Having just seen the 1980 adaptation, I decided to watch this much-maligned 1998 remake as well. It was significantly better than I'd expected. The points of the original book come across quite well, the actors are quite good (esp. Rya Kihlstedt), and much of the thought-provoking content is retained. Considering how bad I had been led to believe that this was, it was a positive and worthwhile, at times even memorable, surprise.
Still, I find have more criticism than praise for this version. It is very low-budget, and so resorts to showing a world far too similar to our own, with a general (and generally nonsensical) setting of skyscrapers, shopping malls and (?) traffic jams. People flying ordinary current-day helicopters and driving ditto cars. The cast of characters, too, has been whittled down to just a few mains, and Bernard Marx, in order to contrast him more with John the Savage (who is for some reason called John Cooper here), is handsome and orthodox, unlike in the book.
What we have, then, is a deeply, deeply dumbed down version of the original story, super-simplified for a less intellectual audience, and probably also for the purpose of keeping the budget down.
A 7 rating is very generous (and most of the reason is because of the greatness of the original book), but this TV movie actually did hold my attention, and I liked the performances of both Gallagher, Kihlstedt, Ferrer and Nimoy. A few of the changes made to the story (in an attempt to make it more current) were okay, although I'd have to say they were also unnecessary. Still and all, this is something I would buy if it were available on DVD rather than just VHS.
7 out of 10.
Still, I find have more criticism than praise for this version. It is very low-budget, and so resorts to showing a world far too similar to our own, with a general (and generally nonsensical) setting of skyscrapers, shopping malls and (?) traffic jams. People flying ordinary current-day helicopters and driving ditto cars. The cast of characters, too, has been whittled down to just a few mains, and Bernard Marx, in order to contrast him more with John the Savage (who is for some reason called John Cooper here), is handsome and orthodox, unlike in the book.
What we have, then, is a deeply, deeply dumbed down version of the original story, super-simplified for a less intellectual audience, and probably also for the purpose of keeping the budget down.
A 7 rating is very generous (and most of the reason is because of the greatness of the original book), but this TV movie actually did hold my attention, and I liked the performances of both Gallagher, Kihlstedt, Ferrer and Nimoy. A few of the changes made to the story (in an attempt to make it more current) were okay, although I'd have to say they were also unnecessary. Still and all, this is something I would buy if it were available on DVD rather than just VHS.
7 out of 10.