Ratchet & Clank (film)

Ratchet & Clank
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kevin Munroe
Written by	T.J. Fixman Kevin Munroe Gerry Swallow
Based on	Ratchet & Clank by Insomniac Games
Produced by	Kylie Ellis Brad Foxhoven Kim Dent Wilder David Wohl
Starring	Paul Giamatti John Goodman Bella Thorne Rosario Dawson James Arnold Taylor David Kaye Sylvester Stallone
Cinematography	Anthony Di Ninno
Edited by	Braden Oberson
Music by	Evan Wise
Production companies	Rainmaker Entertainment PlayStation Productions Blockade Entertainment CNHK Media China Cinema Management Group
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures Focus Features
Release date	April 29, 2016 (2016-04-29)[1]
Running time	94 minutes[2]
Countries	Hong Kong[3] Canada[3] United States[3]
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[4]
Box office	$14.4 million[5]

Ratchet & Clank is a 2016 computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and distributed by Gramercy Pictures, based on Insomniac Games' video game series of the same name. Directed by Kevin Munroe and co-directed by Jericca Cleland, the film stars the voices of Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone. James Arnold Taylor and David Kaye reprise their roles as the titular characters alongside Jim Ward and Armin Shimerman.

The film features an original story loosely based on the 2002 video game Ratchet & Clank written by Munroe, Gerry Swallow, and former Insomniac senior writer T.J. Fixman, who began writing for the series with the Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy. Alongside several cast members from the games, Insomniac contributed to the film's production with character development, screenplay, and animation assets.^[6][7] Released on April 29, 2016, the film received mixed reviews and commercial failure, grossing just $14 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

Plot[]

In the Solana Galaxy, Chairman Drek and his people, the Blarg, are systemically dismantling multiple planets to extract desirable material for the construction of an artificial planet, New Quartu. The Blarg need this new world as their home, Quartu, has been rendered uninhabitable by pollution. The destruction attracts the attention of the peacekeeping Galactic Rangers. At a factory that produces Drek's warbots on Quartu, a defective robot is produced due to a black-out, and flies to Kerwan to inform the Rangers of Drek's plan. After getting shot down, he encounters a young lombax spaceship mechanic named Ratchet on the planet Veldin. Ratchet names him Clank, and the two fly to Kerwan, where they save the Rangers from Drek's army of warbots. Their actions gain both Ratchet and Clank immense popularity, which pressures the commander of the Rangers, Captain Qwark, to name them honorary Rangers.

Qwark, jealous of Ratchet and Clank's acclaim, is approached by Drek to help him, an offer he accepts so long as Drek never harms the other Rangers. Drek has him disable the Rangers' weapons during an assault on his planet-destroying superweapon, the Deplanetizer. Drek's lieutenant, Victor Von Ion, boards the Rangers' flagship and attacks Clank, who manages to reduce him to a rusty wreck using a rainstorm-producing weapon. After Drek breaks apart the planet Novalis, his chief scientist, Doctor Steve Nefarious, suddenly fires a sheep transforming gun at Drek & the Blarg, stuffs them in escape pods and ejects them to New Quartu. He takes control of the Deplanetizer, intending to destroy the entire Solana Galaxy in revenge for Qwark's mistreatment of him when he was a Ranger. His plan is to destroy the planet Umbris, which has a highly unstable core that would annihilate all other planets in its vicinity.

The Rangers attack the Deplanetizer again, but Qwark intercepts and battles Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet pleads with Qwark to stop, causing Qwark to realize he has been used, and the three confront Nefarious. Nefarious fires the laser, but the Rangers move it off target from Umbris and towards New Quartu, wiping out Drek and the Blarg as the effect wears out from them. Nefarious tries to disintegrate Qwark with his personal weapon, the RYNO, but is stopped short by Ratchet, causing Nefarious himself to be seemingly disintegrated as he falls into the Deplanetizer's laser chamber. Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark manage to escape through a teleporter as the Deplanitizer falls towards Umbris, where it vaporizes in the atmosphere. With Nefarious thwarted, the Rangers return to Kerwan and Qwark is demoted to the lowest rank, Private. Ratchet and Clank reunite on Veldin, with Ratchet promising to rejoin the Rangers if he is needed. In a mid-credits scene, Nefarious is shown to be still be alive on Umbris, having his body forcibly converted into a robotic form to survive.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

