Ratchet & Clank (film)

Ratchet & Clank

Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Produced by
Written by
  • T.J. Fixman
  • Kevin Munroe
  • Gerry Swallow
Based on Ratchet & Clank 
by Insomniac Games
Starring
Music by Evan Wise
Cinematography Anthony Di Ninno
Edited by Braden Oberson
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • April 29, 2016 (2016-04-29)[1]
Running time
 94 minutes[2]
Country
  • United States
  • Canada
  • Hong Kong
Language English
Budget $20 million[3]
Box office $7.6 million[4]

Ratchet & Clank is a 2016 American-Canadian-Hong Kong 3D computer-animated science fiction action adventure comedy film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment as its first video game-to-film adaptation and based on the first game of the platforming video game series of the same name. The film stars the voices of James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone. Series creators Insomniac Games helped with the film's production, screenplay, character development and animation. The film was directed by Jericca Cleland and Kevin Munroe, featuring an original story written by Munroe, Gerry Swallow and former Insomniac Games Senior Writer T.J. Fixman, who started writing for the series with the Future saga. Several cast members from the games reprised their respective voice roles, and assets from the video games were utilized in the film.[5][6] The film was released on April 29, 2016 by Focus Features and Gramercy Pictures.[1] The film received widely negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.

Plot

Above Planet Tenemule, Chairman Drek gives a speech to his race, the Blarg, aboard their new invention, the Deplanitizer, a space station that has the power to blow up planets. They use it on Planet Tenemule, completely destroying it. Cutting to Planet Veldin, Ratchet, a Lombax, is a young mechanic who mysteriously crash-landed on Veldin as an infant, and Grimroth took him under his wing and raised him.

Ratchet is unaware of his origins and works at Grimroth's garage, normally fixing up ships. Ratchet learns from the news that three planets have mysteriously disappeared and that Captain Qwark, the egocentrical, selfish dim-witted leader of the Galactic Rangers, is looking for a new recruit. The Galactic Rangers serve to protect peace and order across the Solana Galaxy. After Ratchet fails to tune up Mr. Micron's ship, he asks Grimroth for an hour off of work in order to join the tryouts. Ratchet has aspired to be a ranger since birth. Grimroth reluctantly agrees and Ratchet joins the tryouts, only to be rejected moments later.

Meanwhile on Planet Quartu, the over-populated and over-polluted Blarg home world, Dr. Nefarious, the mastermind behind Drek's operation, alongside Drek and Victor von Ion, Drek's robot commander, are overlooking their robot production facility when Nefarious maniacally laughs, causing a mysterious lightning strike and brief blackout. After power is restored, a defect occurs and Clank, a pint-sized and intelligent but loyal robot, is born. The plans for Drek's operation have been downloaded onto him, and he crash-lands on Veldin as Ratchet notices the crash and quickly inspects the area. He saves Clank and fixes him up in the garage. Clank tells him about his plan to team up with the Rangers and defeat Drek. Ratchet lies about being friends with the rangers and being able to help.

They go to Aleero City on Planet Kerwan where they are too late to warn the Rangers. By using the ship's Magboosters, the duo are able to thwart a warbot invasion and become instant celebrities. After being asked by reporters, Qwark reluctantly agrees to initiate Ratchet and Clank as Rangers.

Meanwhile on Quartu, Drek, Victor and Nefarious watch news on holovision and catch the ensuing scene. Drek decides to manipulate Qwark to help him in his operation. Now Rangers, Ratchet learns and tries out weapons while Clank works with Elaris, the Rangers' support and tactics' team, who is constantly ignored by her fellow comrades. While working, Elaris notices that each destroyed planet has a chunk missing with a famous landmark on it. She tries to tell Captain Qwark but he, along with Ratchet and the other Rangers, don't listen to her.

After training at the Hall of Heroes, they assault Drek Industry headquarters on Quartu. During the assault, they are attacked by small robotic bodyguards. During the attack, Qwark stops in Drek's office. Victor disarms Qwark, and Drek says that Ratchet is surpassing his popularity and offers Qwark a three picture deal if he works with him. Qwark accepts, as long as he doesn't hurt the rangers.

