The Tom Clancy thread

A Can of Man

A Can of Man

Je suis aware
Well this is pretty interesting.
We've read a few books, played the games, watched the movies. So I thought I'd open up a thread where we can discuss some thoughts on him, his works and adaptations of his works.

Here's a few things...
I heard that they're thinking of making WITHOUT REMORSE into a film. It could be interesting because Clark himself is quite a character. Also they're talking of turning RAINBOW SIX into a movie and I believe this project is more serious than the WITHOUT REMORSE. I heard John Woo was going to be director but they scrapped that idea... which is good because he's not the kind of guy we want doing RAINBOW SIX.

His books... pretty good. Red Storm Rising was a pretty interesting book. His highs I believe were that, Hunt for Red October, Sum of All Fears, Rainbow Six... those were his high points I guess.
Low points... Debt of Honor. Well written but... seriously, come on!

Then his other books... OpCenter. The first one was good, though they did mess up some Korean names. The ones that followed... yeech. Dunno, I read Mission of Honor and got really discouraged and didn't read any more. I doubt any of the rest are good though.
Net Force... if I'm going to sit there and read that stuff I'd rather read a manual on how to actually do what they do in the book!

So what are your thoughts and opinions?
 
the lowest point (apart from "cardinal of the kremlin)
all those op-centre and every other co written book he did
he seriously over stretched himself

i just hope ben afleck doesn't reprise his role of jack ryan, cuz frankly, he sucked, badly. the dude has no acting talent whatsoever (sorry ladies ;))
 
When I think Jack Ryan, Ben Affleck is probably one of the last people that comes into mind.
His acting is pretty bad and not to mention, Jack Ryan is supposed to be an Ex-Marine lieutenant who survived a helicopter crash, spent a whole year in rehab and worked his way into the CIA. He would also save the Prince of Wales, knock out a few IRA dudes with his bare fists etc etc.
What part of the Ben Affleck Jack Ryan convinces you of that? I don't mean looks, but the fact that the guy had no balls.

Harrisson Ford as Jack Ryan and Willem Defoe as Clark really hit it well.
 
yeah
daffoe is an awesome actor

i loved the sniper part of "SUm of all fears" it was a good description and the imagery was really good
ditto "clear and present danger" just the way he describes jungle fighting, he makes it sound, dare i say it: cool!!!
he certainly knows how to romanticise the military
 
Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, Sum of all Fears, Red Storm Rising. Were all great. I luv'd em.

I agree about Op Center being pretty bad and I'm not all that Fond of Rainbow Six etc.

Harrison Ford IS Jack Ryan! Ben Who?
 
In Rainbow Six, the last chapter I think, the happy ending was rather... well, fruity.
Also I was amazed at the lack of failed marriages, broken homes etc. caused by all the times away from the family and in the field. I think from reading the true life stories of Special ops, especially stories from the SAS, failed marriages are pretty common.
So the picture seemed a bit too rosy for my taste. Though the idea of commandos kicking down doors and wasting a few terrorists does appeal to me.
The game was really good though. I still like it though I don't play it as much as I used to.
And the lack of a funeral scene where one or two commandos have been killed and the families are paying their last respects... or the guy's gone and no one outside the unit really seems to give a crap.
 
IMHO.Clancey was a great "Cold War" Techno-Thriller author. The end of the Cold War kinda of left him without direction.
 
I like his books, read alot of them. he has a thing with Israel though, we never do get displayed in a possitive way. I specificly remember something about a US officer training Israeli tank commanders so that "they finnaly earned the reputation they have", which kind of ticked me off, but aside from that his books are good.
 
I totally forgot about Without Remorse. That is a great book. Course I like Clark.

Net Force and Ops Center are pretty dry for Clancy. I'm hoping he gets back in his groove.
 
reading clancy is fine if you are a very patriotic american, or u just dont give a damn, or u recognise his writing for what it is.
the characters are shallow, his "we are the best at everything" is apparent in every book, and as you said, there is nothing about paying respect to the deal, once they died they were forgotten.
a good book (see ice station, scarecrow by matthew reilly) should always have at least one completely unexpected event/twist happen. completely out of the blue. it keeps the readers on thier toes!
 
A Clancy book is really an action flick in a book. Which is why movie adaptations of it are so successful.... unless you shove in Ben Affleck.
 
ben who....?



yeah they are like bruce willis movies, nice and easy to sit down and watch
 
I've been meaning to read some of his books. Hunt For Red October was an awesome movie.

I loved Ghost Recon but that was just the video game. Also I don't think a Rainbow Six movie would be too good. I don't know I just see it as too easily turning out the way SWAT (the movie) did. Just one long chase of some high profile guy with not too much actual action.
 
Yeah and if Rainbow Six does it right, it'll be hours of preparation and the takedown will take only two minutes :lol:
 
I say if they should do a movie in the future why dont make Red Storm Rising a Movie! They should do it big and with a large budget I think they could do Red Storm Rising in a box type of movie like Band Of Brothers or something with alot of large scale assults and air-land-sea battle scenes. That would make alot of other movies fade away with the right director behind the camera that is. 8)

Cheers:
Doc.S
:viking:
 
i rekon that if they were to make a movie like RSR, they would completely overdo it esp. with the special effects. once you start using heaps of special effects its like its a competition to have the most, and the effects, not the story becomes the focus of the movie.
if they use the effects wisely (ie sparsely) and instead focus on the story, you will end up with a much better film.
look at band of brothers: it would have been soooo easy to try to use heaps of pyrotechnics and go OTT. instead, it was very minimalist, with lots of character, and historical enphasis
 
I say it could be done - Look at the awsome scenes in Behind Enemy Lines or Black Hawk Down or why not Band of Brothers. There is alot of caracters to follow in RSR and it is a great story. I would say it is the best Tom C. book to be honest. I got them all :D Great fan of T.C´s books. ;)

Cheers:
Doc.S
:viking:
 
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