The film was produced at Rainmaker Entertainment's Vancouver, Canada studio and executive produced by president Michael Hefferon. Insomniac mentioned they were eager to produce a Ratchet & Clank film adaptation, remarking:^[11]

One of the biggest questions we've gotten in the last few years is 'When are you going to make a Ratchet & Clank movie?' The truth is, we've wanted to do a movie for a long time! Ratchet & Clank's action, humor and galaxy-spanning adventures have really been the basis for a fantastic game series, and we think it would translate perfectly to the big screen.

— James Stevenson, Insomniac Community Lead on the PlayStation Blog^[7]

Release[]

Theatrical[]

The film was released theatrically in the United States via Gramercy Pictures on April 29, 2016.,^[1] while it was released internationally by Lionsgate and Cinema Management Group. Insomniac developed a "re-imagined" version of the original Ratchet & Clank to tie in with the film, which was released two weeks earlier on April 12 in North America.^[12][13]

Home media[]

The film was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Digital HD on August 2, 2016, and on Blu-ray and DVD on August 23, 2016.^[14]

Reception[]

Box office[]

Ratchet & Clank grossed $8.8 million in North America and $5.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $14.4 million, against a production budget of $20 million.^[5]

In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $8–10 million from 2,891 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomers Keanu ($10–14 million projection) and Mother's Day ($11 million projection). The film went on to gross just $4.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing below expectations and 7th at the box office.^[15]

Following the domestic opening, Rainmaker announced an impairment charge on their $10 million investment in the film. Commenting on the movie's performance, Hefferon stated "We are obviously disappointed with the North American opening release results. The huge success of The Jungle Book, and continued strength of Zootopia, represented a loss of a large portion of the family market. Although support from the Ratchet & Clank fan base has been positive, the turnout for the film was not sufficient to overcome the highly competitive market place for the opening weekend of the film."^[16] In its second weekend, the film grossed just $1.5 million (a drop of 70%), finishing 9th at the box office.^[17] Rainmaker lost around $5 million on the film, which made $15 million.^[18]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 21%, based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 4.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ratchet & Clank may satisfy very young viewers, but compared to the many superior options available to families and animation enthusiasts, it offers little to truly recommend."^[19] On Metacritic the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.^[21]

Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying, "I kept getting a sense we've all been here before—both in animated and live-action presentations."^[22] Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film one out of four stars, saying "Small fry will learn an important lesson taking in the recycled storyline of Ratchet & Clank: Like all recycling, it's garbage."^[23] IGN gave the film a 6/10, saying, "Ratchet & Clank is not a bad movie by any means, especially when compared to some of the downright-terrible video game adaptations of the past two decades. But given the humor, action and sense of adventure of the games, the movie is ultimately a competent, shallow, disappointing take on the adventures of the plucky Lombax and his robot buddy. My advice is to stick to the stellar PlayStation 4 game."^[24] GameSpot gave the film a mixed review, saying, "Ratchet & Clank pulls us across the universe at a breakneck pace, but it never seems to take us anywhere. The series may have found success in video games, but in the meantime, it's merely stumbled into film."^[25]

Television series[]

On February 2021, an animated series that would serve as a sequel to the movie was announced by Insomniac and PlayStation when they made a pilot short film titled "Ratchet & Clank: Life of Pie". James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Armin Shimerman and Andrew Cownden will reprise their roles of Ratchet, Clank, Doctor Nefarious and Zed. Jim Ward reprised his role of Captain Qwark in the pilot but since he retired after it he will be replaced by Scott Whyte.

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ratchet & Clank (film)

• Ratchet & Clank at IMDb
• Ratchet & Clank at Box Office Mojo