While Qwark was in Drek's office, the Rangers discover that Drek plans on using the Deplanetizer to destroy planets and use what's left of them, primarily the chunks with landmarks, to build the Blarg a new and better planet to replace their old one. They are able to arrest Zed, Drek's assistant robot, who says that Drek is targeting Novalis, which is home to millions, including Cora.

While traveling to the station, Qwark deactivates the Rangers' weapons. Once they arrived, Qwark leaves them to catch up to Drek where he orders the destruction of the Rangers. Ratchet was able to escape fire and enter the Deplanetizer. Victor enters the Phoenix, the Rangers' ship, to kill Clank, who destroys him with water.

While inside the Deplanitizer, Ratchet makes his way to disable the laser but is captured in an electric bubble by Drek who sends him into space in an escape pod and Novalis is lost. Ratchet catches Qwark being pampered by Blarg before leaving the station and is devastated by his betrayal. Afterwards, Qwark confronts Drek, who ignores him and tells him to move out. Qwark is shocked to discover Nefarious faked his death in a prison escape and the two quarrel, but Nefarious chides him about being a sellout to his fellow Rangers. After Qwark leaves, Nefarious tests his new Sheepinator on Drek, and sends him to New Quartu as he takes control of the station.

Feeling responsible, Ratchet exiles himself to Grimroth's garage. A few days later, Clank tells him that the Rangers need him and that the evacuation of Novalis was successful. He accepts and the Rangers come back for one last assault on the Deplanitizer. It's soon revealed that Nefarious plans to deplanetize Planet Umbris, which has an unstable core, and if destroyed, it would wipe out the entire system. Ratchet and Clank enter the station and while inside, Ratchet confronts Qwark. After a fight, Qwark changes his mind and apologizes to Ratchet, feeling ashamed of betraying them.

They then defeat Nefarious, who reveals he was a former Ranger himself and left due to Qwark taking credit for his inventions, and calling him King of the Nerd Herd, driving him insane to the point he became a mad scientist. Elaris and the other Rangers are able to knock the Deplanitizer off it's course, making it vulnerable to attacks. As the Deplanitizer is about to crash land on Planet Umbris, Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and the rangers flee in time. Meanwhile, Drek, reverted from his sheep state, is killed by New Quartu's vaporization which was caused by Nefarious when he activated the laser but missed Umbris.

Ratchet returns to Veldin to continue to assist Grimroth at the garage, while the other Rangers enjoy their time in the spotlight for saving the galaxy. Qwark shamelessly promotes his biography, which apologizes for said events. Clank offers to assist Ratchet and the two walk off to get a gadget that requires two to operate. Ratchet says he isn't retired as a Ranger, and will return when they need him again.

During a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Nefarious survived and crashed on Umbris in the wreckage of the Deplanetizer, a group of repair bots search the debris and are alerted by the screams of the doctor. As they rush to aid him, he angrily protests to them that he is not a machine. Emerging from the wreckage he quickly discovers that he has indeed transformed into a robot. Doctor Nefarious then begins to laugh maniacally at this revelation. A final post-credits scene has the Plumber tell everyone to leave the movie.

Cast

The film features several voice actors from the video game series reprising their respective roles, along with new cast members and characters.

Production

The film was produced at Rainmaker Entertainment's Vancouver studio in Canada, and its executive producer is Michael Hefferon, President of Rainmaker Entertainment.[11]

“ One of the biggest questions we've gotten in the last few years is 'When are you going to make a Ratchet & Clank movie?' The truth is, we've wanted to do a movie for a long time! Ratchet & Clank's action, humor and galaxy-spanning adventures have really been the basis for a fantastic game series, and we think it would translate perfectly to the big screen. ”
— — James Stevenson, Insomniac Community Lead on the PlayStation Blog[6]

