THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (2002)

Completely disregarding the first three Jack Ryan films, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS casts Ben Affleck as a young CIA analyst who is an expert on a lesser known Russian figure (Ciaran Hinds) who is suddenly announced as the new Russian president, after the old one unexpectedly kicks the bucket.  Because of this Ryan is summoned by CIA Director (Morgan Freeman).  At the same time, the Nazis get their hands on a nuclear bomb.  Soon, tensions rise between America and Russia, so it's up to Jack Ryan to save the day.

I really enjoyed the first three Jack Ryan films, but TSOAF just didn't have the same magic to it.  Not only was Affleck unable to fully portray character first played excellently by Alec Baldwin and then perfected by Harrison Ford, but the story didn't feel very original.  Blah, blah, blah, missing nuclear bomb, yelling and posturing, helicopter crashing, fast typing...I don't know, the supporting cast was really good (except for Ryan's girlfriend, she was boring), but the direction was so bland and the story so played out that there was little tension.

At the end of the day, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS made money at the box office and it is watchable, but it's easy to see why this reboot failed to garner any sequels.

Part 1 - The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Part 2 - Patriot Games (1992)
Part 3 - Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Reboot 2 - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

YOUNG THUGS: NOSTALGIA (1998)

Hey, what a better way to try and forget that boring original YOUNG THUGS film than by watching  a prequel telling an even equally boring story of the main young thugs as even younger thugs.  Once again Riichi is the main character and it's pretty easy to see why he's all fucked up.  Example: when he gets in a fight at school his teacher takes him home to talk to his parents.  After a few minutes of his grandpa flirting with the pretty teacher the father comes in and starts wrecking the joint, even kicking the teacher in the head, eventually the grandpa subdues Riichi's father and as a punishment for fighting sodomizes him with a broomstick in front of everybody!!!  What the fuck is going on here?!

The filmmaking style is in that Miike-style that I like so much, but man that story is fucking murder!  It goes nowhere.  When the film opens all of the kids are little shits with worthless families.  When it ends the kids are even shittier and the families even more worthless.  I wanted to like it, but I couldn't get into it at all.  Skip the hell out of this slow clunker.

Part 1 - Young Thugs: Innocent Blood (1997)

YOUNG THUGS: INNOCENT BLOOD (1997)

Four friends, three guys and a girl, graduate high school and based on their antics at the beginning of the film I don't know how they even accomplished that without going to prison!  Throwing furniture out of third story windows onto a teacher, shooting some guy with a spear gun then dragging him behind a motorcycle, assaulting Takashi Miike with a stick, cracking a guy's skull with a chunk of concrete, attacking a bunch of cops with a metal pole...oh, hahahaha what innocent fun!  Anyway, so these young thugs get out of school and carry on their cavalier lifestyle by being paid muscle to the highest bidder.  The chick continues working at a hair salon.

The remainder of the film is just a series of boring fights, arguments, branding, cheesy music, pants shitting, drunken hijinks, relationship dramas and some guy getting struck by lightning.  I love Miike, but I wasn't feelin' this one.  None of the main characters were likeable in the least, so I didn't care what happened to any of them.  Nice photography, too bad the story was so lame.  Skip it and never look back.

Part 2 (prequel) - Young Thugs: Nostalgia (1998)