Escape to the Movies: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange?

...

Okay, I can picture that, sure. I dunno if he has the gravitas for Strange's more srs bsns moments, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt at least.

Maybe you never saw Sweeny Todd. Not all of Depp's roles have been jovial comic relief characters.

 

[josemlopes]

I know that Chris Pine isnt that great but he was good in Smokin Aces so at least lets give him some credit to that.

This scene is a bit on the spoiler side but its the best one I can find on Youtube

 

[Primus1985]

Thats all Bob has to say about Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange? I thought Bob would be on my side in seeing that would be horrible, the worst thing to ever happen to that character.

Guess I was wrong.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Wait... you mean Chris Pine had to pretend to be an obnoxious douchbag? I though he just was an obnoxious douchbag.

Chris Pine has a personality? This is news to me. I'm sort of glad that the rest of this film isn't good, it would be a bit depressing if he ruined an otherwise decent film.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Wait... you mean Chris Pine had to pretend to be an obnoxious douchbag? I though he just was an obnoxious douchbag.

Chris Pine has a personality? This is news to me. I'm sort of glad that the rest of this film isn't good, it would be a bit depressing if he ruined an otherwise decent film.

I can't attest to the quality of this movie as I haven't seen it, I just don't like Chris Pine.

 

[faefrost]

Clancy. ::sigh::

Clancy was great when he still felt relevant, back in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s. Back when there was still an actual Cold War and the potential (however remote) for a true superpowers war. Red Storm Rising was some great Clancy war-imagination at work. The Hunt for Red October was interesting and contextually relevant. It wasn't until Clancy went off of the Cold War into things like Clear and Present Danger that he started to feel less ... interesting, despite that being a pretty good book overall. I gave up around Executive Decision.

I just don't think that Clancy really transitioned out of the Cold War era particularly well. When we start invoking his name for things like H.A.W.X. (which was, admittedly, an amusing game), it just starts to feel like generic name-branding, which, frankly, it was.

Now we feel the need to reboot Ryan? What? I wasn't even aware of this until this video and I can't be more... well... if my eyes rolled anymore, I'd probably give myself vertigo.

Actually He co wrote Red Storm Rising. Most of the global political and War Simulation stuff that made that book so great came from the co-auther Larry Bond (who wrote a few very good similar books on his own). Clancy did more the character work. (Show of hands, who remembers any of the characters from Red Storm Rising?)

While I agree with Bob that this one looks like a turd. And trying to turn a character who is supposed to be a behind the scenes technical operator into James Bond or Jason Bourne is horrible, this review once again suffers horribly from Bob's heavy handed injection of personal politics. Which is sadly becoming a heavier and heavier trend with Bob.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Chris Pine boldly goes forth to save the world, only this time without a starship.

Watch Video

Let me say, once again, that Chris Pine was mesmerising as the older brother in "Carriers". It was a stunningly good performance in a very good and oft-overlooked film.

The guy can act when he's given a really good role... the problem is that he doesn't seem to be able to take a bland role and elevate it to something more interesting.

 

[spwatkins]

Yeah I was never going to see this film anyway so the fact that it's not actually any good doesn't change anything for me. There's a lot of good stuff out at the cinemas right now and this isn't one of them.

Also, I really wish Keira Knightley was in better movies. I'd pretend it's for some noble reason but it's not, I just think she's really pretty.

She's in rather a lot. You just may have never heard of them. In fact, some of the best films being made nowadays never make it to wide release as the business model of the movie theater is changing radically.

Some I've seen on Netflix that are very low key, Last Night, A Dangerous Method.

Never Let Me Go sounds fascinating but I'm not sure I can handle it emotionally. Argh. I'll put it in the queue.

Don't forget Anna Karenina.

 

[PunkRex]

Dear christ, just listening to Bob say what happens in this film makes me cringe. I knew Clancy was abit of a nutter but bloody hell...

