What books do you reckon are 'un-filmable'

I read The Running Man ages ago, but just got around to watching the movie no less than four days ago. I really thought it would have been a good movie if it wasn't supposed to be an adaptation of the book. The only things the same were a few names and the concept of a game show where it's a fight to the death. The game was even entirely different from the books except the contestants can (and do) die. I felt that it was very corny, but it didn't take itself too seriously and a lot of that was on purpose. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was just a god awful book adaption.

I loved the story of the book, and I got absolutely none of that from the movie. No nose filters, no pollution, Richards didn't have a dying child or a wife. Pretty much everything that made the story so good was taken out. The Running Man is a gruesome, terrible game, but Richards voluntarily takes part in it because his family desperately needs money and his child needs healthcare as soon as possible. We got a quirky action movie instead of a gruesome but touching drama. I hated the idea of the 'stalkers' in the movie. Each had their own gimmick instead of it being a group of dedicated hunters using the audience (the general population of the country) and their own resources to track down the contestants.

Also, the fact that they left out the young kid and his brother helping Richards and discovering the truth about pollution pissed me off. It wasn't a book adaption, it was a completely unrelated movie that used the same name. That's it. I would really like to see a faithful adaption, but I really don't think we'll ever see one. Not just because no film producer wants to make one, but because a movie wouldn't capture the feelings portrayed in the book.

/r/books Thread Parent