Dignan_Tenenbaum

Let me get all the stuff I didn't like out of the way first. First, when compared to the other Jack Ryan movies, this one's a little different. It's less intelligent, more action oriented and still pretty good. The major difference is that Jack Ryan is an analyst in the others. In this one, he says that he is, but we don't see him do that too much. For the most part he tells people that they're wrong, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Why? Because he knows things that he's not able to put into words. I really expected him to yell at one point, "I'm the damn protagonist, which means I'm right."

At a couple points in the movie, I was a little disappointed when the story took us back to Jack Ryan. I found the other interactions much more thrilling. This was only a couple times though, and the parts with Ryan aren't particularly bad, so it's okay.

The bad guy tells us all his plan. He doesn't tell it to us by capturing our hero and subjecting him to an overly elaborate death. But he just says it. Sometimes in meetings with his associates and other times just sitting in front of his computer with an internet cam pointed at him. Who's watching? I tried not to concern myself with it.

Now to the good. While it's not as intelligent as the other movies, it's not stupid either. I really liked the relationships that were set up and I am looking forward to another movie or two with the same people involved. Ben Affleck wasn't his usual smarmy self. This is not the Ben from Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. He's not the Ben of Chasing Amy either, so don't get too excited.

The supporting cast is excellent. Morgan Freeman gives the same quality performance that we've come to expect. Liev Schreiber turns in another great supporting role. Philip Baker Hall does what he does best (looks like a man on his death bed). And Ciaran Hinds (the Russian president) gave a performance that could have easily been played over the top, but he was very deliberate. It was good.

There are some things that are rather unbelievable. It was very difficult for me to watch some of the scenes of terrorism after watching similar ones in real life. And then there's the whole idea of it being a young Jack Ryan, but not a prequel. Minor complaints. Overall it was certainly a respectable movie that exceeded my expectations.

I'll admit that I saw this movie because of The Full Monty. Well that, and I wanted to support the big theater chain's decision to bring in a lesser known movie instead of filling yet another screen with Spider-Man. But here's the main thing; I wasn't expecting The Full Monty.

It was a nice little movie that's just plain fun. It's got funny characters that are enjoyable to watch. It gets a little off track from time to time, but overall it's a very funny movie.

Here's a dilemma facing any filmmaker in following up a success:

If you make something different, people will inexplicably compare the two as if the second was a sort of sequel. They will always say the second is not as good as the first.

If you make a similar movie, people will call you unoriginal and accuse the second movie of being a rehashing of the first. This will happen faster than you can say "Guy Ritchie."

It's okay to compare the efforts. But this is not The Full Monty, and it's not even in the same vein as The Full Monty. Reading people complaining about The Full Monty being better is about as bad as hearing people compare every movie where some one kicks something in slow motion to The Matrix.

Okay, here's what I was thinking when I went in, based on what I'd heard and from the previews:

1. Too much CGI. It's too distracting for a whole person to suddenly become an effect.

2. Questionable casting. Okay, I wasn't sure on this one. I'm not familiar enough with the Peter Parker character to have known ahead of time if Tobey was an okay choice.

3. Great script. I'd just heard that this was a really good story filled with rich characters who we'll really care about.

4. Sequel coming. Warners screwed up Batman, so now there's room for a Marvel character... let's bleed this property dry! Profits! WOO HOO!

Now that I've seen the movie, let's examine these one at a time:

1. CGI: It wasn't that bad. I was very surprised by how good it looked and how it added to the sense of wonder. I found myself actually thinking "that's [bleep]ing cool!" So there's no worry here. Spider-Man, while he never moves his mouth (even when yelling the requisite NOOOOOO!!) does swing through the city in a manner befitting a superhero.

2. Casting: I have absolutely no problem with any of the casting (even Randy Savage was good as Bone Saw). Anyone who can't see Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man has missed the point. You should only have to see him as Peter Parker. That's been a real problem in super hero movies. You should cast the secret identity, not the hero. Christopher Reeve is Clark Kent first, and Superman second. And I feel that I should mention JK Simmons (simply because everyone else has). He was funny. It would have been very easy to slip into Perry White mode, but he avoided that and came out as the anti-Chief.

3. Script: This is where it was lacking. The whole movie is nothing but cliche after cliche. We have to have MJ be a sweet wholesome girl who would only go for a nice guy. She's the type of girl who would never waste her time with a jerk. Oh, and she has to be dating the biggest jerk in the world. Why? Well, that's what you do in movies that take place in high school. Now Spider Man makes his appearance. The whole city thinks he might be a bad guy at first. Why? Well, that's what you do in super hero movies. While the dialogue wasn't filled with little inside jokes that made you want to wretch, the characters weren't fleshed out enough. I do see potential for the future. Which brings us right to

4. Sequel: They're out to make money. We all know that. But there's a difference between something like this and something like X-Men. Now I'm not going to pretend to know what went on behind the scenes of either of these movies. But the feeling I got from watching them, was that X-Men was just trying it out. If it worked well and made enough money, great. Let's try it again. With Spider-Man, I really got the feeling that they were just making sure that a sequel could be made, that this was nothing more than a money making machine to them.

I almost liked this movie. I really wanted to. But overall, it's not worth it. I'll see the next one, and maybe it will have been improved. But this is far from the best comic book movie ever made. If you want good comic book movies, check out Ghost World, From Hell, or Unbreakable.