Blog post #4: Movie Adaptation

The book I chose for book 2 of Best Sellers is No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, which has been made into a critically acclaimed movie. Although I am only 2/3 of the way completed with the novel, so far the movie is a thousand times better. The film makers really took a chance by using this book. There are many hurtles to overcome in the adaptation of No Country For Old Men; The boring dialogue between characters who don't matter at all, the horrible description in the novel and the amount of unexciting content. The essential plot was kept the same, it's still the same cartel massacre that the book told, yet huge amounts of dialogue were cut out between the sheriffs and Moss's wife.
There were many important scenes that were kept the same, such as the finding of the cartel money which creates the conflict of the main story. The first scene was pretty phenomenal as well, because it shows the pure evil of the main antagonist, Chigurh. Now this scene isn't necessary at all for the plot, yet it is probably my most favorite scene in a book, It starts with Chigurh sitting in handcuffs, and strangling a deputy to escape. This is important because it draws interest to his character, and trust me, he is the only character you will care about. Another scene that was edited, but not entirely cut out was the shoot out at a hotel where Moss, the man who stole the cartels money, stayed. In the book, Moss gets injured severely, and leaves to a hospital. In the movie he simply appears all bandaged up the next day. This scene is important because in the midst of the gunfight, Moss hides the drug money.
Many scenes were cut in the film adaptation, including a meeting with Moss's wife and the sheriff. In the meeting, the sheriff simply tells her that Moss is messing with dangerous people and will probably die, which is completely useless in the movie because within the first 10 minutes Chigurh, the cartel hitman, kills two innocent people. Another scene that was cut was when Moss gets shot and ends up in the hospital. There in the hospital, a man named Wells tries to make a deal with Moss in exchange for the money, but Chigurh kills Wells. I can understand why this scene was cut, because at this point in the story, we've already established the Chigurh is the coolest character.