May 16th, 2008
Posted by
Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Movie Reviews, Science Fiction |
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Christopher Reeve’s reign as The Man of Steel comes to a rather ignominious end with this, his fourth outing. Not that Reeve is bad, in fact he clearly still had a lot of affection for the character, and the basic idea is a good one - Superman taking on an almost godlike role in order to save mankind from itself – it’s the execution that lets it down.
Sidney J. Furie was once a director with talent, producing, amongst others, The Ipcress File, here though he displays none of the flare he once showed. The Quest for Peace is the work of a talentless hack, the Superhero equivalent of Plan 9 from Outer Space but without that films charm. Superman decides to rid the world of nuclear weapons and the world governments (and I mean ALL of them) say “gee thanks Mr Superman, without you to throw the nasty bombs into the sun we’d never have thought of getting rid of them”.
Rather than pit Superman against the world’s leaders, the filmmakers give us, once again, Gene Hackman as comedy villain, Lex Luthor. The problem is he’s just not funny anymore. Batman, Spider-Man, and The X-Men all get new villains in each new outing but it’s like Superman has only got one bad guy. Someone should really buy the producers of the Superman films some comics, after all Bryan Singer continued this preoccupation with the bald headed master of menace in Superman Returns.
April 25th, 2008
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Ian W |
Comic Book, Fantasy, Movie Reviews, Thriller |
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This sequel to the original Death Note picks up directly where the first film left off, no real surprise as the films were made at the same time, and has the same strengths and weaknesses as that film. The plot gets ever more intricate, as do the machinations of Light Yagami when he tries to keep the fact that he’s the vigilante Kira a secret.
As with the first film, it’s the plot’s twists and turns that keep you hooked, with the Gods of Death lacking substance as both CGI creations and as characters. They merely serve as catalysts to pit Light and “L” against each other. This time a couple of different characters get their hands on the Death Note book (or books, as there is a second one featured this time) but as they are both manipulated by Light we don’t really get to see how someone with a lesser sense of “justice” would handle it.
The final resolution is well handled, you’re never quite sure if Light will get away with his scheme or if “L”, who always seems to know, or at least suspect, more than he lets on will come out on top.
April 17th, 2008
Posted by
Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Horror, Movie Reviews, Science Fiction |
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Anyone expecting the serious minded superheroics of X-Men, or the angst-ridden thrills of Spider-Man would perhaps have been a bit disappointed by Fantastic Four, but for me it does a decent job of capturing the fun tone of the original comic. The X-Men are outcasts from humanity, Spider-Man is a masked vigilante who does what he does out of guilt over the death of his Uncle Ben, the FF on the other hand are public figures, they don’t hide their identities behind masks, they’re celebrities and the film portrays them as such, or rather there evolution to celebrity status following the accident that gives them their powers.
The film’s heart may be in the right place, but its casting is a hit and miss affair. First the misses - Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic and Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman. Gruffudd lacks the presence for Reed Richards, the part calls for someone who can command the screen, whereas when Gruffudd’s with the other three he’s the last one you look at.
I like Jessica Alba, she’s undeniably beautiful and a capable enough actress given a part that plays to her strengths, said strengths not including playing a technobabbleing scientist. The film tries to get around this by that old standby when depicting intelligent characters – have her wear specs. Sadly this ruse doesn’t work, and Alba only gets to make an impression in the scene where she suddenly becomes visible in her undies. That she and Gruffudd have little onscreen chemistry doesn’t help matters.
April 10th, 2008
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Ian W |
Action, Comedy, Comic Book, Movie Reviews, Science Fiction |
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With Superman II we got a blend of two visions - Richards Donner and Lester - and while the finished article wasn’t perfect it was certainly an entertaining ride. With Superman III we got the full undiluted Richard Lester and oh boy, was it bad.
Lester must have misunderstood when Ilya Salkind asked him to make a comic movie and made a comedy movie instead. How else do you explain Richard Pryor as one of the films villains? Or a credit sequence that’s akin to Benny Hill (and even features Bob Todd!)? The juvenile comedy runs throughout the film but the laughs are few and far between.
Of course Lester isn’t completely to blame, he was after all hired by Ilya Salkind, and it’s Salkind who’s responsible for the lower budget which doesn’t just mean special effects that are a lot less special, but a cut price cast as well. Why pay Gene Hackman a small fortune when you can get Robert Vaughn to play virtually the same part for a fraction of the cost? And while you’re at it why not do away with Valerie Perrine in favour of Pamela Stephenson? Margot Kidder not happy as Lois? Cut her part down to a cameo and introduce Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang to provide another love interest for Clark Kent, that’ll show Kidder she’s not indispensible. In every sense this is a budget Superman, an attempt to milk a little more money out of the Superman cash-cow.
April 4th, 2008
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Ian W |
Comic Book, Movie Reviews |
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With its big, special effects laden, action sequences it’s easy to dismiss The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as just another Hollywood blockbuster but look a little closer and you’ll see there’s a lot more going on here than initially meets the eye. There’s a political subtext that most reviewers missed on the films initial release, with the League formed by the world’s most powerful nation to search for The Phantom and his weapons of mass destruction only for the enemy to be revealed as someone far closer to home. M/Professor Moriarty is clearly an analogy to George W. Bush, just minus the Texas drawl, with James Robinson’s biting script offering a very negative view of the War on Terrorism.
Oh, who am I kidding? This is utter crap, the kind of film that gives comic book adaptations a bad name. Right from the start, with the introduction of Allan Quatermain in the aging but still virile form of Sean Connery, it’s clear that this is going to bear little relation to Alan Moore’s graphic novel. Gone is the drug addled has-been of the comic and in his place the athletic Sean, besting the villains in both hand-to-hand and armed combat.
Such deviances don’t make it a bad film though, what does is a script aimed at the under twelve’s. Why God only knows, because I doubt you’ll find many cinema going kids who know who Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Dorian Gray or Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr Edward Hyde are (even from Moore’s comic which hardly has much appeal for kids).
March 27th, 2008
Posted by
Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Movie Reviews |
one comment
Matt Murdock was blinded as a child in a freak accident that heightened his remaining senses and gave him a new one, a ‘radar’ sense that allowed him to ‘see’ what was going on around him. This, along with the murder of his father, a boxer who refused to throw a fight, sets the course of Matt’s future – by day he’s a lawyer, defending those no one else will, by night he’s the masked vigilante called Daredevil. Into his dual world comes the beautiful Elektra Natchios and Matt is smitten at first ‘sight’ of her. But Elektra’s father has links to Wilson Fisk the ‘Kingpin’ of crime and, when he attempts to sever his ties, Fisk hires Irish hitman Bullseye to eliminate both him and his daughter.
Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil gets so much right it’s easy to forgive its failings. The ‘origin’ section of the film is a pretty faithful adaptation of the original comic story, with David Keith playing Matt’s pugilist pop and Scott Terra doing a pretty good job as the young Murdock. He’s particularly good once he’s been blinded and starts learning to use his newfound abilities. The main problem with this section is it’s a little rushed but that’s to be expected – this isn’t a film about a child coming to terms with a disability, it’s a superhero action movie and the audience wants to see grownups beating each other up, not kids.
January 31st, 2008
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Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Movie Reviews, Science Fiction |
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The problem with Superman is that he’s Superman. He’s almost omniscient and it’s hard to find a worthy challenge for him. Superman II manages it by pitting him against three Kryptonian villains, each with powers equal to his own.
When I first saw Superman II at the cinema I thought it a better film than the original. As a fifteen year old comic geek it had what the first film lacked, namely super villains. For the first time we got to see a real Superhero vs. Supervillain knock-down-drag-out fight. There were faults - the romance with Margot Kidder never really worked for me (and still doesn’t) and Superman’s mum lying to him that, after choosing to become human, he can never go back, was always a pretty big plot hole.
The forty-three year old comic geek who just watched the film still loves the fight scenes (although some of the effects seem a little less special than they used to) and Terence Stamp and Sarah Douglas are still excellent bad guys (even if General Zod does go a bit Cockney at times, particularly the TV broadcast from the White House).
Now though I can also see the faults - sllly comedy moments and some ropy dubbing (how many characters does Shane Rimmer voice?), Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor completely superfluous to the plot, too little Ned Beatty, E.G. Marshall’s atrocious wig. Plus the whole Superman becoming human (for all of about five minutes) subplot isn’t really needed. The film runs over two hours, not as long as the first film, but then that had to tell the origin story, with Superman not making an appearance until an hour into the film. Superman II could have been trimmed by about thirty minutes and not lost anything of importance.
January 24th, 2008
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Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Fantasy, Movie Reviews |
one comment
The Death Note of the title is a book with the power to kill, all you need to do is write your targets name inside and hey presto! they’re history. Of course there are some conditions; you need to know what they look like for one - if for example you wanted John Smith to die, how’s the book going to know which John Smith is your intended target? On the plus side you can even pick the time and method of departure for your victim.
When this book comes into the possession of Light Yagami, a law student who’s lost his faith in the legal system, he uses it to dispatch criminals the system, for one reason or another, has been unable to convict. He’s like The Punisher with a pen, no need to get your hands dirty when all you have to do is scribble in a book.
The authorities are understandably not too happy with this one man judge, jury and executioner (dubbed Kira by the press) but how far will Light go to protect his secret identity? The “god of death” Ryuuk, the original source of the book, is Light’s sole confidant. Only someone who has touched the book can see Ryuuk, who looks like a Goth version of The Joker with wings.
January 17th, 2008
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Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Fantasy, Movie Reviews |
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1997
I was a big Todd McFarlane fan, I’d loved his Spider-Man work and I enjoyed Spawn. Not only did I like his art, I thought what he was doing with Image comics was a commendable endeavour. I went to see Spawn at the cinema and, while it was certainly a watered down version of the comics, it filled my craving to see comic book heroes translated to the big screen. With the exception of Batman and Superman few had made the transition and, with no new Superman film for 10 years and Batman on a downward spiral (1997 was the year of Batman and Robin), anything new was cause for excitement.
2008
Just over 10 years later much has changed. McFarlane has been revealed for the money grabbing executive he is, Image no longer publish anything of interest (apart from Fell) and these’s now an abundance of superhero action on the big screen.
With films like Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman Begins showing how to make a comic based film that will appeal to more than just the geek audience, the dark days of 1997 seem a long time ago. Re-watching Spawn now shows what a poor film it really was. The effects look truly awful (hard to believe ILM had a hand in this) and it’s amazing they had the balls to put so much in the finished film.
January 11th, 2008
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Ian W |
Action, Comic Book, Movie Reviews |
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When crooked businessman Howard Saint’s son is killed in an FBI sting operation Saint wants the man responsible, undercover FBI agent Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), dead. He sends his men to kill Castle and his family but, while they manage to kill his wife and son (along with a large proportion of his extended family), they fail to kill Castle himself. Big mistake! Frank comes after Saint looking to dish out a little punishment.
The Punisher isn’t your usual Marvel Comics superhero and Jonathan Hensleigh’s film isn’t your usual comic book movie. This is a throwback to the ‘80s action films, featuring the sort of extreme brutality you don’t see often in action films anymore. It’s surprising that, in an era where a Die Hard movie gets a PG13 rating, the studio had the gumption to go for an R rating rather than tone the film down for the teen market.
Hensleigh didn’t just direct the film, he also co-wrote the script and it’s reasonably faithful to the source material. Its a little uneven, the origin section drags a bit and the likes of Roy Scheider and Samantha Mathis are wasted in underwritten parts, but when it gets going it really hits the spot. The film’s high point is the fight with The Russian, a hitman hired by Saint and a character straight out of the comics. It’s so exuberantly violent that I couldn’t help smiling as the pair crash through walls and pretty much destroy Castle’s apartment. From there on out it’s almost nonstop action as The Punisher takes down Saint and his army of hired guns.
