I have never read any of the Spenser books written by Ace Atkins but I have read all of the Robert B Parker books and, as a result, found this film very confusing. It seems to be an origin story taking place before Spenser becomes a PI proper. Mark Wahlberg makes for a good Spenser and all the wisecracks are in place. Winston Duke is also good as Hawk but not quite as cool as I expected. Overall I liked a lot of the movie, especially Wahlberg's portrayal but I missed Susan, an important character in the books.
I don't believe films have to slavishly follow the books they are based on but in this case it seems they just used an approximation of Spenser and Hawk then threw in Pearl the dog. This did not need to be a Spenser film and they could have given the characters different names and we would never have known what they were based on. As such it would just be a fun action film.
Despite my carping I did enjoy the film except for the hideous music soundtrack which was cranked up so loud that I had to constantly change volume - up to hear the dialogue then down for the ear-splitting music whenever there was any action. I would have preferred them to use a jazz-inflected score which would have suited the mood better but that might just be my age showing.
I don't believe films have to slavishly follow the books they are based on but in this case it seems they just used an approximation of Spenser and Hawk then threw in Pearl the dog. This did not need to be a Spenser film and they could have given the characters different names and we would never have known what they were based on. As such it would just be a fun action film.
Despite my carping I did enjoy the film except for the hideous music soundtrack which was cranked up so loud that I had to constantly change volume - up to hear the dialogue then down for the ear-splitting music whenever there was any action. I would have preferred them to use a jazz-inflected score which would have suited the mood better but that might just be my age showing.