The Ratchet & Clank Topic - Rift Apart - RELEASE DATE: June 11th 2021

[FriendBot]

Brad Jones, well known for his Cinema Snob series, did a review on the R&C movie with a pal of his. They didn't like it.

[sonicgirl313]

I think the problem is that the movie truly is something that only the fans will get the most mileage of since I realized that most of the humor my brother and I liked stemmed from the series references, ones that we knew off the bat because we were already huge fan of the franchise. But to a newcomer the reference jokes would have no meaning and leave them wondering "Okay why is that there, why did that show up, why is that thing called that, etc.?" Leaving them with only pretty much text jokes, Wilhelm jokes, and hashtag jokes.

It's pretty much like the 1986 Transformers - The Movie, while TF fans consider it a great film, critics did not and the film ended up being a critical failure. So I guess in that sense Ratchet and Clank isn't like all the other Video Game movies that people have despised in the past, while the critics consider it an awful film, the fans find the film to be a great film that stays true to the games.

While yes I know it's possible for a fan of the game not to like the movie as well, I'm mainly generalizing because I heard mainly good things about the movie from other R&C fans.

[pppp]

4 minutes ago, sonicgirl313 said:

I think the problem is that the movie truly is something that only the fans will get the most mileage of since I realized that most of the humor my brother and I liked stemmed from the series references, ones that we knew off the bat because we were already huge fan of the franchise. But to a newcomer the reference jokes would have no meaning and leave them wondering "Okay why is that there, why did that show up, why is that thing called that, etc.?" Leaving them with only pretty much text jokes, Wilhelm jokes, and hashtag jokes.

It's pretty much like the 1986 Transformers - The Movie, while TF fans consider it a great film, critics did not and the film ended up being a critical failure. So I guess in that sense Ratchet and Clank isn't like all the other Video Game movies that people have despised in the past, while the critics consider it an awful film, the fans find the film to be a great film that stays true to the games.

While yes I know it's possible for a fan of the game not to like the movie as well, I'm mainly generalizing because I heard mainly good things about the movie from other R&C fans.

I'm disappointed cause I was expecting this to be like the Layton movie, which is a great movie first and a fan tribute second. I often use the Layton movie to get people into the series since it's no newcomer friendly while just being a great movie in general with easter eggs for fans, and I was expecting the Ratchet and Clank movie to be like that too since TJ Fixman was a writer on it.

[DaBatGuy]

The best way I can describe it is aggressively decent, even for fans. It not objectively bad in any particular way but aside from fan service doesn't excel in any areas either. If this had better promotion and was released several years earlier it probably would be better received. However in the wake of CGI animal blockbusters (Kung fu Panda 3 and Zootopia) and bombastic space adventures (Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars VII) Ratchet and Clank will seem bland and derivative to the casual audiences.

[CrashRatchetFan]

I give it a 6, maybe an 7 in places. The pacing at the beginning is a bit weird, and the wipes and fades and stuff are SUPER cheesy and the humor is cringeworthy as hell... and you can REALLY tell when something is written by TJ Fixman and when something was changed up by the other guys. Some of the humor on the "meanwhile" texts that show up are really bad, but overall, it was decent and I liked it.

Hope Angry Birds turns out better. 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I'm probably the weird man out, but in regards to the cutscenes of the games, I found that to be significantly blander than the original Ratchet and Clank game. Yeah it was nice that Ratchet was nicer, but everything else just felt...I dunno, less.

[sonicgirl313]

1 hour ago, SenEDtor Missile said:

I'm probably the weird man out, but in regards to the cutscenes of the games, I found that to be significantly blander than the original Ratchet and Clank game. Yeah it was nice that Ratchet was nicer, but everything else just felt...I dunno, less.

I miss the Mom scene, that was pretty touching in the original game.

[Failinhearts]

Well, I came back from the film and I'm gonna give my impressions on it.

So, I'm a guy who has never played a single Ratchet & Clank game in my life due to being a person who never really grew up with a Playstation. Pretty much all I knew of it before the film was whatever was in the Death Battle video released recently. 

But regardless, the film was decent. Nothing great but nothing awful. I did laugh more than I thought I would, the animation was great, I liked the acting, the story was fine and the characters were enjoyable.

However, there are issues I would like to address. The beginning of the film suffers from some glaring pacing issues. As I watched it, I was like "oh please don't tell me the whole movie will be like this". Thankfully, it wasn't and things picked up once Ratchet met Clank.

