What are some movies with notable director's commentary?
What are some movies with notable director's commentary?
Notable can mean many things. Maybe it was high quality, insightful, and provided context for a more artistic scene. Maybe they teased a cut scene that would have radically shifted the tone of the movie. Maybe it was funny. Maybe the director absolutely hated what they produced and is only providing narration because of a contractual obligation and a lot of alcohol.
I am looking to hear about anything that stuck with you in some way.
A lot of people consume content online where director's commentary frequently isn't present but I imagine there are still a lot of people who are into this niche.
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The one that stands out in my mind was The Sum of All Fears. It was the weakest of the Jack Ryan franchise with Ben Affleck in that role, and the commentary track featured the director being savagely berated by Tom Clancy throughout.
I have bad news. Read the synopsis for Without Remorse.
I do think Sum of All Fears it is better than Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit but holy hell is Without Remorse another level of bad.
I love the Jack Ryan stuff, but what I was really surprised by was that I actually found the Harrison Ford movies to be the worst as far as viewing experience goes when it comes to "Jack Ryan saves the world" kind of stuff. Like, Hunt for the Red October, we have someone that sees the pieces for what they are in a captain defecting with a nuclear sub. In Sum of all Fears he sees the pieces for what they are as someone trying to trigger a nuclear war in a nuclear terrorist attack. In Clear and Present danger he's ... stops a kidnapping, kills a kidnapper in the process, and the kidnapper's brother wants revenge.
Nuclear war -> kidnapping. The scale is completely different. In actually liked that Sum of All Fears really raised the stakes back to where they should be for Ryan (plus the absolute best part of Leiv Schreiber taking out all the 'bad guys' at the end is fantastic).
I will say that Shadown Recruit was a disappointment. The thing that makes the others deal great is the misdirect and mystery. "It's the Russians" -> "Its not the Russians! It's someone making it look like the Russians!". Shadow Recruit was just "yep.... It's the Russians."
Ryan isn't an action hero. He is an accidental intelligence agent.
What is funny in The Sum of all Fears book is they had no idea there was a bomb. Jack spend most of the book at odds with the presidents chief of staff as she tries to screw him over (get him fired and possibly divorced) after she misunderstood her first encounter with Ryan during Clear and Present Danger.
I won't fault them for changing the bad people from Muslims in the book to Nazis in the film.
Oh dear, I haven't even seen Without Remorse yet, but it sounds like you ironically do have remorse over seeing it. ;) Hmm…seems to be made for Prime. That doesn't bode well.