It happened.
It finally happened.
So I was lucky enough to attend the fan screening of TFIOS, a week before it's official release. This was actually the Friday just gone, but I need some time to really decide how I feel about this book to movie adaptation.
For starters, it's quite possibly the best book to movie adaptation I've seen thus far. It's almost on par with Divergent. This is the kind of book to movie adaptation that other adaptations need to take notes from, it was genuinely
that good. That did not, however, make it entirely faultless. In fact, in true Sarah style, I found many faults with this film, as good as it may have been.
Firstly, at no point in the film is the title explained. I feel like this is a very key mistake. Of course, all of us hardcore fans understand the title. But to everyone else it is just nonsense. I actually didn't notice that they had cut it out until a few days after the screening when I was just pondering over it. Since then, I have explained to at least ten people that the title comes from a Shakespeare quote. In his play Julius Caeser, Caeser says "The fault, dear brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings"
This is a
key point in the story, the title make absolutely no sense to anyone because they missed out the key quote of the entire novel.
Other than that, I had no other real massive issues with the film. As a fan of the book, I was obviously very aware of all of the scenes they were cutting out (specifically the 'beautiful couple is beautiful' scene. Really? Are you trying to upset your fanbase?) but theres was little else that was important enough for me to criticize. Some aspects of the book didn't translate well into the big screen, and I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I liked neither the whole Cigarette metaphor nor the 'oblivion' speech.
I just felt like in the book they just work a lot better, and although the film is practically word for word to the book, when Gus was explaining the metaphor to Hazel it just looked weird. When you imagine it yourself it adds to his intelligent character, whereas seeing it on screen he just looks stupid. I hate to say it but it made me cringe a little.
And don't get me wrong, Ansel Elgort was the most amazing Gus they could possibly have ever chosen. He was untraditionally good looking, he played Gus absolutely perfectly and was just kind of all around perfect. However, the 'oblivion' speech in the restaurant in Amsterdam was just plain odd. The friend who came to the screening with me and I both agreed that it was his worst piece of acting, which is frustrating because it's a key scene in the plot. However, I think this is less to do with Ansel's (amazing) acting skills and more to do with content that is far too overly romantic to be easily believed when shown in a real life setting with real life people. It works in the novel, but possibly not in the film.
Getting back onto the topic of how much I love Ansel Elgort, I am minorly obsessed with him. He played Gus so ridulously well, he had his arrogance and wit down to a T, and he was just so charming and convincing. The car scene near the end genuinely broke my heart, like I genuinely held my breath for a good few minutes to stop myself from making awkward noises to accompany my heartbreak and sadness.
However, as for the scene when Hazel find out that Gus is dead, I actually didn't cry. I was too busy being distracted by the girl next to me who began wailing and sobbing hysterically the moment we knew what was coming. I couldn't concentrate on my own grief because she was crying so damn loud. Though I guess it would be fair to say that she cried for the both of us. I cant wait to buy the DVD and watch it at home so I can cry to my hearts content!!
Because it was a special screening, we were also shown the scene in which John Green plays the father of a little girl who asks Hazel about her cannula. It was so cute, and I'm so angry it got cut from the film!! I sincerely wish they release all of the deleted clips because I'm really gutted about some of the things we didn't get to see.
That's all I have to say about the film, other than of course that I absolutely loved it. Part of me is kind of hoping that another John Green book will be taken on as a film, but I am partially torn on the matter.
If you enjoyed TFIOS, another beloved book is being released as a film in the next few months and that is
If I Stay by Gayle Foreman which is definitely worth a read before the film is released!
And finally, here's a photo purely for your amusement. We were all given free limited edition TFIOS posters, and when I got mine home I realised how absolutely giant it is. I texted this photo to my friend as means of demonstrating and it has made its rounds of the my friends and social networking platforms much to everyone's amusement, so I thought I would share it with you all. You're welcome, by the way.
I think it's fair to say that my feelings about this book are thoroughly confused. I wouldn't say that this book 'grabbed' me from the onset, as it opens with the 'seven steps to fall in love' which was extremely cliche and immature. I immediately let out a groan, put my kindle down, and told my co-worker that it was 'going to be one of those books.' However, opening ignored, the story line was extremely engaging. Actually, Donovan's writing managed to overcome my initially negative first impressions when she actually began writing. While I would not say that this is the best written piece of literature to find its way onto my desk, it was thoroughly enjoyable. An easy, light read about a woman and her love debates. Humorous and parts, and had me chuckling out loud on my commute to London, much to the interest of the other commuters. The level writing was sporadic, starting off extremely well and honestly really impressive, with extremely well developed characters with witty and original dialogue. Towards the end, it appeared to falter.
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