Heroes, old and new!
Clash of the Titans was on yesterday, which got me thinking. First of all I was astounded by the fanastical claymation effects, but it got me thinking about myths and legends. Greek myths always have this part of them whereby the hero, who has already been seen to be particularly strong or athletic has to then use his mind to defeat his greatest plasticine foe. Like Perseus killing Medusa by using a mirror to avoid being turned to stone. They're strong and clever. Nerdy jocks. Like Peter Parker.
Anyway, this got me thinking of modern myths...well superheroes. Over the last couple of years, we've seen TONS of superhero movies and if you look at the IMDB there are many more to come. Some are good and some are the most fetid piles of arse-gravy every created by man.* But what makes a superhero movie** work? This probably isn't very important to you in your daily lives but that's why I am here. I think about this stuff so you don't have to.
Now, you can't say that writers, directors and actors have a bit of a boring time with superheroes. I mean, come on, these guys can climb walls, cross dimensions and still have time for a good quip or two. So there should be no excuse for a bad comic book film. Apparently not. Now X-Men 1 and 2 work and the Spiderman films work. It's easy to see why. The writers and directors have a real passion for the heroes and there was no way that they were going to get it wrong on celluloid. Plus one of the writers of X-men was Solid Snake, you can't lose with that. Now Hulk...directed by Ang Lee. What the heck were they thinking, "Hmm, how about Ang Lee? "Didn't he do Sense and Sensibility?" I believe so." "Brilliant! Just the man we want for Hulk!".
Batman (With Michael Keaton) works. Batman without him didn't, mainly because as soon as he was out the door they turned it into a campy, 1960's TV remake. I hear they squeezed Adam West to get the required amount of camp. No, Batman Begins is something very different. Back to the start again and it rocks with it's cock out. Christian Bale really makes it work and having our Maurice in there too, brilliant.
Now I get to the bit that confuses me a little. The Punisher was a bad movie, but I like it because the Punisher is played so well. It's like Wolverine in X3. The movie is rubbish, but we love it because we're all just sat waiting for Wolverine to come out and start messing people up with his stabbers! And don't start saying "But it was an entertaining action thriller!" No, no, no, no! We all knew before we even saw it that it wasn't going to be as good as the others. All we went to that movie for was to see Ian McKellan floating about and Wolverine slicing things up/ Walking round in tight leather pants***.
Now I remember a post by the_ferrett talking about the next big action movie star and how to make it work you have to be big, not physically, but you have to be bigger than your roles. I mean, it was never "The Predator" starring Arnold Swxga Schwartsse Arnie, it was always Arnie IN "The Predator" or "The Terminator". I reckon it has to be the opposite for comic book movies.
If you're in a comic book movie, writing or directing a comic book movie you have to let go of what you want to do. The little touches you always put into your performance, no, forget it. You have to be a man in a costume, not an actor who hopes to do some more good films this year and maybe even do Shakespeare. Forget all that, you must, dive in, BE the role and just let the film be bigger than you.
On a final thought, is anyone else fed up of people saying "Is Gambit going to be in....etc"? Now, there have been three X-Men films, the latest of which was called "The Last Stand". I can be reasonably confident in saying that NO he is not going to be in the Wolverine OR Magneto movies. If anyone really cared enough about him we would have seen him already, so shut the hell up! He THROWS CARDS! HE'S RUBBISH! Even Squirrel Girl is better, at least she has the cute factor!****
*I say this because Daredevil was on last night. I like the character, don't get me wrong. He's interesting and so much could have been done with it, but it was wasted. Daredevil should have been played by someone else and so should Elektra, Bullseye and Kingpin. Actually, now I think of it, the writer and director should have been someone else too!
**For simplicity's sake I am going to include Batman AND the Punisher because 1) They rock and 2) I like them.
***Delete as appropriate...or not.
****I'm not a fan.
Anyway, this got me thinking of modern myths...well superheroes. Over the last couple of years, we've seen TONS of superhero movies and if you look at the IMDB there are many more to come. Some are good and some are the most fetid piles of arse-gravy every created by man.* But what makes a superhero movie** work? This probably isn't very important to you in your daily lives but that's why I am here. I think about this stuff so you don't have to.
Now, you can't say that writers, directors and actors have a bit of a boring time with superheroes. I mean, come on, these guys can climb walls, cross dimensions and still have time for a good quip or two. So there should be no excuse for a bad comic book film. Apparently not. Now X-Men 1 and 2 work and the Spiderman films work. It's easy to see why. The writers and directors have a real passion for the heroes and there was no way that they were going to get it wrong on celluloid. Plus one of the writers of X-men was Solid Snake, you can't lose with that. Now Hulk...directed by Ang Lee. What the heck were they thinking, "Hmm, how about Ang Lee? "Didn't he do Sense and Sensibility?" I believe so." "Brilliant! Just the man we want for Hulk!".
Batman (With Michael Keaton) works. Batman without him didn't, mainly because as soon as he was out the door they turned it into a campy, 1960's TV remake. I hear they squeezed Adam West to get the required amount of camp. No, Batman Begins is something very different. Back to the start again and it rocks with it's cock out. Christian Bale really makes it work and having our Maurice in there too, brilliant.
Now I get to the bit that confuses me a little. The Punisher was a bad movie, but I like it because the Punisher is played so well. It's like Wolverine in X3. The movie is rubbish, but we love it because we're all just sat waiting for Wolverine to come out and start messing people up with his stabbers! And don't start saying "But it was an entertaining action thriller!" No, no, no, no! We all knew before we even saw it that it wasn't going to be as good as the others. All we went to that movie for was to see Ian McKellan floating about and Wolverine slicing things up/ Walking round in tight leather pants***.
Now I remember a post by the_ferrett talking about the next big action movie star and how to make it work you have to be big, not physically, but you have to be bigger than your roles. I mean, it was never "The Predator" starring Arnold Swxga Schwartsse Arnie, it was always Arnie IN "The Predator" or "The Terminator". I reckon it has to be the opposite for comic book movies.
If you're in a comic book movie, writing or directing a comic book movie you have to let go of what you want to do. The little touches you always put into your performance, no, forget it. You have to be a man in a costume, not an actor who hopes to do some more good films this year and maybe even do Shakespeare. Forget all that, you must, dive in, BE the role and just let the film be bigger than you.
On a final thought, is anyone else fed up of people saying "Is Gambit going to be in....etc"? Now, there have been three X-Men films, the latest of which was called "The Last Stand". I can be reasonably confident in saying that NO he is not going to be in the Wolverine OR Magneto movies. If anyone really cared enough about him we would have seen him already, so shut the hell up! He THROWS CARDS! HE'S RUBBISH! Even Squirrel Girl is better, at least she has the cute factor!****
*I say this because Daredevil was on last night. I like the character, don't get me wrong. He's interesting and so much could have been done with it, but it was wasted. Daredevil should have been played by someone else and so should Elektra, Bullseye and Kingpin. Actually, now I think of it, the writer and director should have been someone else too!
**For simplicity's sake I am going to include Batman AND the Punisher because 1) They rock and 2) I like them.
***Delete as appropriate...or not.
****I'm not a fan.