The villains are underwhelming. I guess they got the job done, but I'm not really gonna remember Drek or Dr. Nefarious really fondly unlike the titular duo and Qwark who I loved.

Spoiler

The scene where Qwark was manipulated by Drek was also done really quickly and it didn't feel natural to me as well.

Most of the performances were done well, but I really don't like Cora's acting. Bella Thorne didn't really do a good job in my opinion. The score wasn't that memorable either.

So yeah, even as a non-fan of the franchise, I did enjoy this movie and I wouldn't mind playing a game or two if I had the chance. It has it's flaws and some are pretty big, but it didn't ruin the film for me and I still watched it with a smile.  

 

 

[sonicgirl313]

1 minute ago, Failinhearts said:

Well, I came back from the film and I'm gonna give my impressions on it.

So, I'm a guy who has never played a single Ratchet & Clank game in my life due to being a person who never really grew up with a Playstation. Pretty much all I knew of it before the film was whatever was in the Death Battle video released recently. 

But regardless, the film was decent. Nothing great but nothing awful. I did laugh more than I thought I would, the animation was great, I liked the acting, the story was fine and the characters were enjoyable.

However, there are issues I would like to address. The beginning of the film suffers from some glaring pacing issues. As I watched it, I was like "oh please don't tell me the whole movie will be like this". Thankfully, it wasn't and things picked up once Ratchet met Clank.

The villains are underwhelming. I guess they got the job done, but I'm not really gonna remember Drek or Dr. Nefarious really fondly unlike the titular duo and Qwark who I loved.

  Reveal hidden contents

The scene where Qwark was manipulated by Drek was also done really quickly and it didn't feel natural to me as well.

Most of the performances were done well, but I really don't like Cora's acting. Bella Thorne didn't really do a good job in my opinion. The score wasn't that memorable either.

So yeah, even as a non-fan of the franchise, I did enjoy this movie and I wouldn't mind playing a game or two if I had the chance. It has it's flaws and some are pretty big, but it didn't ruin the film for me and I still watched it with a smile.  

 

 

Heh you should compare that to the original.

Spoiler

Where Qwark was a working with Drek at the beginning of the game since he was promised to pretty much be the face of advertisement and like the greedy jerk he was he agreed  and Drek was destroying populated planets.

Nefarious is actually much better when he has Lawerence to work off of, aka his robot butler that tends to be very sarcastic. And also the joke where if Nefarious yells too much, cue him pick up recordings of this hilarious parody of a soap opera called Lance and Janice. That's all I'll say.

[kirby1up]

well for those of you who might not have played the original game but are wondering what the original games story was like here's a full collection of the first game's cutscenes put together to make roughly a 1 hour video

enjoy

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Since the game is ten years old, I really don't think it needs to be spoilered. But just in case...

Spoiler

In the original game, it's handled much much worse. There, Qwark is nothing but a completely evil selfish prick. He knows Drek is destroying planets, killing people, and leaving millions homeless, but he simply doesn't care. He in fact never questions it, takes orders from Drek easily, and outright says he's doing it just for a marketing deal, nothing else. Here, his motivations are portrayed much better as a legit hero with an ego who ended up getting manipulated, and lied to, without realizing the scope or consequences of what he's doing because of his jealousy towards Ratchet. Keep in mind Drek outright tells Qwark in the film that all of those homeless right now would get better homes, all with Qwark's face as the main marketing campaign. It was a lie, but Qwark didn't think he was harming the galaxy too much if they would be getting better homes in the long run. 

 

[Agie]

I rather enjoyed the film. Definitely one to see if you're a fan...but even I'll admit it's no masterpiece. Still, good film.

[TheOcelot]

I know I said I wouldn't, but....I've just platted R&C2.

That's six R&C games I've platted now. I am truly possessed!

--------------------------------------

Oh yeah and I saw the movie yesterday. I enjoyed it. The voice acting was good, especially Jim Ward as Cpt Qwark. I appreciate all the references to the games, especially when they show all the weapons which appear in the PS4 game (and some of the other games). I liked the nod to the weapon cutscenes/cinematics from A Crack in Time.

The story was pretty basic. Some parts of the movie definitely could have been flushed out better and some of the characters backstories such as Captain Qwark would have been interesting to explore. It's only about 90 minutes long so perhaps should have been longer.

