Comic book movies
I did a random movie run to see Iron Man after leaving work today. I was pleasantly suprised that it didn't suck, despite maintaining a strong belief that it was going to suck as bad as Hulk and Daredevil.
I enjoyed the first X-Men and Spiderman movies but I think it was really easy not screw either of them up. Both had been tested and proven for a number of years with comic books fans...sort of like 30 years of pilot testing on an audience...like Lord of the Rings would have been difficult to screw up following Tolken's story as close as possible. All they had to do was not deviate from what worked and not do a half-assed job. Spiderman needs to be racked with guilt; X-men storylines need to reflect the basic the battle against xenophobia and for rights for fringe members of society. The rest doesn't matter.
The sequels for each got progressively worse as the movie makers moved away from classic comic book story lines (and bastardized the most popular storylines along the way). When I was 12, I loved the X-men and Spiderman books. 12 year old Greg did not like Daredevil, Hulk, or Iron man comic books. They are lame characters and as the first two turned out to be shitty movies I also suspected Iron man would suck for the same reason.
But Iron Man pulled it together and it was an enjoyable movie. Men in robot suits fighting has been done a million times, but that doesn't matter in this case. Maybe the acting and editing are done well enough that you forget its all been done before. Maybe good acting and editing is all any movie needs.
Note: I only started reading Frank Miller's Daredevil stuff within the last year or two. It's really good, but was not reflective of the Daredevil comics I had read when I was 12.
Note 2: The Hulk premise, that we carry around a dark side of primitive, animal urges that must be constrained, has the potential to be captivating. But that's where the money is. It's not in fight scenes. Maybe this other Hulk movie will do it better
I enjoyed the first X-Men and Spiderman movies but I think it was really easy not screw either of them up. Both had been tested and proven for a number of years with comic books fans...sort of like 30 years of pilot testing on an audience...like Lord of the Rings would have been difficult to screw up following Tolken's story as close as possible. All they had to do was not deviate from what worked and not do a half-assed job. Spiderman needs to be racked with guilt; X-men storylines need to reflect the basic the battle against xenophobia and for rights for fringe members of society. The rest doesn't matter.
The sequels for each got progressively worse as the movie makers moved away from classic comic book story lines (and bastardized the most popular storylines along the way). When I was 12, I loved the X-men and Spiderman books. 12 year old Greg did not like Daredevil, Hulk, or Iron man comic books. They are lame characters and as the first two turned out to be shitty movies I also suspected Iron man would suck for the same reason.
But Iron Man pulled it together and it was an enjoyable movie. Men in robot suits fighting has been done a million times, but that doesn't matter in this case. Maybe the acting and editing are done well enough that you forget its all been done before. Maybe good acting and editing is all any movie needs.
Note: I only started reading Frank Miller's Daredevil stuff within the last year or two. It's really good, but was not reflective of the Daredevil comics I had read when I was 12.
Note 2: The Hulk premise, that we carry around a dark side of primitive, animal urges that must be constrained, has the potential to be captivating. But that's where the money is. It's not in fight scenes. Maybe this other Hulk movie will do it better