General rule of thumb: the book is better than the movie. In this case, both the book and the movie are mediocre. I was happy to see older actors in the movie which I knew would reach a wider audience than the book's 13-year-old characters. The action scenes were a lot of fun. That's about the only improvements the movie made.
The story gaps were so big I don't know how anyone could keep up if they hadn't read the book first.When John admits his alien origin to his conspiracy theorist best friend Sam, in the book, the moment was powerful and poignant because of his missing father. In the movie, Sam and John's friendship was grossly undeveloped at the point of reveal which which lacked suspense and believability. The movie jumped the progression of John and Sarah's relationship putting their love story on fast forward. But I did appreciate the additional explanation of "we love differently than humans: it's only one person and it's forever." The love of two barely-there teenagers was too strong and intense for one who is an alien running for his life in the novel. Also, the sudden turnabout of the jock from turning John in to the authorities to sneaking his secret box out of police custody was unexplainable. At least the book had a little more development of that character so his 180 attitude made more sense.
I must say I did enjoy the big difference in plots. The main focus in the book was keeping the 9 survivors separated to avoid breaking the curse. If they ever meet up, they are fair game and lose the protection of dying in sequential order. Conversely, finding each other in the theory that they are stronger together fuels the movie's plot line. It adds a place for Sam and his father that wasn't already created in the novel, it ties in #6 more adequately, and it sets itself up for a sequel quite nicely.
Overall, the movie was fun with enough romance to satisfy the chicks, enough explosions to satisfy the guys, enough of the book to satisfy the readers, and enough story to satisfy the newcomers. This lame movie was, surprisingly, satisfying for a Friday night date.
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