Tai-Pan

What I'm trying to say is it did treat the subject material well, although obviously it couldn't pack everything which makes us love the book into just two hours. In an adaptation of a book, when you can recognise each character instantly before the character's name is mentioned it's always a good sign - where there's good casting, it's a sign that it's a sensitive adaptation, and this was the case with Tai-Pan. I thought Bryan Brown was very good as Dirk Struan; I'm not Scottish, so I couldn't tell that his accent was as fake as many others seem to think it.

I can see how those who haven't read the book would find it laughable, though, because due to the compression of the plot you don't really get to know the characters and understand their motivations from scratch. Some of Clavell's magnificent dialogue from the book might sound weird in the show, or lacking in punch, for those without a prior acquaintance of the book, because of this lack of emotional set-up. That's why I think it's best for those who have read the book, who already know the characters and can watch them fully-fledged, so to speak, as the show doesn't spend time introducing the audience to the characters.

Perhaps the reason that fans of James Clavell's books are so vociferous in their criticism of this show, sometimes, is because they are acclimatised to splendid, detailed and heartfelt adaptations of so many of his other books - the Shogun mini-series, the Noble House mini-series and the King Rat film. Why, Clavell fans are really so fortunate already when it comes to screen adaptations! :) If we lowered our expectations a little, we'd see that Tai-Pan, too, is not that bad a treatment of the book at all!


Slick but watchable   April 21, 2004
J. Mir (El Paso, Texas)
Fans of Clavel will want to watch this if only to satisfy an appetite for his work, however compromised. From Sho-gun to Noble House to Tai-Pan to King Rat, these books are some of the most entertaining adventure stories around. The Shogun DVD series, widely regarded as exceptional and the under-rated King Rat feature film are now joined by this slick adaptation of Tai-Pan. I watched it as a mini-series. Because I was familiar with the Book and Clavel, I suffered thru the superficialities and slick production for a time but then predictably allowed myself to become engrossed in the story line. As will you.
Add it to your collection but stick it behind the Shogun box set.


Worth the [$$$] I paid for it   June 13, 2003
J. McCombs (Tigard, OR United States)
Having read the book, I wanted to see the movie no matter how bad it was. It was interesting to watch, but not because the story was captivating... The story was a little dry after reading the excellent book with all of its characters, scenes, plots and sub-plots.

I enjoyed watching to see what the writers would include and exclude. How much of the book can you chop away and still get the general story across? Well, quite a bit! They butchered the daylights out of the story. And, in order to make things work, they would often have the same events take place, but in a different sequence and by different people.

Because they chopped so much out, including sub-plots and complex character motivations, scenes that had a lot of internal conflict in the book were very shallow and meaningless in the movie. Where Clavell would bring several sub-plots to a head in a "scene" of the book, the movie would only bring the one sub-plot that survived the cut. It would then add something that wasn't in the book to make the scene more interesting... and to justify it's existence. So it's worse than an abridged version of the book. If you saw the movie first, you probably wondered what all the fuss was about the book.

I would LOVE to see a mini-series like Shogun... Then we could see more and better developed characters, more of the sub-plots, more of the actual story!