That opinion has been formulated because you've read the book and clearly for people that haven't, they have no idea what's going to happen and they're all looking for an ending that's happy because they care about the characters.
So what you were 'feeling' while watching the road was something that most people would never be capable of feeling. They don't know the journey. They don't factor in the way you pictured the film because you've read the novel.

And don't get me wrong, i'm a huge McCarthy fan and the road is one of my favorite novels because the story resonates so strongly with me. But you've got to truly realize the sensibilities of the different mediums.

in terms of the visceral and emotional tone of the story, there's no doubt that the film did a great job of bringing that out and it made the characters that much more real. It was funny, I remember finishing the novel for the first time and thinking how Viggo would be my perfect idealization of The Man, especially with his sensibilities as a person. I think everyone can agree that him and Kodi Smit-McPhee are quite incredible in their roles.

The novel is something that can never be matched in terms of its film adaptation because you fill in so much of the story yourself as a reader.

Take for instance a line like "The grainy air. The taste of it never left your mouth". Now as a film-maker and storyteller, there'd be many ways to convey the feeling and idea that comes from such a description. But when your reading a novel, those types of things only add to your experience because you aren't limited on time and you can read whenever you want. I mean, if you're still reading it, you obviously enjoy it to some degree.

Watching a film is completely different, so it's much more difficult to achieve that in terms of the narrative and how you tell a story. You want to watch it straight through, you don't want interruptions. And yet, you don't want to be bored either. If you're bored reading a novel, you can skim and read ahead. With a movie, we all know fast-forwarding doesn't work too well.

The certain films that do take advantage of having cinematic sensibilities are really able to move with the speed and breadth of a novel without taking away from the aesthetic of their film. City of God, Butch Cassidy, There Will Be Blood are good examples (I tried to not use vo and narration from films as examples but City of God is ideal in terms of having cinematic sensibilities)

The fact of the matter is that the aesthetic sensibilities of this film don't work well if you're trying to 'tell the entire story of the road'. It needs to move with a certain pace, it needs to really slow it down and bring it back to these characters. that's why the first assembly edit was about 45 minutes longer than most movies. the story 'demands' to be told this way.

I haven't read the book and I think that will be a good thing this time. It's always a hard choice whether to read the book or see the movie first. Usually the book wins the battle. Although it's true that you might get more out of the story if you see first and then read. But sometimes the movie spoils too much of the story and then it's better to read first. I'm a bit worried about The Lovely Bones for example because I liked the book very much and I'm wondering how it will translate to film.

By the way Brad (or anyone else), do you have any information about Neverwhere? Neil Gaiman wrote one of my all time favorite books and I hear David Slade will be directing. Is that really happening? I'm looking forward to it with a lot of anxiety and dreading how it will turn out.. The story is great with very interesting characters and there's so much potential to do it justice or ruin it completely.

I don't know if you caught this Brad, but Roger Ebert wrote a 2 1/2 star review of this film after he saw it initially and he recently changed it to 3 1/2 stars after he saw it a second time. I mention it because I know you respect Ebert a great deal and have a tendency to have your opinion altered after multiple viewings. I thought it was an interesting change because it seemed that Ebert has a similar love of the novel that you did.

It is such a faithful adaption (barring a few minor clips), and I felt it translated really well on the screen. I got exactly what I expected…great acting, direction, score. The movie had great atmosphere and powerful emotion. I left the theater totally satisfied and encourage everyone to see this movie, especially fans of the book.

I give it a 4 out of 5.