After reading the book, I noticed how they have similar roles as they both have to hide from the aliens in a house with the protagonist, but they go insane and the protagonist has to silence them. The difference is in the book the narrator only knocks him unconscious (he says he could have killed him but “with one last touch of humanity” he only struck him with the butt of a hatchet) but the man is then found by the aliens and dragged away to his death. In the Spielberg film, Cruise’s character instead outright murders the man to protect himself and his daughter, which arguably makes it a darker scene as the narrator in the book never meant to kill the guy. The film could have had it play out similarly to the book (he could have impulsively knocked the guy out, then hidden with his daughter while the aliens took him). Why do you think the film changed this?
by FireFlareon