I went to see the Ratchet & Clank movie with my brother last week. It was totally out of left field because I had no idea that they were making a movie, and also I’ve never played a single second of any of the Ratchet & Clank video games. But the little bro is a big fan, and I’m always down for a movie (as long as I have gift cards in pocket), so off I went.
It was not a bad movie. In fact, I might dare to say that I liked it, for the most part. The characters were fun, although I must admit that Clank is like the polar opposite of what I was expecting from a little robot sidekick. I thought he’d be like the comic relief to Ratchet’s more serious heroic role. But no. In fact, Clank was the only character who was not constantly trying to be hilarious (oh and also John Goodman, but I forget what his guy’s name was).
And therein lies my only real beef with Ratchet & Clank: it’s constantly trying to be funny, and failing at nearly every turn. Like, it’s always on. The never-ending gags are more exhausting than anything, and we were less than ten minutes in before I started wondering to myself if it was ever going to dial it down.
In all fairness, I chuckled a few times and there were a couple of legitimately funny jokes, but most of the time it was just stupid things that were in no way funny. On the other hand, the few Playstation references were very subtle and well-placed, and I really appreciated those. Some jerk in the theatre appreciated them way more than I did, as he would holler out in excitement every time.
“OH MAN, THAT’S THE BOOT-UP SOUND FROM THE ORIGINAL PLAYSTATION! HA HA HA HA AWESOME! EVERYBODY LOOK HOW SMART I AM ABOUT PLAYSTATIONS! I AM IRRESISTABLE TO WOMEN, BUT I AM MAKING THE CHOICE TO BE SINGLE!”
Alright, so maybe I’m exaggerating. But only a little.
In conclusion, Ratchet & Clank isn’t horrible, but nerds are.