Spoiler

I do agree it's nice Ratchet not being so angry like he was in R&C1 and Captain Qwark being less of a evil dick (now more of a guy just trying to be a hero who gets manipulated). Although, Qwark's betrayal should have been flushed out more and at the end of the movie they go lenient on him; he gets demoted in the Space Rangers, whereas in the game he gets put in prison, which makes more sense!!!

I also think Clank's backstory-how he was created wasn't particularly interesting. I prefer his back story from A Crack in Time. Honestly the way Clank is portrayed (being uninteresting) you could almost just call it the Ratchet movie.

The movies pacing issues are actually evident in the game, because the mixture of movie cutscenes - which move along very quickly at times - don't really fit with the slower pacing of the normal cutscenes in the game. For that reason some of the story in the game feels rushed or incomplete.

As for the ending; I'm glad Dr. Nefarious is now in his robot form. He didn't look right as an organic. Although, there was no indication that he was dying/seriously injured at the end, so being turned into a robot just felt like fan service.

If this movie does get a sequel, then it's an opportunity to move away from the games' shadow, which I think it should, at least to extent and create a better story. There's definitely potential.

It's still enjoyable though.

It's a good movie if unspectacular and will definitely help sell the game (not that the game needs it's help).

[sonicgirl313]

37 minutes ago, BenderBR said:

I know I said I wouldn't, but....I've just platted R&C2.

That's six R&C games I've platted now. I am truly possessed!

--------------------------------------

Oh yeah and I saw the movie yesterday. I enjoyed it. The voice acting was good, especially Jim Ward as Cpt Qwark. I appreciate all the references to the games, especially when they show all the weapons which appear in the PS4 game (and some of the other games). I liked the nod to the weapon cutscenes/cinematics from A Crack in Time.

The story was pretty basic. Some parts of the movie definitely could have been flushed out better and some of the characters backstories such as Captain Qwark would have been interesting to explore. It's only about 90 minutes long so perhaps should have been longer.

  Hide contents

I do agree it's nice Ratchet not being so angry like he was in R&C1 and Captain Qwark being less of a evil dick (now more of a guy just trying to be a hero who gets manipulated). Although, Qwark's betrayal should have been flushed out more and at the end of the movie they go lenient on him; he gets demoted in the Space Rangers, whereas in the game he gets put in prison, which makes more sense!!!

I also think Clank's backstory-how he was created wasn't particularly interesting. I prefer his back story from A Crack in Time. Honestly the way Clank is portrayed (being uninteresting) you could almost just call it the Ratchet movie.

The movies pacing issues are actually evident in the game, because the mixture of movie cutscenes - which move along very quickly at times - don't really fit with the slower pacing of the normal cutscenes in the game. For that reason some of the story in the game feels rushed or incomplete.

As for the ending; I'm glad Dr. Nefarious is now in his robot form. He didn't look right as an organic. Although, there was no indication that he was dying/seriously injured at the end, so being turned into a robot just felt like fan service.

If this movie does get a sequel, then it's an opportunity to move away from the games' shadow, which I think it should, at least to extent and create a better story. There's definitely potential.

It's still enjoyable though.

It's a good movie if unspectacular and will definitely help sell the game (not that the game needs it's help).

If this is a start of a new storyline, I hope they bring back Alister Azimuth. He was a pretty good character and it's a shame he only gets one game. I would like to see him fleshed out more.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

4 hours ago, BenderBR said:

I know I said I wouldn't, but....I've just platted R&C2.

That's six R&C games I've platted now. I am truly possessed!

--------------------------------------

Oh yeah and I saw the movie yesterday. I enjoyed it. The voice acting was good, especially Jim Ward as Cpt Qwark. I appreciate all the references to the games, especially when they show all the weapons which appear in the PS4 game (and some of the other games). I liked the nod to the weapon cutscenes/cinematics from A Crack in Time.

The story was pretty basic. Some parts of the movie definitely could have been flushed out better and some of the characters backstories such as Captain Qwark would have been interesting to explore. It's only about 90 minutes long so perhaps should have been longer.

  Hide contents

I do agree it's nice Ratchet not being so angry like he was in R&C1 and Captain Qwark being less of a evil dick (now more of a guy just trying to be a hero who gets manipulated). Although, Qwark's betrayal should have been flushed out more and at the end of the movie they go lenient on him; he gets demoted in the Space Rangers, whereas in the game he gets put in prison, which makes more sense!!!

