Why Batman Won’t Die in “The Dark Knight Rises”
There’s been a ton of media speculation regarding The Dark Knight Rises. Those involved with the film seem to have done everything they can to stir up the rumors of Batman’s demise.
Let me state my take on this very clearly.
Bruce Wayne will be alive at the end of the film.
Here’s why:
Taken in a Barnes & Nobel of all places
Merchandising! Merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Batman-the T-shirt, Batman-the Coloring Book, Batman-the Lunch box, Batman-the Breakfast Cereal, Batman-the Flame Thrower! And last but not least, Batman the doll… “SWEAR TO ME!”
Dark as this movie may be, kids want to see it, and parents want to take their kids to see it. The folks at Warner Brothers & DC Comics don’t want tales of childhood trama surrounding this movie.
May the schwartz be with you!
DC/ Warner Brothers is Having a Bad Week
Some folks from DC & Warner Brothers rejected Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman movie script a few years ago.
I’m betting those people are having a rough week right about now.
The Avengers was eff-ing awesome. A detailed review is coming later.
“Green Lantern” Movie Review
The plot
A talented screwup test pilot named Hal Jordan is bestowed with a power ring by a dying alien. The ring allows its bearer to channel their will to create anything they can imagine. It also comes with the duty to defend the Universe as a member of the intergalactic police force, the Green Lantern Corps.
The Green Lantern story is heavy science fantasy complete with an insane amount of characters, history, rules and nuance. Thus, it doesn’t lend itself to quick storytelling like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and the X-Men do.
In what I can only assume is an attempt to appease fanboys & girls, the Green Lantern movie doesn’t do much to simplify the backstory.
But did it work? The answer is kind of.
The good
The visual effects were beautiful. The alien world of Oa, Parallax and Hal’s green constructs were particular standouts.
Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), Sinestro (Mark Strong) and Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) were a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have complained if they had more screen time.
The action was really entertaining. I usually get bored during fight scenes, and I didn’t in this movie.
As complex as the Green Lantern mythos is, they managed to explain it fairly well… But it took a lot of exposition to get there.
The not-so-good
Way too much exposition. There was far too much backstory to cram into a 105 minute flick. It left little room for proper character development.
The Green Lantern Oath should have been cut. It just sounded corny.
Inconsistent acting. I didn’t hate Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, or any of the other actors, but there were no performances that stood out as amazing either. Any number of actors could have been swapped in, and I don’t think anyone would have cared.
The ugly
I’m so damn sick of damsels in distress. Carol Ferris kept switching between type-A uber-woman and meek victim. They really overused the damsel in distress. I found it cliche, lazy and annoying.
The plot leaps around, and is pushed by extensive exposition. At some points major things are revealed abruptly and without explanation. One example was the history between the villain Hector Hammond, Hal and Carol.
The bottom-line
Green Lantern is a fun movie, but not a good movie.
As the credits rolled I found myself asking, “If this wasn’t a popular comic, would it have been made? If some screenwriter dreamed this up all by himself as an original tale, would it be playing in theaters?” The answer is, hell no.
What surprised me was that my girlfriend who doesn’t know the Green Lantern from the Green Arrow walked away from the movie with roughly the same praises and criticisms I had. It meant to me that the movie was disappointing to both established fans, and newcomers. We were both entertained, but not amazed.
If you’re looking at movie times and trying to choose between X-Men: First Class, and the Green Lantern… Go with the X-Men.
“Wonder Woman: Bondage” The Comic That Won’t Be
Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool wrote:
“DC Comics never saw this image. Neither Bill Sienkiewicz nor Frank Miller intended it to go public. But when it was sold, despite assurances that it wouldn’t go online, somewhere along the line, it got sold to someone who didn’t know about that requirement. And it was recently spotted by DC Women Kicking Ass, though the above visual is a higher res version.”
Sienkiewicz told Bleeding Cool:
Frank and I were jazzed about working together again. We were up for doing another series and churning the waters on on some old DC character, as he’d done with Dark Knight.
Wonder Woman seemed like a pretty good choice. She been simultaneously revered and handled poorly in some incarnations. To me she’s always been a ‘”symbol” more than a character that has been well-utilized in a story context. The most interesting stuff was the earliest – and felt the ripest for revisiting.
The fact that her creator William Marston also created the precursor to the lie detector and was into bondage lent a weird kinky vibe and made the idea of mucking with her and her origin a potentially fun trip.
The image was done by me to visually test the water, so to speak and my own comfort level, if not everyone else’s, about how far it could be pushed. I did some others that were far more extreme, no one has seen those, this one was relatively tame by comparison. Still it was perhaps a bit over the top, but I think Frank and I invited that. So was the idea for the series in very basic broad stroke discussions between Frank and I , with some input from then-DC editor Bob Schreck. The piece was never intended to be seen by anyone else, but of course , someone bought the original , and despite assurances from everyone who had seen the piece that they would not pass it along ( I should have known better, it was too provocative NOT to make the rounds)… ah well, so it goes.
But as for actually doing the series – who knows?
This series won’t see the light of day because DC cleansed the more tawdry elements of Wonder Woman from the comics (except for the costume). They also avoid talking about Wonder Woman’s very kinky history in recent documentaries.
The thing is, I’m not convinced that it would be a bad thing to return Wonder Woman to her roots. A good writer could tell a great story that really examines gender relations. It wouldn’t be for kids, but most comics aren’t.
Care to learn about Wonder Woman’s dirty past?
Wonder Woman: The Super Secret & Kinky Origin of a Feminist Icon
(Via Bleeding Cool)
Another Green Lantern Trailer
With each trailer, Green Lantern looks cooler. Hopefully the trend continues through the actual movie.
McDuffie on Being a Black Comic Writer
The so called “hardcore” comic fans are a tough crowd. And by tough crowd I really mean that they are a bunch of bastards hell-bent on keeping everything the same. They aren’t kids, they are an older crowd who wants the characters of their youth to remain unchanged. When things don’t go their way, they get nasty.
This becomes clear under three sets of circumstances:
- Q&A panels at comic conventions. You’d be amazed at the questions asked by grown men.
- Web forums (the favorite trolling spot for assholes).
- When a woman or black man take over a mainstream book.
Here’s the late Dwayne McDuffie on being a black writer in comics:
He isn’t exaggerating one bit. Sadly, this really is how so called hardcore fans tend to react.
(Via BoingBoing)
On Dwayne McDuffie’s Passing
On February 21, 2011 comic great Dwayne McDuffie passed away due to surgical complications at the age of 49.
For the last few years McDuffie has been among the few creators who’s work I would buy simply because he was involved. His work on Justice League Unlimited is incredible. In my very geeky opinion, JLU is the greatest animated series to ever grace the airwaves. I enjoyed his short stint on Fantastic Four, and his run on the Justice League comic was very deep, even though his hands were tied by DC editorial.
For me, McDuffie represented the struggle between creative talent and the big two comic book companies. This comic by McDuffie which I hadn’t seen until today’s Bleeding Cool McDuffie send off is just beautiful.
To be honest, I’m not really sure where I’m going with this. I’m just kind of sad that the man has died. I will really miss reading and watching his work.
(Images)
