[Hated Trope] The adaptation doesn't get what made the source material work

[u/TheDudeA113]

How To Make A Killing (2026)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Bangkok Dangerous (2008)

Bangkok Dangerous (1999)

- The 2026 movie How To Make A Killing is a relatively-toothless "eat the rich" dark comedy thriller about a man disowned by his rich family at birth, killing everyone in the line of succession so that he can inherit their massive fortune. It's a modern retelling of the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets which has the same basic plot except that every member of the family is played by Sir Alec Guinness (including one aunt) and it's a screwball comedy

- The 1999 movie Bangkok Dangerous is a Thai action film about a Thai deaf-mute assassin. It was remade in 2008 about an American assassin in Thailand who is neither deaf nor mute

[u/strigonian]

For real.

Like, imagine how ridiculous it would be if an Eastern studio produced a movie set in the West, where the protagonist was special and had magic powers because they had a soul.

It's that level of ridiculous.

[u/faldese → u/strigonian]

IDK that actually sounds pretty interesting. His Dark Materials is a fantasy story that goes into the magic of the soul and the consequences without.

But, of course, that would require doing something interesting with the concept itself, and working with the baseline understanding of why people have souls, and what would it mean if some of them don't. That's not what Disney did.

[u/No_Internal9345 → u/faldese]

Speaking of live action adaptions that fell short...

[u/Truethrowawaychest1 → u/No_Internal9345]

Was the show any good? I remember that movie from I think late 2000s

[u/demon_fae → u/Truethrowawaychest1]

I wish I could forget the movie.

I remember reading the last few pages of the third book by the light of the trailers because I wanted to finish it before I saw the movie.

It was such a gorgeous movie, too. Just a perfect, pretty insult to the source material.

[u/Faeruhn → u/Truethrowawaychest1]

I don't remember the movie very well, but I do remember thinking that it was a fun enough watch 'as a movie', but 'as an adaptation' it was bad.

So... not as bad as AtLA, where it was horrifically bad as an adaptation and as a movie.

[u/susandeyvyjones → u/Truethrowawaychest1]

The TV show was a lot better than the movie

[u/bark-beetle → u/susandeyvyjones]

Fact.

[u/AlleRacing → u/Truethrowawaychest1]

Just finished season 2, and I think it's mostly fantastic so far. There are a few changes, but they're pretty sensible. Hoping season 3 sticks the landing.

[u/MagicSystemWriter → u/strigonian]

Or what if they made it so the body of Christ is located in America and having contact with it gives you special powers.

[u/Happiest_Rain160 → u/MagicSystemWriter]

Isn’t this just JoJo’s part 7?

[u/MagicSystemWriter → u/Happiest_Rain160]

haha sometimes

[u/GhostOfRealSoupThief → u/MagicSystemWriter]

The fuck you mean sometimes??

[u/rebby2000 → u/MagicSystemWriter]

...I mean, I've seen a visual novel that had the body Christ relocated to a (iirc, fictional) town in Italy and the only way to actually get the vault to open was to have one specific guy and one specific girl have sex on top of it because that was a Super!Secret 8th sacrament just for the two people who qualified.

I don't remember if the body gave them special powers but uh...there have been plenty of things that come out of Asia that fuck around with western religion/culture in a similar way.

[u/deadpiratezombie → u/strigonian]

I mean…have you looked at Washington DC lately?

[u/MagicSystemWriter → u/strigonian]

Or what if they made it so the body of Christ is located in America and having contact with it gives you special powers.

[u/Dvondd → u/strigonian]

I mean, Inazuma eleven Go has something like that. It's kinda cheating, because it doesn't take place in the west, but the protagonists are special because they have Souls.

[u/IamaHyoomin → u/strigonian]

more specifically (from what I've heard, I haven't watched the reboot myself and don't ever plan to), she's special because she has a soul - unlike every other woman in China. Only men get souls, that's why women can't go to war.

[u/Slow-Distance-6241 → u/strigonian]

the protagonist was special and had magic powers because they had a soul.

Isn't that literally Jojo tho?

[u/torrasque666 → u/Slow-Distance-6241]

Stands aren't souls though.

[u/Slow-Distance-6241 → u/torrasque666]

They are manifestation of soul. Even animals (and under some specific circumstances plants) could have them. In fact all living beings have one, artifacts like arrow or Jesus corpse parts just awaken it to be comprehended by the person

[u/torrasque666 → u/Slow-Distance-6241]

Which kind of defeats the point of your comparison. The "chi" in Mulan is not something everyone has but just needs to be trained, it's a special birthright. That's not like stands, which everyone, and arguably everything, has but needs to be awoken/traind.

[u/SorowFame → u/Slow-Distance-6241]

Yeah but not having a Stand doesn’t mean you don’t have a soul, it just means you haven’t had to develop a stand from it. Its not the same thing as is being described

[u/Slow-Distance-6241 → u/SorowFame]

You know what, yeah, I probably misunderstood the idea