[King of Snake]

I get what you mean and of course it's PJ's idea of how the book would translate to the screen. But most/all of the set pieces where the heroes are facing impossible odds and still manage to triumph in the end are from the book afaik. It's not like in the book they die, but they made it Hollywood so they get to live instead. Most people will have read the books anyway so will know beforehand that character x will either live or die, the movie didn't really make any big changes in that respect.