A Lombax mechanic and his small robot friend join the Galactic
Rangers to stop an evil businessman from destroying the galaxy. ACTION/FAMILY/SCI-FI
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Ratchet & Clank (2016Directed by Kevin Munroe
Written by T.J. Fixman, Kevin Munroe, Gerry Swallow Starring James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Sylvester Stallone, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson, Armin Shimerman Based on the video game from Insomniac Games |
I've been a huge fan of the Ratchet & Clank series ever since the first game came out in 2002. When I heard they were finally doing a film adaptation, I was quite excited. I remember thinking, "They're using the same voice cast from the game. This can't possibly suck." Boy, was I wrong. I don't know why it's impossible to make a good movie out of a video game, but I was really hoping that Ratchet & Clank would be the one that broke the curse. Instead, we got a watered down adaptation of a great game that will go down as one of the most forgettable films of the decade.
The only good thing going for this film is the voice cast, who help remind the audience that this is still Ratchet & Clank, despite what everything else seems to be telling us. Apart from that, the plot from the first game is barely used, and all of Ratchet's skill and talent with mechanics and weapons are ignored. Movie Ratchet is a hapless, incompetent wannabe who can't do anything right. In that same boat is the dimwitted Captain Qwark, who is now actually somewhat good at being a hero and genuinely cares about helping people. That's not at all what makes Qwark such a funny character. He's initially one of the villains! Instead of using the wide variety of side characters from the games, a grab bag of forgettable sidekicks were introduced. There's very little about this film to like and I'm starting to regret paying money to see it. I was very disappointed with Ratchet & Clank. It could be said that I got my hopes up and that would be true, but it shouldn't be that hard to turn a good game into a good movie. It's possible with novels, TV shows, and sometimes even board games. Just take the compelling narrative and interesting characters you already have at your disposal, and use them. It's really that simple. It irritates me that studios refuse to accept that ignoring the good things is the reason their adaptations are never successful. With Warcraft and Assassin's Creed coming out later this year, I hope at least one of them can be decent enough to finally open the door for a good video game movie. |