What is your favorite Brett Ratner movie?

[Aragorn]

Time to go in the opposite direction with this thread -- a director hated by fandom. Brett Ratner is completely vanilla, has no style or flare, and seems to be the studio go-to director when they want something very safe and mainstream. He's technically proficient as a director (as opposed to someone like Uwe Boll who fails on every level), but that's about it. In many ways Brett Ratner is like Paul W.S. Anderson, only involved in less of the creative process (since Anderson writes too). He might get some credit from some of you for directing the Prison Break pilot.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Either one of the first two Rush Hour movies. I went with the first as they're usually the best.

 

[T'Baio]

 

[Starbreaker]

Red Dragon

 

[Beagleman]

After the Sunset, very forgetable film but I like a all the actors involved...

 

[Jetfire]

The Family Man (2000)

But I liked the 1st 2 Rush Hour movies and Money Talks...X-Men: The Last Stand was ok...

 

[Roshi]

Why isn't there a "none" choice?

 

[D Man]

I think Red Dragon is a pretty great movie, but Edward Norton probably has more to do with that than Ratner.

 

[T'Baio]

When I think of the great directors and people Norton has worked with and heard rumours that he's tried to take control or rewrite or been a pain in the ass or whatever, I find it so hard imagining him working with Ratner.

Unless it was just a pay cheque for Norton and he got some back end deal, like it helped him land Buena Vista as a distribution partner on Frida, or something.

 

[RoJoHen]

The only movies that I've seen on that list are "Red Dragon" and "X-Men: The Last Stand," so I'm gonna have to go with "Red Dragon" by default.

 

[sidious618]

After the Sunset because Salma Hayek is always in a bikini.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I think "Red Dragon" is very underrated just because "The Silence of the Lambs" was so excellent and Demme is so much classier and more talented than Ratner as a director, but comparison aside, I believe it's very good and better than "Hannibal". My favourite on this list is "The Family Man". It's kind of a "It's A Wonderful Life" rip-off, but I like it more than that movie because Jimmy Stewart annoys me and Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni were wonderful together.

The third X-Men movie was weak, but I don't blame Ratner for that...he did a competent job. I blame the executives who couldn't wait for Singer and his writers to do their Superman movie and then come back and finish what they started with X-Men. I'd rather have 5 years between X-Men sequels than have it rushed and come out mediocre. It's not Ratner's fault the script was stupid. He just shot what he was given.

 

[Timby]

When I think of the great directors and people Norton has worked with and heard rumours that he's tried to take control or rewrite or been a pain in the ass or whatever, I find it so hard imagining him working with Ratner.

Unless it was just a pay cheque for Norton and he got some back end deal, like it helped him land Buena Vista as a distribution partner on Frida, or something.

It's my understanding that Norton took his pay from Red Dragon and The Italian Job and used it for the purpose of getting Down in the Valley and The Painted Veil made.

 

[Kelthaz]

Rush Hour was somewhat decent and got a few laughs out of me. It was by far his best film ever.

 

[stj]

Edward Norton notwithstanding, Manhunter was better than Red Dragon. Red Dragon was one of those movies that make remakes look lame. And the third X-Men movie was terrible. Haven't seen any of the others, so here's another
"None" option left unchosen.

The whole notion that the director is the only one you think of when looking at a movie's artistic success is once again demonstrated to have no empirical evidence. There are no commonalities in theme or style. There is no consistency in quality. Red Dragon fails because Ralph Fiennes wasn't as good as Tom Noonan, even if Fiennes is a big name English actor, and the villain is critical to a thriller like Manhunter/Red Dragon. While the third X-Men was horribly written, with two plots depriving each other of deveopment, thematic inconsistency and general sloppiness. But is any of this actually Ratner's fault?

 

[Mr Light]

X-Men 3. I actually liked it. Not in the way of the first two but just for all the fanservice.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I've only seen Red Dragon and X-Men. Red Dragon i thought was really good, just as good as Manhunter, but as had been said that has more to do with the cast and the source material.

I have been meaning to see After The Sunset and yes for no other reason than Salma Hayek's wardrobe.

 

[RoJoHen]

X-Men 3. I actually liked it. Not in the way of the first two but just for all the fanservice.

Killing Cyclops, Jean, and Professor X and butchering the Dark Phoenix saga is fanservice?

 

[Brikar99]

I'm gonna have to go with the first 'Rush Hour,' though I did like 'Red Dragon.' I think the first RH flick is the only one where Jackie Chan seems to be having any real fun (I only saw bits and pieces of the third one, and it just seemed dull as dirt).

 

[Too Much Fun]

The whole notion that the director is the only one you think of when looking at a movie's artistic success is once again demonstrated to have no empirical evidence.

I think it depends on how much creative input the director has on the movie. If he co-wrote and/or produced, he probably deserves as much blame for its flaws as the writers. In Ratner's case, it was more of a 'for hire' deal where he just shot someone else's script. That's why he doesn't deserve to be criticized, unlike Joel Shumacher, who influenced the Batman movies he directed in terms of look and tone despite not writing them.

Red Dragon fails because Ralph Fiennes wasn't as good as Tom Noonan, even if Fiennes is a big name English actor, and the villain is critical to a thriller like Manhunter/Red Dragon.

Yeah, Noonan was great, but personally I give the edge to "Red Dragon" because there was so much great Hopkins-as-Lecter stuff in it, and Lecter was hardly in "Manhunter". As a fan of the Lecter character, I enjoyed "Red Dragon" more. I was shocked when I saw "Manhunter"...Brian Cox is such a great actor and he's in it for what, 5 minutes?