Fans of Vince Flynn and his Mitch Rapp character are undoubtedly excited to see the first movie based on Mitch's life as I am.
I had my doubts about some of the casting stars hired to portray the characters, but it seems okay. Although, I'll never get used to Sanaa Lathan as Irene Kennedy, even though Sanaa is beautiful and knows the role for which she is cast. She ain't Irene!
I thought I'd have a hard time buying Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, but judging by the trailer, he's actually plays an excellent role as Stan. Much, much better than I expected. If the trailer is any indication, he nails it.
Dylan O'Brien seems too youngish looking to be Mitch Rapp, but he seems to have the ability to do Tom Cruise-like action which is entirely necessary.
As I expected, it has to be a high octane action thriller with lots of bloodletting and stunts. I also expect to be disappointed having read all the Rapp series and had such a permanent image in my head as to who each character was and too many details of the book they are trying to portray in a 90 minute flick. Still, probably a decent movie. At least they didn't cast Cruise as Rapp like they did with Reacher. That was a travesty.
Anyway, here's the trailer
AMERICAN ASSASSIN - RESTRICTED Trailer - HD - (
New Window )
I also wonder how much they are going to change the Rapp character from the books - he is definitely not a PC kind of guy (different from Bourne, Jack Reacher and others like that) and I don't know how well that would be received by the general public...
I also wonder how much they are going to change the Rapp character from the books - he is definitely not a PC kind of guy (different from Bourne, Jack Reacher and others like that) and I don't know how well that would be received by the general public...
Since Flynn died at an extremely young age, his books have been picked up by Kyle Mills writing under Flynn's name. I've notice a difference in writing style and character makeup. In Mills' books, Rapp is chain smoking like Stan Hurley and using a lot more F-bombs and stuff. His writing is also not as well written in my opinion. Mills is okay, but he's not Flynn. I do miss him
I haven't read him. Sounds like I should pick up a book by Sloan and see what I'm missing.
I recently read Baldacci's "The Fix" (Amos Decker) which went along slow, but ended up being a really good read as it built up to a grand climax. One of the better books I've read lately.
Right now I'm reading "Orphan X" by Greg Hurwitz, the second of his books that I read. They are pretty good.
If you haven't checked out the "Red Sparrow" series from Jason Matthews, i'd highly recommend that as well. Very well done and entertaining.
Mitch Rapp is the greatest of all the fictitious super-killers/assassins. If you read his books, you'll love him...and Stan Hurley.
In the books, Mitch is hell bent on killing terrorists because his fiancee was a Syracuse University student (as was he, a lacrosse star) and she was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie by terrorists who blew up a plane filled with students from Syracuse. It changed him.
One of the things that make no sense in the trailer is the beach scene where I am assuming his love gets killed by a terrorist. That does not follow the books at all.
If you haven't checked out the "Red Sparrow" series from Jason Matthews, i'd highly recommend that as well. Very well done and entertaining.
I haven't read anything by Hayes or Mathews. I am keeping track of these suggestions though because I have exhausted all the books of my favorite authors and can't stand waiting until their next release so I need more ideas to fill in between. I have a half dozen books in queue, but they won't last long. Anyway, I am writing your suggestions down and will get to them. I appreciate any good suggestions.
The Mitch character is too thin and wimpy and the Kennedy character seems turned from a great character into the typical agent handler cliche. Not impressed.
Keaton could be ok, but doesn't really make me think of the great character from the books.
Typical hollywood disaster, though might be very entertaining.
The predecessor Silva books around Michael Osbourne are not bad either, but with 17 books in the Allon line, there's more to munch on.
The predecessor Silva books around Michael Osbourne are not bad either, but with 17 books in the Allon line, there's more to munch on.
A television show/series is coming out this Fall on Silva's books and featuring Gabriel Allon. So the books from authors I regularly read are finally putting them to movies and television.
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are also great books. Quite a similar character to Mitch Rapp, but ex-Mossad. Didn't know this movie was coming out but I will look for it.
The predecessor Silva books around Michael Osbourne are not bad either, but with 17 books in the Allon line, there's more to munch on.
A television show/series is coming out this Fall on Silva's books and featuring Gabriel Allon. So the books from authors I regularly read are finally putting them to movies and television.
Great news! Hope they don't fuck it up.
I also wonder how much they are going to change the Rapp character from the books - he is definitely not a PC kind of guy (different from Bourne, Jack Reacher and others like that) and I don't know how well that would be received by the general public...
This is the origin story of Rapp. In this book, he is fresh out of college when it begins. Most of the books take place 10-20 years later. This story is just after his girlfriend is murdered by terrorists.
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but I have read several Rapp books...I agree O'Brien is too young for the role...Rapp to me is an older hardened world weary kind of guy...
I also wonder how much they are going to change the Rapp character from the books - he is definitely not a PC kind of guy (different from Bourne, Jack Reacher and others like that) and I don't know how well that would be received by the general public...
This is the origin story of Rapp. In this book, he is fresh out of college when it begins. Most of the books take place 10-20 years later. This story is just after his girlfriend is murdered by terrorists.
The movie appears to be using "artistic/creative liberty". It appears that in the movie his fiancee is killed by a random terrorist on a beach in a machine gun slaughter. Anyone who has read the Rapp series knows that his finacee was one of the plane full of Syracuse University students that was blown out of the sky by terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland. And of course, Rapp was a star lacrosse player at S.U. when they were engaged.
I'm not sure he waited 10-20 years before joining the black ops team of then Thomas Stansfield who died and was taken over by Dr. Irene Kennedy. It seems he went into the program right after college while his anger and revenge motive was still strong. Of course, his life evolved over the years and was older of course after years of missions.
Movies are always a disappointment compared to books. If they get more than half right, the movie should be good. Has to be better than the Reacher movies or the disaster movie, "Sahara" that was supposed to show Clive Cussler's brilliant early writings with his heroes Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino. That was a total waste of a movie.