Amir, the son of a rich businessman, and Hasssan, the son of the family’s servant, live as inseparable best friends in pre-Soviet Afghanistan until a traumatic event one day drives them apart. Years later, after war has torn apart the country and driven Amir and his father to a modest life in the United States, the young man must return home and face his past.

THE KITE RUNNER is one of those classic cases where reading a book first can seriously detract from fully enjoying the movie version. All the main themes and most of the plot points were there, and honestly David Benioff (a great author himself) did a fine job adapting the novel. But for some reason knowing the source material made the film feel marginalized and even hollow at spots for me.

One thing’s for sure; Marc Forster is a chameleon of a director and in THE KITE RUNNER he continues to show his range. Even when things fall in to cliché or bizarre circumstance the direction and cinematography are never short of great and the culture and geography of the story feels authentic and realistic. This is definitely an emotional film and Forster has no problem driving that home in a strong way.

He also did a great job finding the two young stars. Zekeria Ebrahimi and Ahmad Mahmidzada are incredible, especially considering that neither of them had any experience acting before. In fact, the first half of THE KITE RUNNER focusing on them was so well-done that the second part of the story, where all its themes and points needed to be driven home, felt lacking by comparison. Seeing grown up Amir and his father struggling in America was all well and good, but by the time he returns to Afghanistan and it becomes a bizarre action movie, things just weren’t jiving for me. (It was kinda like the weird third act turn ADAPTATION makes, except not in the same great self-aware way.) By the end, everything that the movie had worked so hard to achieve felt very surface level. The final line should’ve been a big emotional moment, but I couldn’t help roll my eyes knowing it was coming.

There’s plenty to enjoy and take away from THE KITE RUNNER, but for me there was just something lost in the translation from page to screen.

Video: 2.35:1 widescreen. The rural Chinese countryside (standing in for Afghanistan) is beautifully shot and Roberto Schaefer’s cinematography gets a respectable transfer.

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital. The score by Alberto Iglesias is well presented.

Commentary by director Marc Forster, screenwriter David Benioff and author Khaled Hosseini: Each person brings a very different perspective to the table which makes for a lively and varied commentary. It’s nice seeing such a collaborative effort actually take place.

Words from THE KITE RUNNER (14:25): Hosseini discusses how the novel came to be, while Benioff and Foster take you through the adaptation process.

Images from THE KITE RUNNER (24:39): A look at filming on location and the difficulties of managing such an international production and diverse cast.

PSA (1:18): Hosseini speaks briefly about current issues in Afghanistan.

Trailer and Previews.

If you haven’t read THE KITE RUNNER already I’m sure you’ll enjoy the film’s emotional and human story. If you have read Hosseini’s novel, just keep your expectations in check.

Extra Tidbit: Shockingly, the film was banned in Afghanistan.