 

[PuckFuppet]

Sick burn at the end there. Good to see a reviewer willing to continue punching Man of Steel, maybe the Demons of Development Hell will look favourably on your offering and doom it for you, and indeed for us all.

 

[xaszatm]

Thats all Bob has to say about Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange? I thought Bob would be on my side in seeing that would be horrible, the worst thing to ever happen to that character.

Guess I was wrong.

It's fine as long as we don't see a Jack Sparrow routine.

OT: Sigh, another borefest this week. What fun.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Yeah, I kinda saw this coming. Why do an action reboot of the Clancyverse with Jack Ryan as the Bourne character, when there's already an example of that type of character in the franchise in John Clark? Also, Without Remorse would've made a much better movie. Although they are supposedly working on an adaptation....

THANK YOU. Seriously, that would make a great movie, especially if they kept it period correct instead of trying to update it and shove in a War on Terror subplot instead of the original. Also, you'd think it would be a given, it doesn't even need to be made "darker and edgier" as it's already pretty damned dark and edgy. Shame the adaptation has been in and out of Dev hell for like a decade.

I'm sure they'd still find a way to ruin it. Like, I don't know, Cast Mark Wahlberg as John Kelly, set it in Modern Day Chigaco or NY instead of 70's Baltimore, change the Drug to Meth (y'know, because Breaking Bad happened), find a way to make the CIA or other govt agency the main villain, and... okay, I'm just going to stop there, I already threw up into my mouth a little just describing that.

That's what I thought this one was going to be about. I am confused and disturbed when a movie made in America has a real-world American agency as the bad guy, even in this day and age. It feels like propaganda.

OT: Bob, you had me laughing at "Freedom-sense". Resplendent! And now I want to read Saint's Row IV as written by Cotton Hill. He killed fiddy men!

 

[Alarien]

Clancy. ::sigh::

Clancy was great when he still felt relevant, back in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s. Back when there was still an actual Cold War and the potential (however remote) for a true superpowers war. Red Storm Rising was some great Clancy war-imagination at work. The Hunt for Red October was interesting and contextually relevant. It wasn't until Clancy went off of the Cold War into things like Clear and Present Danger that he started to feel less ... interesting, despite that being a pretty good book overall. I gave up around Executive Decision.

I just don't think that Clancy really transitioned out of the Cold War era particularly well. When we start invoking his name for things like H.A.W.X. (which was, admittedly, an amusing game), it just starts to feel like generic name-branding, which, frankly, it was.

Now we feel the need to reboot Ryan? What? I wasn't even aware of this until this video and I can't be more... well... if my eyes rolled anymore, I'd probably give myself vertigo.

Actually He co wrote Red Storm Rising. Most of the global political and War Simulation stuff that made that book so great came from the co-auther Larry Bond (who wrote a few very good similar books on his own). Clancy did more the character work. (Show of hands, who remembers any of the characters from Red Storm Rising?)

While I agree with Bob that this one looks like a turd. And trying to turn a character who is supposed to be a behind the scenes technical operator into James Bond or Jason Bourne is horrible, this review once again suffers horribly from Bob's heavy handed injection of personal politics. Which is sadly becoming a heavier and heavier trend with Bob.

Huh, I didn't know Larry Bond had anything to do with Red Storm Rising, however, that's not actually advertised anywhere. Is he actually even credited anywhere with it? Doesn't really surprise me, but it is pretty lame to co-write something and not give credit.

Pretty lol moment realizing that I sorta remember the characters in that book, but no names.

 

[Shjade]

Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange?

...

Okay, I can picture that, sure. I dunno if he has the gravitas for Strange's more srs bsns moments, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt at least.

Maybe you never saw Sweeny Todd. Not all of Depp's roles have been jovial comic relief characters.

I haven't, but I've seen Edward Scissorhands. He can be serious, but he doesn't have that aura of "shit just got real, everyone pay attention to what this guy is going to say" the way some people do. At least not that I've seen.

