{"id":23365,"date":"2020-03-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=23365"},"modified":"2020-08-03T12:51:54","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T16:51:54","slug":"z-view-spenser-confidential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=23365","title":{"rendered":"“Spenser Confidential” \/ Z-View"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Spenser Confidential<\/em><\/strong> (2020)<\/p>\n

Director: Peter Berg<\/strong><\/p>\n

Screenplay: Sean O’Keefe<\/strong> & Brian Helgeland<\/strong> based on characters created by Robert B. Parker<\/strong> and the novel by Ace Atkins<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stars:  Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron, Donald Cerrone<\/strong>  and Post Malone<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pitch: “Let’s turn Ace Akins’ Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novel into a movie!”<\/p>\n

Tagline: The Law Has Limits. They Don’t.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers\u2026<\/p>\n

If you’re not a fan of Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins Spenser characters there’s an outside chance you may like Spenser Confidential<\/em>.  If you are a fan of the books, my guess is that you’ll hate this movie.  That’s because not a single character goes unchanged to something fundamentally different from the novels.<\/p>\n

Spenser goes from an intelligent, wisecracking ex-cop to a less than stellar (IQ-wise) ex-con who aspires to be a trucker.  In the novels, Susan is a Harvard-educated, calm, supporting soul mate to Spenser.  In the movie she becomes a foul-mouthed, crazy girlfriend that Spenser works to avoid until he needs sex or help with the “case”.  In the novels Hawk starts out as a respected rival who works on the fringes of the law and ultimately becomes Spenser’s best friend (outside of Susan).  In the movie Hawk is a big, nerdy, untrained lug who dreams of being a MMA Champion who is forced to be Spenser’s roommate.<\/p>\n

Peter Berg is usually a director that makes fun movies.  Not here.  Brian Helgeland wrote the screenplays for LA Confidential<\/em>, Payback<\/em>, Mystic River<\/em>, and Man on Fire<\/em>.  Spenser Confidential isn’t in the same ballpark… not even the same continent.<\/p>\n

You may be thinking that if I wasn’t such a big fan of Parker and Atkins’ Spenser novels I would have liked Spenser Confidential<\/em> better.  Perhaps I would have liked it a bit more… but not much.<\/p>\n