Ray Bradbury ’s classic work of dystopian fiction eerily predicted some of the reality we now live in , but it did n’t foresee everything . A new movie pulls Fahrenheit 451 into a new future extrapolate from where we are in 2018 , while trying to hold on to the novel ’s thematic tower — a job it ca n’t quite manage entirely .
air for the first time last Nox on HBO , Fahrenheit 451 operate on on the same premise as Bradbury ’s novel . Guy Montag , played by Michael B. Jordan , is a “ fireman , ” a man who belong to to a corps of public servants that bite Good Book . In the film adaptation manoeuver by Ramin Bahrani , fireman get re - imagined as celebrity media censor ; betimes on , there ’s a creepy chronological sequence where schoolchildren quail at the sight of books and cheer them being burned .
That school sojourn and most of the firemen ’s public activities are broadcast on the Dark Nine , the tightly controlled digital web that ’s replaced today ’s comparatively free and open internet . The hunt for non - compliant citizens called “ eels ” are societal - media bloodsport , culminating in check , identity cut , and book - burning that combine into prime - fourth dimension entertainment . Firemen do n’t just destroy books , either . Music , picture show , and any other ethnical yield that could take to independent thought are all destroyed .
In the movie , Montag is n’t married as he is in the Holy Writ . Instead , his emotional depth pay off tether to foggy memories of his Father of the Church , who was a fireman before him . Montag ’s being groomed to succeed John Beatty ( Michael Shannon ) but his path to ascendancy becomes less clear after he starts reading the books he ’s supposed to burn .
Jordan ’s portrayal of Montag move between two Pole . At first , he bristle with the ardor of a gung - ho sports celebrity , cocky and confident about his spot in high society . But , once doubt sets in and he learns how chronicle has been re - spell , he ’s tentative and emotionally fragile . Played with flinty resolve by Shannon , Beatty struggles with his own temptations , too . We see him writing down quotes from Holy Scripture he ’s record and/or destruct but burn them to invalidate being tempted by their mightiness . The desire to know oneself through the written word , even when forbidden , come in across as an irresistible aspect of human nature , which is an authoritative goal for a labor like this to achieve .
But there ’s a lot of obstruction that parry that itinerary , whether it ’s the authorization of the Ministry regime or the randomness of land - influenced social media . This Fahernheit 451 motion picture touches on and modernizes many of the world - building elements of the novel . We see firemen medicating themselves with mind - altering optic - drop ( which are pills in the book ) that keep them in line with society ’s mathematical group - remember , and the “ parlor bulwark ” of Bradbury ’s novel — huge television - alike surfaces that take in numbing , state - sanctioned entertainment — have been scaled up . They ’re not just load - bearing elements of a house ; they ’re the integral sides of skyscraper , too , beam propaganda at all times to the populace at large . All of this is abetted by Yuxie personal adjunct devices , which are distinctly modeled on the Siris , Cortanas , and Alexas of our mean solar day .
I like the artistic interpretations of this novel Fahrenheit but the focus on commenting on today ’s social media landscape and changes to secret plan and narrative rob the story of some of its ruminative appeal . The overall feel of Bahrani ’s adaptation is much more melodramatic than the novel . The focus is in so mingy on Montag , Beatty , and black - market informant / smuggler Clarice ( Sofia Boutella ) that we do n’t get a sense of orbicular scope . We ’re separate of the far - reaching entailment but they do n’t resonate in the same way . Most of the third act bugger off significant changes that diverge widely from the book . There ’s still a germ of hope that the stream of destitute thought may survive , but it pass off in a mechanically different way .
But for all its conflicted nature , this version of Fahrenheit 451 still manages to convincingly commune the undiluted power of committal to writing that issue forth from free mentation .
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