Book To Movie Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours?

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Except Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Well hello, my dear friends! It's been a time and a half since I indulged myself with a YA novel, and even longer since I took the time to read this one, which I believe was back in 2014? Maybe a bit earlier than that? To be completely honest I can't remember because I seem to have blocked it from my memory! But alas, I was perusing Hulu just this morning and stumbled upon, oh would you look at that?! The movie adaptation that was supposed to be released back in 2016/2017 but never made its way to the theaters (at least in any major theaters in my hometown) and was simply released to stream on the internet and be bought on DVD! Having no other choices and knowing full well that I read this back in the day, I was intrigued to see exactly how they went about portraying this story and characters.

Now let me preface this review by saying, I rated this book 2/5 way back when, which means I had the motivation to finish the novel, but in the end, disliked it and couldn't recommend it. My main problem being Luce, the protagonist. In my opinion, she was a lifeless, uninteresting, emotionless being who was a bystander to her own life and story. At no point (except for one second) did she ever really play a role in her own sad existence, as in, she did not once make a choice and caused events to unfold. Instead, the entirety of what happens is despite her actions and is the cause and effect of everyone else around her.

One big thing to understand is that Luce experiences auditory and visual hallucinations (that we all understand to be real, because of course) and was involved in an accident that left someone dead. Becuase of this, she was sent away to a mental institution where she was drugged up and deemed stable, but being that she didn't like the way medication made her feel, she opts out of taking her medications and is then sent to a boarding school where they specialize in students with "difficulties." In which case, she can go to school and be under supervision at all times without having to drug herself despite still experiencing her hallucinations.

My problem really was this, she acts as though she is under the influence of medication throughout the entire book when we know that she isn't. Although she experiences emotions it's as though she is under a haze, and you never get the sense that she is actively taking in and responding to outward stimuli (ohhh, how scientific sounding of me). Again, going into where I say she watches as everything happens around her and to her, she isn't necessarily an active participant in how things happen. It was frustrating AS HELL. And unfortunately, it was pretty much the exact same in the movie.

I want to start off by saying that the actors and actresses picked for this film were all great choices and I really enjoy them, though maybe more-so in their other works rather than this one. Minus the actress who plays Molly...I'm sorry. Molly is a character that simply screams rebellious, annoying, mean-spirited, and angsty goth child in any teen story. For the sake of the film, we don't know too much about what sets her off or why, she just does. Which is why it's so annoying to me, she's simply angry rather than evil or dark. So, yes, I understand there isn't much to work with or that's required for the role, but you could tell that her acting was just a bit too much...as though she was leaning on the stereotype more than was really necessary. At least, that's how I feel.

I remember seeing Addison Timlin (who plays Luce) in Odd Thomas, which is one of my favorite sci-fi comedy/thrillers. She is beautiful, she was great for that role and was a big reason why I enjoyed that film so much. Now I have to say, she was a great choice for the role of Luce and delivered a decent sense of vulnerability and grit to the role that wasn't seen in the book. I know that may sound like that's saying a lot seeing as how I hate her so much in the book, but at the end of the day, it still wasn't enough to get her character out of that "haze" as I mentioned before.

But thanks to the performances of the supporting cast, it was still a relatively enjoyable experience, I have to say! The graphics were pretty great knowing that this movie didn't even make it to the theaters. The only semi-cringe worthy moment was the major climax and fight between Daniel and Cam, I mean two people fighting each other with fists in the air? That's a tall order for any production company, so I don't blame them.

So overall, I'm happy to say I watched this film and actually found myself not hating it. I know there was much more detail left out than there was in the book, for obvious reasons, but I didn't mind it. For the story they were telling I believe it did it all justice and laid out a story that allowed for continuation on screen (although that is for sure not going to happen).

If you were interested in watching this film, I'd say do it, why not? It's not the worst thing but not the best either. If I were to rate is as I would my books, I would honestly give it a 3/5, which is better than what I gave the actual novel! So in comparison, I much prefer this movie than the book, and now THAT is really saying something!

Until next time dear readers, I'm going to watch The Covenant because that too, is available for streaming but on Netflix....and young Sebastian Stan makes it worth it.