Kevin Reynolds
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Connections, in both directions
The script by Affleck, Peter Craig , and Aaron Stockard , based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan , draws less on life than on other, similarly themed movies, especially " The Departed ."
The title of the The Town, which is based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan and adapted by Peter Craig, Affleck, and Aaron Stockard (who also worked on Gone Baby Gone, refers to Charlestown, a square-mile neighborhood in Boston that opening title cards inform us is responsible for producing more bank and armored truck robbers than any other place in the United States.
Affleck takes the Clint Eastwood/Kevin Costner/Mel Gibson route by directing and starring in "The Town," a taut adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel "Prince of Thieves."
(“The Town” was adapted from “Prince of Thieves” by Chuck Hogan.)
Cut to Mariner ( Kevin Costner ), aboard his trimaran, a sailing vessel that looks made out of spare parts from "Mad Max."
Whether it's the rusting scrap-metal sets or the gas-guzzling bad guys, the movie takes its cues from George Miller's "Mad Max" movies.
With chests fully puffed after their global success with 1991’s electric “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” star Costner and director Kevin Reynolds decided to test the adventure waters again with this admittedly blatant lift from the “Mad Max” series.
If it wasn’t for the obvious rips from the entire Mad Max canon, combined with star Kevin Costner’s immense ego, this would be nothing more than a failed featured attraction at some cut rate Florida aquatic theme park.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
influenced by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Characters Visuals
It strikes me, too, that this is the film I'd hoped Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was going to be almost thirty years ago.
The closest thing to a fun performance—and it is still a very long distance from actually being that—is the one turned in by Jude Law, who takes a blatantly campy approach to his performance as Vortigern that is basically a ripoff of Alan Rickman’s memorable turn in the otherwise unmemorable “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” that does inspire a laugh or two.
Despite some striking visuals (including sweeping use of Welsh and Scottish locations) and the occasional evocation of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, this newfangled Arthur comes up short on grandeur or even old-fashioned matinee adventure, trading them in for cosmetic Game of Thrones grot.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced by Waterworld (1995)
Visuals Themes
Confiscating a police helicopter as capable of maneuvering underwater as above, they make their way to the lost city of Manhattan, which is redolent with echoes of "Waterworld" and "Dark City" combined.
Rather than forgoing the special effects and focusing on compelling filmmaking and effective storytelling - as he was reluctantly forced to do while making "Jaws" thanks to mechanical difficulties - Spielberg goes hog wild at the end, spending what had to have been millions on the "Waterworld" meets "Close Encounters" inspired finale.
We’ve seen it countless times, in movies both good and bad (e.g., the Mad Max movies, Blade Runner, Waterworld).
We also see the world as it looks under water, which surprisingly did not make me think of "Waterworld."
Joe makes for great comic relief, confidently strutting like a cross between John Travolta and Gene Kelly as he guides David through the second act, which turns into a fantastical blend of "Blade Runner" (if it took place in Las Vegas), "Pinocchio" and "Tron," with pinches of "Waterworld" (in the future the polar ice caps have melted, submerging coastal cities), with "Road Warrior" and "Brazil" thrown in for seasoning.
The world is flooded (for reference, see Kevin Costner’s Waterworld).
But for all of its mildewed splendor, this Art Deco cross between “Waterworld” and “Blade Runner” lingers in the mind as a head-scratching example of what can go wrong when science-fiction ignores the immutable nature of certain facts.
In her feature film debut, Joy, who actually has some intriguing ideas about memory, goes overboard in every way, leaning too heavily on her memory replay contrivance, voice over narration and films which have come before like "Blade Runner," "Minority Report," "Waterworld," "Chinatown" and even “Who Shot Jessica Rabbit?”
Writer-director Lisa Joy ( Westworld ) seems to be aiming for an Inception -style metaphysical mind-bend, with the sci-fi jolt of Minority Report and a bleak splash of Waterworld .
Think of “John Carter’’ as a landlocked “Waterworld’’ (that 1995 fiasco starring Kevin Costner) with its bare-chested hero wandering through the arid landscape of Mars (called Barsoom by the locals) as a captive of the four-armed, lizard-like Tharks (Willem Dafoe voices their leader) à la “Planet of the Apes.’’
Can you think about “Battlefield Earth” or “Ishtar” or “Waterworld” or “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” — with a net loss amounting to 94 percent of its production cost, pretty much the all-time dog — without laughing?