Strange sometimes has those moments where he has to go on a rant about Things Of A Magical Nature that just magnetize whatever space he's in at the time. That's the kind of thing I'm not positive Depp could pull off.

 

[Agayek]

Thats all Bob has to say about Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange? I thought Bob would be on my side in seeing that would be horrible, the worst thing to ever happen to that character.

Guess I was wrong.

Depp is a very good actor. His recent films have all had the ridiculous Captain Jack Sparrow shit thanks to the success of Pirates of the Carribean, but he's got a wide range of roles he's more than capable of filling.

Now, I'm personally not 100% sold on Depp being able to pull off a proper Doctor Strange. I'm not sure he has the... presence, for lack of a better word, to really sell being The Sorceror Supreme. I'm optimistic though, because Depp has a great deal of talent and it could easily be a great fit for him.

 

[DrOswald]

Thats all Bob has to say about Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange? I thought Bob would be on my side in seeing that would be horrible, the worst thing to ever happen to that character.

Guess I was wrong.

While I am very skeptical of the decision myself, I must admit that Johnny Depp has a great range and can really act when he wants to. He could be a great Doctor Strange if he decides to be. He could play almost any character great if he decided to. It's just that sometimes what he thinks is great is very different from what everyone else thinks is great.

My worry is, in essence, that the character is Doctor Strange. I think the name alone could send Depp wildly off into very bad territory.

 

[daxterx2005]

lady kong is hot :V

 

[scw55]

Pains me to see actors I like in bad films.

(Liking Keira Knightly and the guy who was in the Chamber of Secrets and Opening Olympic Ceremony (it is him, right?)

 

[The Great JT]

Do we need another version of Jason Bourne, let alone one adapted from Tom "Salute The American Flag, Say The Pledge Of Allegiance Six Times Per Day" Clancy? Nothing wrong with the guy, but I'm just saying maybe we could get our spy fiction from somewhere more subtle. Something that focuses on the cloak-and-dagger fictional wetwork spy junk.

 

[faefrost]

Clancy. ::sigh::

Clancy was great when he still felt relevant, back in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s. Back when there was still an actual Cold War and the potential (however remote) for a true superpowers war. Red Storm Rising was some great Clancy war-imagination at work. The Hunt for Red October was interesting and contextually relevant. It wasn't until Clancy went off of the Cold War into things like Clear and Present Danger that he started to feel less ... interesting, despite that being a pretty good book overall. I gave up around Executive Decision.

I just don't think that Clancy really transitioned out of the Cold War era particularly well. When we start invoking his name for things like H.A.W.X. (which was, admittedly, an amusing game), it just starts to feel like generic name-branding, which, frankly, it was.

Now we feel the need to reboot Ryan? What? I wasn't even aware of this until this video and I can't be more... well... if my eyes rolled anymore, I'd probably give myself vertigo.

Actually He co wrote Red Storm Rising. Most of the global political and War Simulation stuff that made that book so great came from the co-auther Larry Bond (who wrote a few very good similar books on his own). Clancy did more the character work. (Show of hands, who remembers any of the characters from Red Storm Rising?)

While I agree with Bob that this one looks like a turd. And trying to turn a character who is supposed to be a behind the scenes technical operator into James Bond or Jason Bourne is horrible, this review once again suffers horribly from Bob's heavy handed injection of personal politics. Which is sadly becoming a heavier and heavier trend with Bob.

Huh, I didn't know Larry Bond had anything to do with Red Storm Rising, however, that's not actually advertised anywhere. Is he actually even credited anywhere with it? Doesn't really surprise me, but it is pretty lame to co-write something and not give credit.

Pretty lol moment realizing that I sorta remember the characters in that book, but no names.

Red Storm Rising was before Larry Bond started writing successful and well known books on his own. My dogeared copy lists him as the co author on the inside title page. But not on the cover. I am not sure where else it might appear in other versions. When he did begin writing his own stuff fully it was advertised as from the Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising co author as well. So it's not like he gained nothing from the partnership.