The Kite Runner (2007)

 An excellent movie
The movie was a very good adaptation of the book. I'm glad I had read the book first as I could really understand the film. Sometimes the subtitles were hard to read so I was glad to have the knowledge of the story. May 4, 2008

 Touches Your Heart
I have not read the book, but I really liked the movie. The roles played by the two young boys are so good. It's a touching movie. It's a must watch. May 3, 2008

 Very Disappointed in Movie
The book was an excellent read with a profoundly deep storyline. The DVD was a great disappointment. There was so much left out that if I had not read the book, I wouldn't have known what was going on. Don't watch the DVD, read the book! May 3, 2008

 Lots of Viewer Confusion
After reading "The Kite Runner" novel, I was inspired to go see the movie. Although the acting was superb and scenes accurate and interesting, I felt that movie fans who had not read the book before seeing the movie would be left "at sea". Some of the scenes that could have given a more understandable story to the viewer were not put in. This movie needed to be slowed down at the writing stage to tie all the important book chapters together. May 3, 2008

 A good movie, but for real enjoyment, read the books...
I read both of Khaled Hosseini's books about Afghanistan, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns", and I was really looking forward to seeing the movie version of the "The Kite Runner". It was actually a very good movie, and quite true to the events in the book. The child actors were quite good, and Homayoun Ershadi in the role of Baba (Amir's father) was excellent. He played a very complex role -- a man of honor with a secret, a father who does not fully understand how his son feels about him, and a refugee from his country who refuses to let hardship and fear compromise his beliefs.

The movie is very beautifully shot, and the contrast between the Kabul of Amir's childhood and what it looks like after years of war is stunning.

On the downside, I felt that the close relationship between the two young boys was never really established well enough in the film. I realize that this is probably due to time constraints -- there are always sacrifices a director must make when trying to tell the story while keeping a film a reasonable length. But the problem here is that Amir's betrayal of his friend ends up seeming somewhat less sigificant, and the impact this has Amir's life going forward is a very important part of the story.

I also thought the director could have chosen to explore parts of the story that were told to Amir later in the book, like Hassan's life in Afghanistan after Amir left, in a more visual way. This was probably purposely omitted in the book, since it's told from Amir's perspective -- I'm convinced that the author wants us to feel the same "loss" of connection to that world that Amir experienced. However, I thought the movie might have satisfied this curiousity a bit more for the audience -- I saw this as a missed opportunity to provide a more rich texture within the film.

I would certainly recommend this movie, but I have a much higher recommendation to anyone reading this review to actually pick up these great books, and really enjoy the rich storytelling. Overall, I think they will have a much more satisfying experience than watching this film adaptation. I know it's cliche, but while the movie is quite good in it's own right, I think it had trouble living up to the high expectations of readers. May 3, 2008

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