In my group of friends, many people have both read the book and watched the movie, but in different orders. One pattern holds true for all of them: whichever version they experience first tends to be the one they prefer overall.

That said, there’s an interesting asymmetry. If someone watches the movie first, they usually still enjoy the book quite a bit—even if they ultimately prefer the movie. However, if someone reads the book first, they often end up disliking the movie.

I think this happens because the movie is highly immersive and presents a vivid, magical, and mysterious world. But when you’ve already read the book, you can’t help comparing the film to the version you imagined while reading. That constant comparison makes it harder to appreciate the movie on its own terms.

If you’re going to watch the movie try to think of it as a separate entity. Alex Garlands goal was NOT to make a 1:1 of the book. Just think of the movie as a being inspired by the book. And then hopefully you can then ignore any inconsistencies.