Debate: Is Sam Raimi the Right Guy for Jack Ryan?
Man, Sam Raimi knows how to keep a paycheck coming. The director/producer is going from one mega-franchise (Spider-Man, of course) to another, reviving Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan character, with a first film scheduled to begin in 2010. Variety reports that, after his upcoming thriller Drag Me to Hello, Raimi’s on the hook to direct “a series of films” for the Jack Ryan franchise. Is that three movies? Four?
Is Raimi the right choice? Spider-Man definitely benefited from his horror-meets-humor sensibilities, but where does that play within the espionage genre. Should spy play be heavy, complex stuff? Perhaps Raimi will approach Jack Ryan differently, with less of an edge… or a different kind of edge.
In my opinion, the ideal directorial approach would result in a combination of James Bond and Jason Bourne. And that could be quite a tightrope walk. For the Jason Bourne half of the equation, Sam Raimi hasn’t directed a movie with any real gravity since A Simple Plan in 1998.
The Jack Ryan series has certainly run a strange enough course that Raimi could conceivably start from scratch and remain unscathed if the movie bombs. (Which it won’t.)
It all started with The Hunt for Red October and this guy, Alec Baldwin.
Then there were the two hits with Harrison Ford in the Ryan suit: Patriot Games and the best of the series, Clear and Present Danger.
And lastly, things took a bizarre turn when we were asked to take Ben Affleck seriously in a younger (and geez, stupider) version of Ryan in the scary bomb scenario of The Sum of All Fears.
So the question of “who’s next” becomes more intriguing now that Raimi is on board. One plan is to feature Ryan in his formative years, which sounds like the original aim for The Sum of All Fears. This certainly opens up casting opportunities, allowing Raimi and Paramount to slot an up-and-coming name in the role, rather than rely on a Harrison Ford-type name.
One last thing: If the first Ryan film is anything resembling a hit, this will be a $1 billion box office franchise in just five films. Reason enough to reinvigorate the series.
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