This is not a terrible movie. But it's an unforgivably terrible Spenser movie.
If you want to make a generic 90s buddy action movie, go ahead. I'll watch and enjoy along with the rest of them. But don't call it a Spenser movie unless you plan to make a Spenser movie.
These aren't some shoddily drawn characters from an 80s TV show that you can recycle like the big screen versions of popcorn fare like The A Team, Dukes of Hazzard, CHiPs or Baywatch. These are characters with distinct lives, back stories, and ways of talking and acting that millions of readers are intimately familiar with through 45 years worth of novels.
Wahlberg and Duke are fine, but they bear no relation to Spenser and Hawk. The end credits claim this was based on the novel "Wonderland", but the fact that it has an old dog track called Wonderland in it is not enough to make that claim. This plot has no connection to the novel at all.
The fact that Spenser starts out as a felon means, as one character helpfully points out, he can't get a P.I. license in Boston. That's literally the entire character - that's who he is! Spenser gives his reason for taking on this case as something do with the widow reminding him of his mother. But Spenser never even knew his mother!
One of the writers on this is Brian Helgeland, who is a perfectly good screenwriter - he wrote LA Confidential (is that the reason for the title of this one? What the hell does Spenser Confidential even mean? I'm none the wiser after seeing it). However, Helgeland clearly isn't a Spenser fan. I would question whether he's even read one of the novels.
And THAT is why, for the people who don't get it, this perfectly fine, run of the mill generic action comedy is getting some low ratings. It's not because people are expecting an Oscar worthy film. It's because people expect an incredibly popular and well loved franchise might be treated with the tiniest bit of respect.
If you want to make a generic 90s buddy action movie, go ahead. I'll watch and enjoy along with the rest of them. But don't call it a Spenser movie unless you plan to make a Spenser movie.
These aren't some shoddily drawn characters from an 80s TV show that you can recycle like the big screen versions of popcorn fare like The A Team, Dukes of Hazzard, CHiPs or Baywatch. These are characters with distinct lives, back stories, and ways of talking and acting that millions of readers are intimately familiar with through 45 years worth of novels.
Wahlberg and Duke are fine, but they bear no relation to Spenser and Hawk. The end credits claim this was based on the novel "Wonderland", but the fact that it has an old dog track called Wonderland in it is not enough to make that claim. This plot has no connection to the novel at all.
The fact that Spenser starts out as a felon means, as one character helpfully points out, he can't get a P.I. license in Boston. That's literally the entire character - that's who he is! Spenser gives his reason for taking on this case as something do with the widow reminding him of his mother. But Spenser never even knew his mother!
One of the writers on this is Brian Helgeland, who is a perfectly good screenwriter - he wrote LA Confidential (is that the reason for the title of this one? What the hell does Spenser Confidential even mean? I'm none the wiser after seeing it). However, Helgeland clearly isn't a Spenser fan. I would question whether he's even read one of the novels.
And THAT is why, for the people who don't get it, this perfectly fine, run of the mill generic action comedy is getting some low ratings. It's not because people are expecting an Oscar worthy film. It's because people expect an incredibly popular and well loved franchise might be treated with the tiniest bit of respect.