The greatest time travel story in science fiction turns into a Netflix movie, no one notices
Joshua Tyler | renew
Since the 1980s, it has been Hollywood’s main business model to take classic science fiction novels and turn them into large-scale budget blockbusters. They have adapted to the works of all the great science fiction masters, but one of the most important tasks is: Robert A. Heinlein.
For decades, he has been known as one of the pillars of forward-looking thinking. People call him the dean of science fiction and debate whether he is the greatest science fiction writer of all time or just the top five.
However, except for Paul Verhoeven’s 1990s Starship Soldier The movie (with little resemblance to Heinlein’s book), Hollywood has never taken turning his numerous works into screen projects seriously. Heinlein Stranger on a strange land. Grok means to fully understand something.
After years of modern pop culture neglect, in 2021, the Japanese stepped up to correct mistakes in Robert A. Heinlein’s greatest masterpiece. This book and the movie are called Summer doorAnd, as I want to report, on the screen, someone finally did it through the Dean of Science Fiction, which is full of all the lim weak energy of the glorious soap opera.
Summer door It is undoubtedly one of the greatest travel stories of all time. This is not a movement-oriented story, but James Cameron Looperalso. Heinlein’s books are better than those.
As told in the movie, the story involves a robot who is torn apart by a partner and thorned in a cryogenic freezing pod that goes against his will. Thirty years later, he wakes up, looking for revenge and returns to his time. Usually, he really wants his cat to come back.
Summer door At least a faithful adaptation of Heinlein’s book. Date is modern, and now everyone is Japanese, but there are few other changes in the process of turning it into a script. This is part of the problem.
Books and movies are different media, so turning books into movies is called adaptation. Must be adapted to fit in different formats.
In a book, there are many good scenes when chatting with a guy at home before anything exciting happens. In Robert A. Heinlein’s novel, this led to his best writing.
Heinlein started Summer door By telling a story about a cat who hates winter. The movie does the same, but on screen, it means you are starting an exciting sci-fi movie, staring at the walls of a heavily decorated apartment while some people whom you don’t know yet are talking about his cat for ten minutes.
Need to change. Part of the reason these changes didn’t happen is that the film has no budget that exceeds the budget that shows someone’s apartment inside. most Summer door Shoot like a first-class soap opera, not a movie.
ILike Heinlein’s novel, bringing us into the future Summer door Starting from 1995, it can be budget-friendly in 2025 in the future. It’s cheap to shoot scenes set in 2025. Go outside and point the camera to the existing world. Cheap, but not that fun.
Heinlein’s work is so great that despite the limitations imposed by the film version, the film version works instantly. Dialogue, especially those with the most Heinlein among them, is usually good. Although the scenes were shot like they were shot in the corridors of the nursing home, many of the cast in the film were also very good.
The film starts slowly, maybe too slow, but so does the excitement and emotion of Heinlein’s story once the time travel elements begin. With better photography, Hans Zimmer-style scores flourished in the TV’s speakers, Summer door It could have been where Heinlein’s work was finally adapted properly.
Unfortunately, what Summer door Get a low budget Japanese MotiE, when it takes a lot of effort in the eyes of a thoughtful director like Dennis Villanueva. That hasn’t happened yet, so if you like Heinlein’s work as much as I do, line up on Netflix.
Summer door Comment score
Do you see this version Summer door Still no, don’t stop looking for the perfect adaptation. Maybe one day, if we keep opening the door, we will open it in the summer.
