Per the PF Code of Conduct, I have a commercial interest in the StreakTM product as sold by Ammo, Inc.
I loved Without Remorse, so I was excited about the movie. Don’t care about the change of character to a black guy or even moving it into today’s timeline from the Vietnam ear. Kelly being white and the story being set in 70’s arent what made the book good. Heck I could even understand editing the storyline some as if you go by the book it will be a mini series (not a bad idea). Fine ditch the Pam part of the story and go with him getting revenge for the killing if his wife.
The trailer sucks and I hope the actual movie is better. Won’t hold my breath though. They make the movie look like some John Wick knock off. Hope I’m wrong.
Yeah, I could care less about the race of Clark. But this book is about Clark in his 20’s and take place in the 1970’s being pursued by Jack Ryan’s father, a Baltimore city detective. It’s the origin story of how he becomes Clark as a way to avoid prison.
I have no idea what this story is but it’s nothing like the original. I think it’s another false premise in Hollywood that using a name helps boost sales with non-fans because they’ve never heard of it anyway. Then fans like me just get turned off.
There is plenty of room for an action thriller set in the 70s IMO and updating it to modern tech just makes it another B action movie.
It’s a shame. On a positive note, my wife is reading the book now after hearing me complaining about the movie 🙂
I have posted this before here-There are movies and there are films. 99% of motion pictures are movies. 86 to 124 minutes spent passing time.
They are vehicles for the suspension of disbelief and to separate you from your money.
A film is much more. The Godfather was a film. The first Star Wars was a film. Pulp Fiction was a film. Slumdog Millionaire was a film. The Joker was a film.
IMHO, the contemporary book to movie transition goes poorly more often than it goes well. Authors know or should know via direct and vicarious experience, once they sell the rights, the lose control of the narrative, despite how much control they think they may have retained as per the "deal". Yet and still, the write and they sell.
The recent trend of more contemporary productions to have have more female leads, ethnic leads, inter-racial romance, same sex romance, non binary characters etc. is a true reflection of but one color-green. The decision makers in "Hollywood" simply want to make money. If they thought they could make more money on all male lead westerns circa 1956, they would do so.
IMHO, Big Hollywood does not give a rip about Shonda Rhimes gift of storytelling/POV beyond the bottom line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shonda_Rhimes
Having said that, does she even get the meeting if she was not a Dartmouth/USC Film School honors grad who got mentored by one of maybe 10 black folks who have real stroke in Hollywood re greenlighting 50Mil plus projects after she undoubtedly paid her dues v. somebody who was literally born into the business i.e. JJ Abrams?
I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.
I don't really care about the race thing in a vacuum; it just bugs me that they always feel the need to change stuff like that for no reason other than marketing to the woke based on "representation." It's the same reason I thought the whole "remake Ghostbusters with a female cast" thing was dumb. Nothing against the idea of women being able to do the things the men in the original did, but the entire reason for doing it was woke marketing, which just makes me roll my eyes.
100% agreed that the gross changes to the story are the real problem, though. Hell, somebody in the thread referenced Rainbow Six, and I want to say that Jack Ryan in that book mentioned something about Kelly/Clark's "private hunting" and Ryan's father in a not-so-subtle callback to Without Remorse...or maybe it was one of the other books...I want to say it was whichever one allowed Clark to have the name Kelly back.
Is it? That many of the big "LOOK HOW WOKE WE ARE!!!! WE GOT WOMYNS!!!" didn't make money, and many of the Stunning And Brave bits are edited out when they send those movies on to China. Even before Covid, cinemas were struggling with declining audiences.
Of course, Hollywood being Hollywood is the king of creative accounting, so a big budget woke flop, made with all the proper boxes checked, isn't really seen as a bad thing. The filmmakers can garner sympathy status for making a film that's too enlightened for the racist homophobic deplorables, and the money people can use the loss to screw other filmmakers out of their checks.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI