Comic book movies
Apr. 15th, 2008 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilSore throat's feeling a little better today. Hopefully it'll last.
I like comic book movies. I like comic books; they're sort of our modern mythologies. But I don't have the means or the patience to follow the long, involved storylines by reading every single issue, so the movies are a way I can get one big dose of comic book fun. Not all comic book movies are created equal, though.
The first two X-Men movies were fantastic. They were the ones to first get me excited about comic book movies. The fact that the heroes are hated and feared rather than adored is such a compelling idea, and Magneto is one of the most complex, almost-sympathetic villains out there. The second movie managed to be as good as, possibly better, than the first, which is very rare. Not the same success with the third movie, but what did they expect when they lost all the people who had made the first ones so good?
Spiderman was fun, but not as interesting to me as X-Men. Basically a metaphor for teenage angst. Can't stand the redhead, as I've complained about before. The sequel I liked about as well as the first, though I found the villain disappointing. He disappeared for half the movie only to conveniently reappear just when Peter got his powers back? Pfft. We just recently rented the third one, mostly to make fun of it. It was pretty awful, trying to do too much at once. I will say this, though - however clumsily it handled the theme of dealing with the darker side of yourself, that theme was universally explored in every aspect of the film - every villain, every relationship. In that respect I actually found it more cohesive than the second movie. But it was still pretty awful!
Superman is actually three shorter movies. The first two, on Krypton and on the Kent farm, I really love. They establish a backstory for Superman/Clark that's quite appealing. For all his grand origins, his small-town, farmboy roots are a big part of his motivation. And his distress about not being able to save his adoptive father from dying, in spite of all his powers - it's so poignant. The third mini-movie, the main one about Lex Luthor's goofy plan to blast off half of California - meh. I'd rather just watch the first two parts again. The sequels get progressively less watchable.
I haven't yet seen Batman Begins; I probably should if I want to see this new Dark Knight movie. Not much enthusiasm for any of the Batman movies I have seen.
I liked Ang Lee's Hulk. I seem to be in a tiny minority here. Hulk is a fundamentally psychological character, about repression and split personalities. His worst enemy is himself. I remember hearing somewhere that Lee called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (one of my favorite movies, incidentally) "Sense and Sensibility with martial arts." Well, I would call Hulk Sense and Sensibility with comic book characters. It's all the same themes of restraint versus expression. I acknowledge that the average comic book fan wants something a lot more conventional, like the new Incredible Hulk movie that's coming out, with a regular villain and a more proactive, less tormented Bruce Banner. I'll probably go see that, and probably I'll enjoy it well enough. But I can't help seeing it as saying, "Take that, Ang Lee's Hulk! Nyah!" Oh well.
There's other movies I could go on about, but it's the kids' bedtime and that's probably enough blathering. :)
I like comic book movies. I like comic books; they're sort of our modern mythologies. But I don't have the means or the patience to follow the long, involved storylines by reading every single issue, so the movies are a way I can get one big dose of comic book fun. Not all comic book movies are created equal, though.
The first two X-Men movies were fantastic. They were the ones to first get me excited about comic book movies. The fact that the heroes are hated and feared rather than adored is such a compelling idea, and Magneto is one of the most complex, almost-sympathetic villains out there. The second movie managed to be as good as, possibly better, than the first, which is very rare. Not the same success with the third movie, but what did they expect when they lost all the people who had made the first ones so good?
Spiderman was fun, but not as interesting to me as X-Men. Basically a metaphor for teenage angst. Can't stand the redhead, as I've complained about before. The sequel I liked about as well as the first, though I found the villain disappointing. He disappeared for half the movie only to conveniently reappear just when Peter got his powers back? Pfft. We just recently rented the third one, mostly to make fun of it. It was pretty awful, trying to do too much at once. I will say this, though - however clumsily it handled the theme of dealing with the darker side of yourself, that theme was universally explored in every aspect of the film - every villain, every relationship. In that respect I actually found it more cohesive than the second movie. But it was still pretty awful!
Superman is actually three shorter movies. The first two, on Krypton and on the Kent farm, I really love. They establish a backstory for Superman/Clark that's quite appealing. For all his grand origins, his small-town, farmboy roots are a big part of his motivation. And his distress about not being able to save his adoptive father from dying, in spite of all his powers - it's so poignant. The third mini-movie, the main one about Lex Luthor's goofy plan to blast off half of California - meh. I'd rather just watch the first two parts again. The sequels get progressively less watchable.
I haven't yet seen Batman Begins; I probably should if I want to see this new Dark Knight movie. Not much enthusiasm for any of the Batman movies I have seen.
I liked Ang Lee's Hulk. I seem to be in a tiny minority here. Hulk is a fundamentally psychological character, about repression and split personalities. His worst enemy is himself. I remember hearing somewhere that Lee called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (one of my favorite movies, incidentally) "Sense and Sensibility with martial arts." Well, I would call Hulk Sense and Sensibility with comic book characters. It's all the same themes of restraint versus expression. I acknowledge that the average comic book fan wants something a lot more conventional, like the new Incredible Hulk movie that's coming out, with a regular villain and a more proactive, less tormented Bruce Banner. I'll probably go see that, and probably I'll enjoy it well enough. But I can't help seeing it as saying, "Take that, Ang Lee's Hulk! Nyah!" Oh well.
There's other movies I could go on about, but it's the kids' bedtime and that's probably enough blathering. :)
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Batman Begins
Date: 2008-04-16 10:37 pm (UTC)I agree about Hulk. I also appreciated the care they took in making the sets, I felt very much at home in their labs- not like the ususal "Bubbling vials" labs :)
Re: Batman Begins
Date: 2008-04-17 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 11:43 pm (UTC)I also want to agree with you on what makes Superman so fascinating, with the small-town roots. I've always been drawn to Superman for his struggle with identity and responsibility. It's probably why I enjoy Lois & Clark so much, despite the overdose of corn. It directly takes on the question of how Clark Kent defines himself and lives as, in so many ways, two people.
I'm sad that you were so disappointed with Spiderman 2, though. You're probably right on how it's not well put together, but I hadn't laughed during a movie so much in years.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 03:06 pm (UTC)I expect I'd probably enjoy Lois and Clark, corniness notwithstanding. Heck, I got sucked into the muddled angst-fest that is Smallville because I can't get enough of farmboy Clark. ;)