There is a new Jack Ryan – and he is the new Captain Kirk.
Chris Pine, whose decidedly mixed debut as James Tiberius Kirk went unnoticed amidst planets exploding, Spock making out with Uhura, and Eric Bana’s ears, is the new hero in the film rebirth of the Tom Clancy tales.
Yes, Pine is a better pick than Ben Affleck, and he certainly can’t turn out worse in retrospect than Alec Baldwin – who was perfect for the role until his politics got in the way. And who can forget Harrison Ford, who wore his poop-tasting face throughout Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. Given that track record, Pine has a decent chance at putting his own trademark on the character. The downside? The younger-Jack-Ryan has already been tried twice, here’s to hoping they let him be a grown up.
Give Pine this, he isn’t auditioning for gay cowboy movies (at least that I know of) or scene-chewing roles as villains, he’s going straight up for the hero roles and not just any hero roles, the iconic type – something most of metrosexual Hollywood avoids like the plague. Give him some due.
As for John Clark, bring back Liev Schrieber or Willem Dafoe – can’t go wrong with either. Everyone knows the real Clancy movie worth waiting for is Without Remorse.
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I liked Pine in Star Trek…so I don’t think I’d mind seeing him as jack Ryan. Baldwin was ok IMO as Ryan, but Ford was Jack Ryan to me…and Pine looks more like a young Harrison Ford than Ben Affleck…and as long as they don’t change the bad guys from the real terrorists to the politically correct ones. And if you’ve read the novels, Willem Dafoe looks nothing like the description given for John Clark. Liev Schreiber was a much better choice.
You hit the nail on the head – political correctness doomed the last movie.
Plenty of time yet to show his ’sensitive’ side…never ever underestimate Hollywood and its denizens.
I liked Pine in Star Trek to and I cannot believe I am saying that. As for Iconic Roles, buzz is that CBS films (the new feature film division for CBS) is thinking about (gag reflex held back) Brad Pitt as Mitch Rapp in the first movie in the series they hope becomes a franchise, Consent to Kill. Pray fervently that this never happens. I hope either John Hamm, or Gerard Butler or some lesser known but hungry actor takes that role.
I like this choice, provided they maintain Ryan’s intelligent and serious demeanor and don’t turn him into some wise-ass kid (or a highly function retard a la Affleck)
For Clark I would love to see Liev Schrieber back in a larger role. If not him…maybe someone like Thomas Jane (who looks the part but I have yet to be impressed by him acting wise)
John Clark is supposed to be a Navy SEAL, Willem Dafoe doesn’t really strike me as some of the SEALs I’ve had contact with. If Ryan is younger so would Clark, so I think they’d have to find a new actor to play him as well.
According to the books, Ryan was in the USMC until he got hurt in a helicopter crash, then he became an analyst for the CIA after writing some books…I hope they don’t screw this up too bad…but I never saw the one with Afflick, so I don’t know how bad it actually got.
It got pretty bad – ridiculously PC-ed story aside, just picture Ben Affleck running around for two hours looking really confused and saying “What?! The Russians?!” Good times.
Although yeah, Liev Schrieber rocked as John Clark. Makes me wonder which novel they’re bringing Pine in for to begin with? Remake of Sum of all Fears? A prequel-Cardinal of the Kremlin?
Good point about Dafoe and age. I guess this means casting a younger John Clark, though I think Schrieber would work.
The Sum of All Fears wasn’t so bad on its face, it was just the villain switch. Your watching this whole thing play out, and sticking you like a thumb in the eye is the whole “Neo Nazi” plot, which was ridiculous on its head and even more so a year after Sept. 11. I’m not counting on the studios to change, though.
Sum of all fears . . . Jerry Goldsmith made a good score.
With the Cold War so far in the past, I can’t see them redoing Red October or Cardinal without some major tweaking. Patriot Games is still relevant, just change the IRA to Hamas. Oops. My bad, Islamic terrorists are considered good guys in Hollywood. Maybe the baddies will be some of Janet Napolitano’s Republican veterans driven mad by “Bush’s war” and Obama’s election. In that case, here comes another expensive flop.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to actors and like Clancy’s books too much to see the movies, except for Red October.
I did love Without Remorse. It was my favorite.
I think Red October was the best by far of the books and novels. As a stand alone work it was fantastic. But they better NOT remake Red October. that would suck. Really SUCK!
Red Storm Rising is actually my favorite Clancy book. Not quite a page-turning thriller like Red October, but it’s not meant to be (nor does it star Jack Ryan). I am in fact on my third paperback version, having read the first two until they literally fell apart. Alas, this will never be adapted to screen, being altogether too long, expensive to produce, and on an obsolete topic.
Like I said above. Cut SUM OF ALL FEARS some slack. The music was not half-bad. A good enough score can save a movie (see INDEPENDENCE DAY).
“Without Remorse”!! Definitely Clancy’s best, IM’UO! (Is this a northwest Ohio aberration?) I enjoy Clancy’s work; but “Without Remorse” was my favorite. Hoped to see it in a movie; but, those hopes faded long ago. I was especially interested to see how the director would show Clark “bouncing” the bad guy up and down in his decompression chamber. Sick, ain’t I? Still, the bad guy made it off the island, alive, if you call that “living”.