It's Hollywood's hot item of the decade (sort of like how for a brief 2 or 3 years, crisis' in Africa were all the rage with films like Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland, just to name a few), and it's steadily causing many filmmakers to leave behind original (non-money-making) ideas in the dust of Cinemaland, which I suppose is no real surprise.
However, on the plus side, the comic book films of the last few years have definitely shaped up the mark of their predecessors of much earlier years. Points in example, The Punisher, with Dolph Lundgren, Streetfighter, with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Spawn, with Michale Jai White (I know, who? Recently, he was a thug in The Dark Knight, but you wouldn't know him off hand).
Granted, while The Punisher with Thomas Jane didn't really do too great at the box office, nor did the later remake from 2008; budget-wise and writing, each did get better. Although admittedly the same cannot be said for the most recent Streefighter remake either, and no one's touched Spawn since that horrible, short-lived TV series failed so painfully, so have I even really made any point? I'm getting there, I swear.
The early 2000's saw The Hulk with Eric Bana, who's performance was great, but the supreme comic book approach, including angled cuts and explosions actually drawn in comic book explosion shape, killed it at the box office. The first X-Men installment did well, as did the sequel, although the third didn't give anyone much to clap about, and it gave people uneasy hope when they heard that Wolverine was already on it's way, however that did pretty good. Spiderman was good, as was its sequel, but again, the third installment faltered severely (and damned if I'm not still pissed that Venom didn't have nearly enough screen time).
But recently, things have picked up incredibly. Filmmakers are getting more edgy, daring, and are beginning to understand that they can have their cake AND eat it too. In other words: Accuracy CAN work for you, so feel free to make films not just for Average Joe Audience, but give the fanboys something to write home about (cause you know they will and you know they'll use that paycheck from Taco Bell to buy the Special 2-Disc Edition with Behind-the-Scenes featurettes and the Limited Edition Worthless Info Booklet that is sure to blow their shorts off).
Recent examples would include Sin City, which captured (aside from the very beginning and ending sequences) the essence of the graphic novel very well, and having a hefty budget and multiple directors probably helped too. Also to note would be the first Iron Man film which boomed at the box office. And no one can forget that so far, the newest revamping of the Batman saga is damned awesome (even if Bale's voice was a bit too gravelly in The Dark Knight for most people's taste, mine included).
The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton did substantially better than Ang Lee's adaptation, and people liked Wolverine better than X-Men 3 (even though #3 had higher grosses due to anticipation at the time.
And what's new on the horizon now?
Kick-Ass, an entertaining look at an average young man's aspiration to become a real super hero, was received impressively well. Not only was it genuinely written well and the budget high, but most importantly, it was rated R. As strange as it sounds to be the most important thing, I believe it shows initiative in filmmakers allowing themselves to get ballsy. People swear all the time. As animals, biologically, violence incites excitement (whether it's a positive or negative excitement is subjective to each person, but you get what I'm saying) and typically, it brings about rushes that we enjoy, consciously and unconsciously. My point being is that Kick-Ass has swearing in it all over the place (even the 11-year-old gets to say a few choice words) and the violence is brutal and blunt. It simply appeals more closely to a reality we as the audience may be familiar with.
To better clarify; when someone in a TV show or a PG (even PG-13 has done it) film says a line like "Screw you!", usually it seems that someone might be more inclined to say "Fuck you!", since people love to throw obscenities out of their mouths like breathing air. Or, in other examples, when the violence has half the blood it should have; it's things like this in films that makes audiences more comfortable, because it makes more sense. Again, as I said, it seems more real.
Strange theory, I know, and I'll bet not everyone out there agrees, but, as one person I know would say, "That's why we call them 'opinions.' "
Continuing on....while Kick-Ass was rated R, as was Sin City (which wouldn't have been nearly as accurate to the comic if it were toned down--the sharp stabs of red blood against black and white celluloid to name just one reason), another recent comic book adaptation that I saw was only PG-13, but it skated around that rating surprisingly smoothly.
The Losers. I went in with a friend to the theater, having never heard of this story before, nor having caught a single preview for it. Nine times out of ten, that's been the best way for me to see a movie, and I try to stick to it to eliminate a pre-determined bias, if I can manage it. It was described briefly to me as "the A-Team for a comic book."
I thoroughly enjoyed the film from start to finish, and laughed often and entertained the idea that this was an interesting story, if not a little formulaic. However, as long as it's done right, there ain't nothin' wrong with a formula--that's why it's a formula--if it's made right, it should work every time. The characters were interesting, different from each other, and the action was consistent and good ol' explosively cool to look at. It also had nifty gadgets all over the place, which is always fun to me. It was only PG-13, as I said before, but it was a good PG-13 because it swore enough to earn that rating, the violence was strong enough without actually needing to splash it all over the screen (plenty of shoot-outs, plenty of suggestively evil material, such as blowing up children--something you don't necessarily need to see, because the concept is nasty enough on its own, etc.). Point in short, this worked well. It was a Hollywood action-packed blockbuster and as far as I'm concerned it did all it needed to do: entertain. I didn't need to be educated or be sent a message, I came to be entertained, and that's exactly what I got. Yay.
And moving on to the most recent comic adaptation I've seen, Iron Man 2. Now, this film does happen to be PG-13, and for some aspects, it would have made more sense if it had been leveled to an R rating, however, it's fairly plain to see that while The Losers was primarily geared towards people who like explosions, espionage, and the gritty side of adventure, the Iron Man series definitely appears to want to appeal to a younger audience more than adults alone, which is probably a marketing thing, the more broad the audience the more money. Which was fine, but considering that some of the violence was toned down (someone has his helmet off while an explosion occurs directly in front of him--his face would be gone, I'm sorry, but he wouldn't even have his hair anymore) and Tony Stark's alcoholism is more amusing than it is a serious issue (at least, that's how I felt it was portrayed in the film, during a scene where he's hosting his own birthday party and things go south).
Point in short, the entertainment was there, but it felt a little stale, as though it was trying to be cool over having a more developed story and intriguing characters. It was trying to pack a lot into one film, which can be a damned difficult thing to fly. Primarily, this is a family film, and will be great for Average Joe Audience, but for fanboys, I don't believe it's considered as successful as the first film (and I'm not talking box office pull, but criticism). However, it does have a special thing that's happening in film development under comic company-run studios. There's a little tidbit at the very end of the credits, as there has been with several of the comic installments in theaters of the past few years, like the first Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine. Don't miss them, because eventually they will all add up, I promise! And, fingers crossed and lucky stars counted, we should be looking forward to some very entertaining adaptations that are long overdue for some real cinematic attention.
And for those of you who've made it this far, and if you're nerdy enough to appreciate it (or not, they're still funny), some guys did parodies of those "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials and did it comic book style, with Marvel and DC characters battling for cinematic supremacy.
Here's one from the 2007 summer film season:
And here's one from the 2008 summer film season:
Enjoy!
