The Visitation vs Thr3e

Frank Peretti vs. Ted Dekker. Alien vs Predator. Hmmm. I could do that movie too. It all comes down to distance. I liked the Visitation more than Thr3e. I think it was because I remembered just enough of the book for it to make sense. With thr3e, the book was still way to fresh in my mind, and my worst fears for that twist at the end came true. This resulted in me not being sure whether I liked the book much less the movie. Neither movie does the book justice. And for me, that's saying something. I guess that's why I prefer to keep my book-reading and movie-watching seperate. Both movies would be rather hard to follow and fairly lacking in necessary details if I hadn't read the book which reinforced the message I knew was trying to get out. Both stories are done well as far as Christian films go but especially in Thr3e, the end conclusion and 'lesson' from the whole thing was really glossed over. It left me feeling there wasn't much to celebrate. He didn't even get the right girl...well, in a way he did. Oh boy. In the Visitation, it was undeniably graphic with demon possession and child-crucifixtion but it didn't stray from the spiritual roots of the book. There again, being so long since I read the book, it was hard to tell how much of the real 'message' they left out. It did seem to be spiritual without being obviously so. I guess the only way to explain myself is for you to see the movie. But then why bother with a review? Well, now you know that the books were at least better than the movies. The mind's imagination goes far beyond the eye's and then sometimes seeing an imagined tale actually disappoints with its inferiority.

~ET