I also think Clank's backstory-how he was created wasn't particularly interesting. I prefer his back story from A Crack in Time. Honestly the way Clank is portrayed (being uninteresting) you could almost just call it the Ratchet movie.

The movies pacing issues are actually evident in the game, because the mixture of movie cutscenes - which move along very quickly at times - don't really fit with the slower pacing of the normal cutscenes in the game. For that reason some of the story in the game feels rushed or incomplete.

As for the ending; I'm glad Dr. Nefarious is now in his robot form. He didn't look right as an organic. Although, there was no indication that he was dying/seriously injured at the end, so being turned into a robot just felt like fan service.

If this movie does get a sequel, then it's an opportunity to move away from the games' shadow, which I think it should, at least to extent and create a better story. There's definitely potential.

It's still enjoyable though.

It's a good movie if unspectacular and will definitely help sell the game (not that the game needs it's help).

The game's canon to the movie, so it means 

Qwark does get the punishment in the movie universe that he gets in the game.

On another note, if you're gonna try platinum R&C All 4 One or anyone else here is, let me know as it's the last R&C game I need to platinum (Outside of the Vita versions of the original trilogy, which I'm currently working on)

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Sounds like Quarks choices in Going Commando would seem far more sincere in this universe... and more hilarious

[Agie]

If I'm looking at the estimated numbers for the film's box office right...things aren't looking so great for the first weekend.

It seems like the game was doing well (heck, at the time I got my copy, I had to go elsewhere because the GameStop was sold out), so maybe it's making back the budget through that, but looks like it's not an indicator of the film doing well.

[Ratcicle King]

3 hours ago, Mando-Whirl-Wind said:

Sounds like Quarks choices in Going Commando would seem far more sincere in this universe... and more hilarious

Not really.

Spoiler

In here it's clear Qwark doesn't want anyone to get hurt as much as his ego may pay the price.

In Going Commando he's totally ok with putting an entire galaxy in danger just to rescue it later, no matter how many civillians pay the price.

 

[Tornado]

It's a bit hard to read anything in the original trilogy in that sort of "serious" light, though.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

19 minutes ago, Ratcicle King said:

Not really.

  Reveal hidden contents

In here it's clear Qwark doesn't want anyone to get hurt as much as his ego may pay the price.

In Going Commando he's totally ok with putting an entire galaxy in danger just to rescue it later, no matter how many civillians pay the price.

 

Well, in the original Going Commando, he let his want for redemption overwhelm his(lack of) common sense creating what he saw as a nuisance, not a major threat to try and get back his fame and thought that there was no chance of failure, which it did.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

12 minutes ago, Mando-Whirl-Wind said:

Well, in the original Going Commando, he let his want for redemption overwhelm his(lack of) common sense creating what he saw as a nuisance, not a major threat to try and get back his fame and thought that there was no chance of failure, which it did.

Uh...no he doesn't. He outright admits that he kidnapped a massive C.E.O of a massive corporation in order to take his place, fire one of their leading scientists, who outright told him that these Protopets were dangerous, and could possibly kill. Qwark outright knows people will die from this major threat. Why would a galaxy love a hero for getting rid of a nuisance? Qwark outright knew he had to stop a massive threat to redeem his previous actions, and didn't give two shits about who paid the price in the long run, which is seen when he sees exactly what the Protopets are doing, doesn't care, and outright states he plans to frame Ratchet for the entire thing

[Kaotic Kanine]

Speaking of Going Commando...

Spoiler

I wonder how they're going to do a "re-imagining" of that game with Quark being a firm good guy in this game and the movie. Are they going to make the real Fizzwidget the villain? Have Dr. Nefarious take over? Or are they going to make an entirely new villain?

 

[Agie]

That's assuming they'll even get to it, and the box office intake isn't looking very good where I'm looking. Unless the film gets a sudden spike later or something, I'm not sure there's gonna be a sequel...

[CrashRatchetFan]

1 hour ago, SurrealBrain said:

That's assuming they'll even get to it, and the box office intake isn't looking very good where I'm looking. Unless the film gets a sudden spike later or something, I'm not sure there's gonna be a sequel...

Give or take, if a sequel were to be made it'll be a cheap straight to DVD flick and none of the cast (besides the game cast anyway) will be returning. 

Trust me, this is what'll happen. 

[Agie]

Oh, man, that's probably be even worse...