akkoziol Review of Blindness

Blindness (2008)

Could have been great but is not terrible either..

[7/10 · 6 October 2008]

From having read the book a few years ago, I was a bit hazy on the details and what got translated verbatim from the book to the movie and the majority of what I remember from the book was there. The premise is, without a doubt, great. I'll say what everyone who has read the book will say: the book was better. I've never seen a faithful translation of a book-to-movie so quit your whining. Other than a few sequences, not quite relaying that much time passes, a bit of filler that I agree was OK to admit or change a bit, it was fairly true to the book. I can't say that this should not have been made into a movie as others have said. You know who hates this movie? People who like CG, plot and action that moves at an epileptic pace, and those who DON'T READ BOOKS. Maybe even most Republicans. This IS a thinking person's movie that asks you, the viewer (or reader), a very deep and hypothetical question: what if EVERYONE suddenly went blind? I agree with some others who've said that acting was sub-par other than Julian Moore, I will give it that. She carried the whole movie on her back, quite literally. This could have been a LOT more gripping and terrifying if they would have gotten some better actors for many of the roles. I was not convinced that everyone was in a panic by suddenly going blind. The book did convey this more and the movie did not. We do see the nod to Lord of the Flies as human civility and morality quickly go into the toilet. I don't care who you are, if you've lived so many years and suddenly your precious site was gone, you would be FREAKING out. One thing I will also agree on is the rape scene, you will cringe like you've never cringed before. It is brutal and pretty true to the book. You've been warned. In a nutshell, it's a very non-Hollywoodized adaptation of a pretty terrifying book. It has some shortcomings, shaking acting, but I disagree with those who've given it 1 star. I liken it a bit to Children of Men. If you don't like movies that explore hypothetical questions, skip it and go rent Norbit.