Comments on: Uh… Ryan Gosling as Jack Ryan?

By: kettch

kettch — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:04:52 +0000

That's often a hard choice that needs to be made. To hack, slash and smash the story to fit into a movie. Or to take the basic concepts of the original story, but adapt them for the big screen at the expense of accuracy.

It's a hard choice. Unfortunately movies are often produced for the masses and not the fans.

Or you can make a trilogy of 3-4 hour movies and call it LoTR.

By: bradbrevet

bradbrevet — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:39:36 +0000

Well… The Bourne Identity is nothing like the novel. I read that book and once I put it down I was immediately like, "No way they can make that into a movie." Sure enough, they didn't make the book into a movie, they completely changed it. Good thing too, the book was just too massive.

By: kettch

kettch — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:35:53 +0000

Oh yeah. I totally agree. I think that Clancy stories are too involved for the attention span of the average moviegoer. Yet, it's his ability to juggle individual plotlines for five characters that really makes his books pop. When they cram them into a 110 minute movie, it just turns into cheese.

That said, I thought the Bourne movies were done well, for being such complex novels.

By: bradbrevet

bradbrevet — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:41:45 +0000

Yeah kettch, you're right. Still, gimme John Clark… Gimme anything. Clancy novels have really only never been tackled properly. I didn't think I would ever say this, but a five-day miniseries on television would be the best way. His novels bounce all over the globe and they need a lot of running-time to truly be adapted properly.

By: kettch

kettch — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:03:26 +0000

Without Remorse would rock, but don't you mean John Kelly/Clark in the lead role?

Anyway, I think that could be a rather difficult role for an actor. The way John goes back and forth between Clark, Kelly, and Snake would need to be done just right. I've known people who were special forces types. They can be totally happy and disarming, but they've always got that look deep in their eyes that tells you that they've already figured out a dozen ways to snap your neck. They don't do it on purpose, but it's just burned into them. That kind of internal struggle is something that always stands out to me from that book.

Another alternative as that role could also be Christian Bale. Personally I like him as Batman. The Batman/Bruce Wayne struggle is very similar to what goes on in Without Remorse.

I liked Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. The fact that he didn't end up playing him later on, and the other movies weren't as well done kind of bothers me. Reading about Jack growing from the greenhorn desk jockey into a very strong character over the course of the many books is cool.

It's not that obvious that I'm a Clancy fan is it? :D