I read the book before the film came out. The film is good in the way that it includes all the major events in the books. However, a lot of the history and culture is left out otherwise the film would be about 4 hours long! The acting is good and the cinematography beautiful. However, the book is better simply because they cannot translate the culture onto the screen. I would see the film and hire it from blockbuster because surely you will rent other movies! For a truly amazing Asian movie, try House of Flying Daggers.