Release

The film is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States via Gramercy Pictures, a division of Focus Features, on April 29, 2016.[1] Alongside the film, a "re-imagining" of the original Ratchet & Clank, developed by Insomniac Games, was released on April 12, 2016 in North America.[12][13]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $8–10,000,000 from 2,891 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomers Keanu ($10–14,000,000 projection) and Mother's Day ($11,000,000 projection).[14] The film went on to gross just $4.9,000,000 in its opening weekend, finishing below expectations and 7th at the box office.[15]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 17%, based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ratchet & Clank may satisfy very young viewers, but compared to the many superior options available to families and animation enthusiasts, it offers little to truly recommend."[16] On Metacritic the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[17] On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[15]

Bill Zwecker of The Chicago Sun Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying, "I kept getting a sense we’ve all been here before — both in animated and live-action presentations."[18] Kyle Smith of The New York Post gave the film one out of four stars, saying "Small fry will learn an important lesson taking in the recycled storyline of Ratchet & Clank: Like all recycling, it's garbage."[19] IGN gave the film a 6/10, saying, "Ratchet & Clank is not a bad movie by any means, especially when compared to some of the downright-terrible video game adaptations of the past two decades. But given the humor, action and sense of adventure of the games, the movie is ultimately a competent, shallow, disappointing take on the adventures of the plucky Lombax and his robot buddy. My advice is to stick to the stellar PlayStation 4 game."[20] GameSpot gave the film a mixed review, saying, "Ratchet & Clank pulls us across the universe at a breakneck pace, but it never seems to take us anywhere. The series may have found success in video games, but in the meantime, it's merely stumbled into film."[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ford, Rebecca (May 13, 2015). "Cannes: Focus Nabs Video Game Movie 'Ratchet & Clank' for U.S. (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  2. ↑ "RATCHET & CLANK (U)". British Board of Film Classification. March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Sarto, Dan. "Kevin Munroe Talks ‘Ratchet & Clank’". Animation World Network. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ Gaudiosi, John. "Sony PlayStation Franchise Ratchet And Clank Goes Hollywood With 3D Feature Film". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  6. 1 2 Stevenson, James. "First Video: Ratchet & Clank Movie Hits Theaters 2015". PlayStation Blog. Sony Computer Entertainment. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Vejvoda, Jim (May 13, 2015). "Ratchet & Clank Animated Movie Lines Up Star-Studded Voice Cast". IGN. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Ratchet and Clank [RatchetMovie] (September 17, 2013). "We are excited that @ShimermanArmin has joined the cast for #ratchetandclankmovie! @insomniacgames @Blockade @RainmakerEnt @PlayStation" (Tweet). Retrieved May 13, 2015.
    Paul Robinson [Topottsel] (September 17, 2013). "@RatchetMovie I assume this means Dr Nefarious is making is making an appearance? ;)" (Tweet). Retrieved May 13, 2015.
    Ratchet and Clank [RatchetMovie] (September 17, 2013). "@Topottsel Yep!" (Tweet). Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Sneak peek: 'Ratchet & Clank' takes buddy comedy to space". Usatoday.com. 2016-02-09. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  10. ↑ Beck, Jerry (2016-04-25). "20 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About "Ratchet & Clank" from Director Kevin Munroe". Blogs.indiewire.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  11. ↑ Graser, Marc. "‘Ratchet & Clank’ Games Get Film Treatment (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  12. ↑ "Insomniac games, Ratchet and Clank".
  13. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank Movie Releases April 29, 2016 in US". Blog.us.playstation.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  14. ↑ Berhoeven, Beatrice. "Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ to Lead Third Weekend in a Row Ahead of ‘Keanu’". TheWrap. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Jungle Book’ Still Hot In Third Weekend With $35M-$36M; ‘Mother’s Day’ Has Edge Over ‘Keanu’". deadline.com.
  16. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  18. ↑ "‘Ratchet & Clank’ falls short of originality points". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  19. ↑ "'Taking Ratchet & Clank from video game to the big screen is a Transgalactic Mistake". New York Post. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Ratchet and Clank: The Movie Review". IGN. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  21. ↑ Mahardy, Mike (2016-04-12). "Ratchet and Clank Movie Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2016-05-01.

External links

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