Superhero movies....
Aug. 4th, 2013 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1) 1978 Superman vs. 2013 Man of Steel
Re-watched the 1978 Richard Donner classic Superman. Watching it again underlined why Man of Steel did not work. The first version embraced the comic book, and concentrated on the humor, making sly fun of the hero and the verse, the second version took both far too seriously. One has a great deal of color infused throughout, while the other appears to be so stripped of color it may as well be in black and white. Also the first is more optimistic and romantic, while the second has a decidedly nihilistic and militaristic vibe. But mainly the visuals in the first, along with the music pull at you. Particularly in the beginning:
This trailer gets it across, with Glenn Ford portraying Jonathan Kent.
Now contrast with Man of Steel...
One is just more about delight, helping others not just family members...the other has a darker, grayer undertone, a drabness, and focuses more on war and violence. Both casts are excellent, no what is off is the focus and how it is told.
2) Dark Knight Returns Part I - Animated Version of Frank Miller classic graphic novel.
The other flick I saw today, courtesy of netflix, was The Dark Knight Returns Part I based on the classic Frank Miller comics of the same name. And it follows it exactly, with Peter Weller voicing Batman. I'd forgotten what a socio-political novel it was. It's more of a graphic novel than a comic, following in the same vein as Alan Moore's V for Vendetta and The Killing Joke. This comic takes place in the 21st Century, basically five years prior to now. Bruce Wayne is in his 60s. And the novel is an interesting sociological/political examination of vigilantism and superheroes, in line with Watchmen. Asking harsh questions - like whether taking a hard stance on crime necessarily equals fascism. What the film underlined for me is once again what extremists people are. It's always one extreme or another. There's no in between. Saw it with the two Superman films above, one was really dark and one was light andfrothy campy. Can't we find a middle ground?? Hello?
Knowing something about Frank Miller, more than I want to actually (I really would rather know less about entertainers, writers, and artists than I do), I have to say that while the film could be interpreted as a cautionary and ironic tale about extreme vigilantism - I know Miller's intent was most likely the opposite, a justification of it. The satiric touches and irony is poking fun at civil rights activists, human rights advocates, and anti-war protesters - along with mental health advocates. Which, ahem, makes reading and watching it - slightly disturbing not to mention uncomfortable at times. In short, if this is a trigger for you, you may want to avoid. Unlike The Avengers which arguably discusses the same things, this is a bit more on the nose about it. In other words, you can ignore it in the Avengers or be oblivious, you really can't ignore it here. That said, it is rather funny in places and the novel/film is meant to be taken as a satire, much like Alan Moore's Watchmen.
Although I admittedly started dosing off during the news commentary sections.
What made the graphic novel a delight was the satire of the media obsessed, 24/7 news culture. Where you are inundated by news commentator and media experts discussing every facet of every problem. The sad thing is...that he wrote this in the 1980s - predicting an uber-violent society with a 24/7 media culture. The only thing he didn't pick up on was the technology advances - but Miller is a noir writer not a science fiction writer, so I will give him a pass. The film version as I stated above follows the graphic novel almost to the letter - even the art is the same. It's like watching the novel come to life. So if you enjoyed or loved the novel - you will be in heaven. The content is exactly the same. It's a faithful rendition more so than Zack Synder's live action version of Watchmen, making me sort of wish they'd done an animated version of that film instead.
Anyhow...here's a clip from it so you can judge for yourselves:
3. What would be your top Superhero Movies? It's harder than I thought.
Re-watched the 1978 Richard Donner classic Superman. Watching it again underlined why Man of Steel did not work. The first version embraced the comic book, and concentrated on the humor, making sly fun of the hero and the verse, the second version took both far too seriously. One has a great deal of color infused throughout, while the other appears to be so stripped of color it may as well be in black and white. Also the first is more optimistic and romantic, while the second has a decidedly nihilistic and militaristic vibe. But mainly the visuals in the first, along with the music pull at you. Particularly in the beginning:
This trailer gets it across, with Glenn Ford portraying Jonathan Kent.
Now contrast with Man of Steel...
One is just more about delight, helping others not just family members...the other has a darker, grayer undertone, a drabness, and focuses more on war and violence. Both casts are excellent, no what is off is the focus and how it is told.
2) Dark Knight Returns Part I - Animated Version of Frank Miller classic graphic novel.
The other flick I saw today, courtesy of netflix, was The Dark Knight Returns Part I based on the classic Frank Miller comics of the same name. And it follows it exactly, with Peter Weller voicing Batman. I'd forgotten what a socio-political novel it was. It's more of a graphic novel than a comic, following in the same vein as Alan Moore's V for Vendetta and The Killing Joke. This comic takes place in the 21st Century, basically five years prior to now. Bruce Wayne is in his 60s. And the novel is an interesting sociological/political examination of vigilantism and superheroes, in line with Watchmen. Asking harsh questions - like whether taking a hard stance on crime necessarily equals fascism. What the film underlined for me is once again what extremists people are. It's always one extreme or another. There's no in between. Saw it with the two Superman films above, one was really dark and one was light and
Knowing something about Frank Miller, more than I want to actually (I really would rather know less about entertainers, writers, and artists than I do), I have to say that while the film could be interpreted as a cautionary and ironic tale about extreme vigilantism - I know Miller's intent was most likely the opposite, a justification of it. The satiric touches and irony is poking fun at civil rights activists, human rights advocates, and anti-war protesters - along with mental health advocates. Which, ahem, makes reading and watching it - slightly disturbing not to mention uncomfortable at times. In short, if this is a trigger for you, you may want to avoid. Unlike The Avengers which arguably discusses the same things, this is a bit more on the nose about it. In other words, you can ignore it in the Avengers or be oblivious, you really can't ignore it here. That said, it is rather funny in places and the novel/film is meant to be taken as a satire, much like Alan Moore's Watchmen.
Although I admittedly started dosing off during the news commentary sections.
What made the graphic novel a delight was the satire of the media obsessed, 24/7 news culture. Where you are inundated by news commentator and media experts discussing every facet of every problem. The sad thing is...that he wrote this in the 1980s - predicting an uber-violent society with a 24/7 media culture. The only thing he didn't pick up on was the technology advances - but Miller is a noir writer not a science fiction writer, so I will give him a pass. The film version as I stated above follows the graphic novel almost to the letter - even the art is the same. It's like watching the novel come to life. So if you enjoyed or loved the novel - you will be in heaven. The content is exactly the same. It's a faithful rendition more so than Zack Synder's live action version of Watchmen, making me sort of wish they'd done an animated version of that film instead.
Anyhow...here's a clip from it so you can judge for yourselves:
3. What would be your top Superhero Movies? It's harder than I thought.
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Date: 2013-08-04 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-05 12:13 am (UTC)