Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani's Fahrenheit 451 is a construction of paranoia and fear, curiosity and hope, and in some scenes its themes are almost overwhelmingly sincere.
Now it's an HBO movie that wants to turn that idea into a skillet and whack it right into the squishy spots where the bones in your head don't quite come together.
The characters' tendency to speak in aphorisms is likely meant to convey this fallen world's reliance on propaganda as cultural currency, but its blunt polemicism effectively flattens the characters in ways they can't recover from.
No one expects in a 21st-century film version, an hour and a half in length, anything approaching the subtlety and character that went into Bradbury's novel. Still one might have asked-of a film titled "Fahrenheit 451"-for more than a one-note rant.
Contrary to what is happening in our country, Donald Trump's presidency has emboldened filmmakers to directly challenge it, and Fahrenheit 451 is clearly an updated adaptation designed specifically with Trump in mind.
