my private review
Added 9/9/2009
this DVD, being in region 2, i watch the film in English and in German with German subtitles. one of the best dvd's i have, the film deals with the atrocities of ww2, and trying to understand why it happened. you can argue, that the German officers did what they did. if not, they were disposed of.a great film, if your a history buff. Sir ian mckellen and the late brad renfro were superb.
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Could have been great
Added 6/23/2009
I was very disappointed in this movie. There are several reasons why I wanted to see it, and they could have made it really well, but failed. The book is excellent. It's a novella in the Stephen King book, Different Seasons. A couple other stories in here were made into movies, including The Shawshank Redemption directed to perfection by Frank Darabont, and The Body which was directed by Rob Reiner and renamed Stand By Me. Both were excellent stories in the book and adapted very well into movies. Apt Pupil in the book was great. Very intriguing, great suspense, and got into the minds of the characters which is what really makes a good narration.
So adding that fact as well as that the movie was directed by Bryan Singer, who directed The Usual Suspects, which is one of my favorite movies, I was excited about seeing this. I thought that Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro were perfect casting. I couldn't see anyone else in those roles doing it better. I thought David Schwimmer was completely miscast as Ed French, who had a much bigger role in the book. I also don't think this movie was really dark enough and nowhere near as suspenseful as the book.
The main thing they should have changed about this was the script. They really chopped this down without building any tension and it really could have been better with some narration. I think the best book to movie adaptations are the ones with a narrator which Shawshank and Stand By Me both had, which helps you to learn things about characters and know what's going on in their minds. This, along with Christine and Hearts in Atlantis, is one of the worst Stephen King movie adaptations I have ever seen.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Apt Pupik
Added 1/30/2009
I LOVED the book. The movie did not, unfortunately, include as much detail as the book. Todd's transformation could have been a little more dramatic.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Try harder next time.....
Added 12/13/2008
Of the 4 stories in "Different Seasons" this should have easily made the best and most disturbing movie (Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me were the other novella-to-movie adaptations from this book - that should demonstrate how great the book was). However this movie falls far short of expectations. Between pitiful acting, poor direction and a horrible screenwriting adaptation it is hard to tell where this went so wrong but a combination of all those factors doom this from the start. Ian McKellan wrangles as much from the script as possible, but Renfro never fails to bring down every scene he's in. Fans of the written story wanting to see the film version will feel cheated. Those experiencing only the film version will never know how deeply disturbing the written story was. And that should be considered a crime.
1 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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What Is Evil?...
Added 4/10/2008
I loved Stephen King's Different Seasons, except for one thing. I always thought that the story APT PUPIL was about fifty pages too long. The film version takes care of this concern, distilling PUPIL down to it's basic elements: old evil passing itself on to a young, all too eager student. Ian McKellen (yep, Gandolf himself!) is perfectly, quietly malevolent as the ancient nazi war criminal, hiding out in suburbia. Brad Renfro plays Todd Bowden, the normal-looking high school kid, concealing a darkness that appears to be insatiable and without limits. Todd fools his family, friends, and guidance counselor (David Schwimmer), into believing he is just another highly gifted teenager. In reality, he is a sociopathic wretch, coasting along by gaining the misplaced trust of others. Studying the holocaust in history class brings out Todd's blackened interior, causing him to hunt down and ensnare McKellen's character. What follows is a study of twisted evil in the midst of apparent normalcy. Todd and his "teacher" develop a seemingly symbiotic relationship that is in actuality purely parasitic. They are destroying each others souls. APT PUPIL's horror lies in it's use of demonic evil in broad daylight. Most of the movie is played out in the sunny afternoon. Evil doesn't wait for nightfall. It hides in plain sight, looking clean-cut and well-adjusted...
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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my private review
Added 9/9/2009
this DVD, being in region 2, i watch the film in English and in German with German subtitles. one of the best dvd's i have, the film deals with the atrocities of ww2, and trying to understand why it happened. you can argue, that the German officers did what they did. if not, they were disposed of.a great film, if your a history buff. Sir ian mckellen and the late brad renfro were superb.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Could have been great
Added 6/23/2009
I was very disappointed in this movie. There are several reasons why I wanted to see it, and they could have made it really well, but failed. The book is excellent. It's a novella in the Stephen King book, Different Seasons. A couple other stories in here were made into movies, including The Shawshank Redemption directed to perfection by Frank Darabont, and The Body which was directed by Rob Reiner and renamed Stand By Me. Both were excellent stories in the book and adapted very well into movies. Apt Pupil in the book was great. Very intriguing, great suspense, and got into the minds of the characters which is what really makes a good narration.
So adding that fact as well as that the movie was directed by Bryan Singer, who directed The Usual Suspects, which is one of my favorite movies, I was excited about seeing this. I thought that Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro were perfect casting. I couldn't see anyone else in those roles doing it better. I thought David Schwimmer was completely miscast as Ed French, who had a much bigger role in the book. I also don't think this movie was really dark enough and nowhere near as suspenseful as the book.
The main thing they should have changed about this was the script. They really chopped this down without building any tension and it really could have been better with some narration. I think the best book to movie adaptations are the ones with a narrator which Shawshank and Stand By Me both had, which helps you to learn things about characters and know what's going on in their minds. This, along with Christine and Hearts in Atlantis, is one of the worst Stephen King movie adaptations I have ever seen.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Apt Pupik
Added 1/30/2009
I LOVED the book. The movie did not, unfortunately, include as much detail as the book. Todd's transformation could have been a little more dramatic.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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