Because of this, I decided to have M procure for me the original Robert Ludlum The Bourne Identity to read. I usually prefer to go from book to movie, but in this case I had no interest in the writer or books until after seeing and enjoying the movie.
What a different experience the book is!
Outside of reusing names and the general theme of "American spy with strong covert/combat skills gets amnesia and then has to figure out who he is and what he's doing" the books and movies are radically far apart.
- In the movie, Marie is a student in the wrong place at the right time for Bourne to hook up with her and inadvertently endanger her by bringing her into his world.
- In the book, Marie is a Canadian with a Doctorate in finance who works for the Canadian government trying to assess potential risks and benefits to the government's finances from foreign powers. She is kidnapped at gunpoint by Bourne and forced to do what he wants before ultimately falling for him and actively helping him with her knowledge of finance and her Canadian gov't contacts.
- In the movie, Conklin is the head of Treadstone who is actively trying to kill Bourne and cover up Bourne's "errors." He is eventually killed and used as a scapegoat in subsequent movies.
- In the book, Conklin is a bitter ex-spy who becomes the head of an all but defunct Treadstone 71 after the leaders of the project are killed and Bourne is set up to take the fall for their deaths. While he does try to kill Bourne, he is brought around to believing Bourne is a hero and should be saved.
- In the movie, the main antagonist is Treadstone, mostly because of Conklin, as it is actively trying to find and kill Bourne after his botched assassination attempt.
- In the book, the main antagonist is Carlos, an infamous, world-renown assassin who is seeking to kill Bourne for trying to steal his business. Treadstone is a minor subplot and is all but decommissioned by the end of the book. Carlos actually kills the leaders of Treadstone and frames Bourne for it.
- In the movie, Bourne is simply a government black-ops assassin who is used on special missions and "paid to be a ghost" who is injured and left for dead, causing his amnesia.
- In the book, Bourne is a government operative who volunteers to pretend to be an assassin that is trying to steal work from Carlos and eventually capture/kill Carlos, while actually helping to save people from Carlos. He has been undercover for three straight years in this capacity when he is nearly caught by some of Carlos' men and is injured and left for dead, causing his amnesia.
In most cases when the book and movie are so disparate, the book usually wins, hands down. The Memoirs of an Invisible Man is a great example; very good book about a man who turns permanently invisible and how the gov't wants him and what he does to be free. The movie made from the book? Well, Chevy Chase, for one. Made into a comedy for another... crappy experience. The Postman, by David Brinn, is an incredible tale of a man inadvertently revitalizing civilization by pretending to be a postman in a post-apocalyptic world. The movie, well, let's just say I'm not sure Kevin Costner read more than the dust jacket before making it. He missed all of the message and ignored well over half of the novel's themes. How about Fluke, by James Herbert? Good novel about a man who dies and finds himself "possessing" a dog, who then works to figure out who killed him, and save his former wife and his child from that man. The movie? Gee, another Chevy Chase fiasco that was turned into a comedy... enough said.
The only other good novel made into a radically different but also good movie I can think of off the top of my head is Jaws. The Peter Benchley novel is much more adult than the movie, with Hooper being younger and having an affair with Brody's wife. Hooper is also eaten by the shark in the scene in the shark cage in the book. The shark is more violent and eats more people in the novel. Both are good and both are worth investing time in, but are very different from each other.
I look forward to reading the next book and seeing if Bourne can find Carlos and eliminate that threat. I'm also wondering if Treadstone will get reactivated to help him do that.
Viva la Difference!
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