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Directed by Martin Campbell
influenced The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Themes
Viewers unfamiliar with the original work or previous adaptations will obviously recognize the underlying, universal revenge theme as well as similarities to films such as "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "The Mask of Zorro," both of which borrowed some elements or at least were inspired by Dumas' work.
So why is this year’s reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo the best swashbuckler since The Mask of Zorro ?
Enjoyable swashbuckler that’s similar to The Mask of Zorro in that it benefits from being played mostly straight – it’s well made with good performances and some impressive set pieces including a stunning Gratuitous Balloon Entrance.
The second scenario is reminiscent of any number of disaster and / or science fiction movies about flooding, apocalypse or dystopia (When Worlds Collide, Rudolph Maté, 1951; Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón, 2006; Waterworld, Kevin Reynolds, 1995): if you approach this movie expecting something like that, you’re going to be disappointed, because although that element is very much present in the film, it’s little more than the backdrop.
The Great Wall (2016)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
influenced by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Dialogue
Nearly every line of dialogue exchanged between William and Tovar is banter so dated it feels lifted out of a ’90s action movie (and not one of the good ones; think “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” – and Damon’s unidentifiable accent is about as convincing in this as Kevin Costner’s was in that).
While it's clearly no "Papillon" as this one feels like a big dress up film compared to that grueling 1973 Steve McQueen picture, the moments are fairly entertaining and engaging thanks to some good performances and occasionally sharp writing.
"The Count of Monte Cristo" is not as good of a film as say "Captain Blood" probably because well, Errol Flynn was the master of these kinds of movies, but it's old school in another way.
He drinks in his scenery with a cocktail of malice and absurdity in a performance as reminiscent of Dennis Hopper in Speed (1994) as it is Dennis Hopper in Waterworld (1992).
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Directed by Rupert Sanders
influenced by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Characters
Through about half of the film, she channels Kevin Costner from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” attempting a British accent but never quite hitting the mark and then giving up.
The Last Duel (2021)
Directed by Ridley Scott
influenced by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Characters
Driver is utterly captivating in a role that calls to mind Alan Rickman’s seductive take on the Sheriff of Nottingham…
Driver giving shades of Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham with his all-black outfits and sweeping mane of hair, as he chases women around the room…
Ominous scenes of blackened hordes descending upon Noah's wooden fortress call to mind the Orc attacks from The Lord of the Rings , while the floods themselves evoke the dystopian disaster of Waterworld .
That dark new take on the story — and Crowe’s intense, good, often scary performance — keeps “Noah” afloat despite clunky moments such as the “Waterworld”-like duds, the mega-rock angels (voiced mainly by Nick Nolte and Frank Langella) and scenes of a stowaway villain hiding between the emu and the weasels.
Aronofsky has pumped the Old Testament’s slim narrative of the old man and the sea with a heavy-metal load of sci-fi fantasy, and forged an apocalyptic saga that owes as much to Waterworld and The Lord of the Rings as to Genesis.
V for Vendetta (2006)
Directed by James McTeigue
influenced by The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Themes
And yet, despite its brilliant appeal, there's just something strange about V himself that's hard to shake - a smiling Guy Fawkes' mask, a Frenchman's flair for cooking, an interest in Scarlet Carson roses, and an obsession with "The Count of Monte Cristo," etc. that only compound the feeling of unease.
Like "The Matrix" itself, "V for Vendetta" (created by David Lloyd and Alan Moore in 1981 as a critique of then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher's conservative government) serves up a dense-pack amalgam of literary references, from, inevitably, George Orwell's "1984" to Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo."
Two rare exceptions are 1943’s Sahara and 1988’s The Beast of War, both of which centred on lone tank crews bravely engaging the enemy against seemingly impossible odds.
Although Kevin Costner was a hot commodity when he embarked upon 'Revenge' at the end of the eighties, he seemed, on this occasion, to allow his bankability to run ahead of his judgment (not counting Waterworld which was to come five years later).
The King (2019)
Directed by David Michôd
influenced by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Characters
Pattinson is having the most fun and like a French (ridiculously) accented Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , he seems to exist in another film altogether.
Robert Pattinson, playing the foppish Dauphin, struts into The King like he’s just walked off the set of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves .
Oldman brings demented charm to the role (echoes of Dennis Hopper in "Waterworld") as the madman who thrives in a mad, mad world.
Travolta had his "Battlefield Earth," Costner had his "Waterworld" and now Denzel Washington has his truly awful sci-fi epic, "The Book of Eli."
It's more brutal than "Road Warrior" and completely unlike "Waterworld," if you were concerned.