptions that lose as little of the story as possible.
 |
| Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon in The Lovely Bones |
All the performances are okay with Susan Sarandon’s turn as Grandma Lynn and Stanley Tucci’s as killer George Harvey being particularly brilliant. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, who play Susie’s parents, try their best but are terribly 2-D characters compared with their printed counterparts. Maybe it would be better enjoyed without reading the book first, but I somehow doubt it, as certain moments would seem even more random if the memory of the novel’s content wasn’t with the audience.
The film definitely has its moments – huge ships in a bottle crashing into the shore, Susie exploring Harvey’s past killings, and a humourous montage of Lynn doing the housework - but overall The Lovely Bones is surprisingly, and disappointingly, bad. Perhaps Peter Jackson should stick to the epics or even the low budget gore flicks he started his career with, because – and I do hate to say it – as director and co-writer the majority of the blame must be laid upon him.
The Lovely Bones is showing at Broadway until Thursday 4 March
Share this article
Read comments and make your own
Comments