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MetaCritic Score: 61

Before I had even seen the movie or read any reviews, I already knew The Kite Runner‘s score on MetaCritic was going to be way lower than it should be. How did I know it? The answer lies in my assumption that most professional movie critics are probably also book snobs. Most people have a friend who’s a book snob in their social circle as well. Whether the statement is justified or not, this person will always dismiss a movie that is an adaptation of a book they have read as being shallow and all around inferior. The Kite Runner book was a huge, insane hit. It sold something like 4 million copies world wide. Given that staggering number, it’s not a huge leap of logic to assume that there will be more than a few people around to make sure we all know that the movie is garbage compared to the book. Other than this theory, I can see no reason why this film wouldn’t have an average score in the 80′s at least.

The first half of The Kite Runner is set in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970′s before the Soviet invasion. It focuses on two young boys, Amir and Hassan. Amir is a child of privilege. His father is a successful businessman and a highly respected member of the community. Amir, however, is a coward and is constantly being defended by the younger, smaller Hassan. In addition to being Amir’s friend, Hassan, who is part of an oppressed minority group called the Hazara, is also one of the family servants. After being friends for their entire lives, the two are torn apart when an unspeakable act is committed on Hassan and Amir not only does nothing to stop it, but later betrays his friend as a way to protect himself from his own guilt. Twenty years later, long after Amir and his father were forced to leave for America to avoid persecution by the Soviets, Amir receives a phone call asking him to return home to Afghanistan and offering him “a way to become good again” by helping Hassan’s son who is in desperate need.

The acting is, for the most part, superb, and the cinematography / location choice are wonderful, but these elements are not what carries Kite Runner. The strength of this film is in its emotional resonance. The audience cannot help but feel empathy for the boys, particularly Hassan. While we may have made, or would like to think we would have made, a different choice than Amir does in the film, Khaled Hosseini (the book’s author) and director Mark Forster present us with a very believable portrayal of how a scared 12-year old boy may handle an incredible ethical and emotional dilemma. Despite Amir’s failures as a child, when he is given the opportunity to redeem himself, one cannot help but root for him. Khalid Abdalla, who plays adult Amir, successfully incorporates the essence of young Amir with a believable, but necessary amount of emotional and moral growth.

I immensely enjoyed this film from start to finish. I haven’t personally read the book, but I have a difficult time imagining that they could have done Hosseini’s original work any more justice without turning the movie into a mini-series. Screenwriter David Benioff (who also wrote another one of my favorites, 25th Hour) additionally deserves a ton of credit for so deftly managing the plot without allowing any scenes to feel like they were forced in, as so frequently happens with novel adaptations. The Kite Runner falls into the “Definitely Rent It” category for anyone who enjoys a well crafted and impressively executed drama. Go check it out.

*edit: So much for me keeping this short. Just know that I could have written a lot more on this because I enjoyed it so much, so this is actually pretty concise by my standards.*

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