The world's been inundated with super-hero films in the past few years. I'm not really one to moan about this, being the geek that I am, but it's getting a little bit silly now. It really does seem that Marvel and DC have realised that people are quite fond of these super-powered protagonists and so are throwing every comic they have at Hollywood. In one way this isn't a bad thing. It means characters that I love that aren't that big, such as Deadpool and Gambit, get to appear in films (although these two don't get their own films, they're just going to turn up in the new Wolverine one... Although i wouldn't hold my breath... If people even like them a little bit, I'm sure they'll get their own lime-light...) On the other hand, it does mean that some truely rediculous characters are getting their films made. Seriously. I ask you. Do we really need an Ant-man film? I think you'll find that the answer is no. I big, fat, queen-sized no.
There's an on-going trend with these films. They're not the heroes I read about in the comics. There's always a slight twist in their characters. Take the Hellboy films. The second one is really rather good. But it's not quite the Hellboy you read about in the comics. He uses his gun too much. And Abe's just slightly odd. I'm not the best judge of it as i don't read that much Hellboy, but I know enough that I can tell it's been twisted. The same goes for the Blade films. They just don't quite sync up. Spider-man's the worst for me. Sam Rami's films (well, the first two, I'm ignoring the existence of the third) are good films. But it's not the Spidey I know and love. There are a couple that have come close. Daredevil. Batman. But still, there's something not exactly right... The only two comic-based films that are really true to the original are 300 and Sin City. 300 was pretty much identical to the comic, except for those bloody polictical scenes that were obviously just used to bulk out the film. Sin City was similar but it seemed highly unfair that Rodriguez had to resign from the Directors Guild of America because we wanted Millar to co-direct the film. After this, it's not surprising that rarely is a comic-book film true to the original when directors get shunned for taking measures that will ensure that their film pleases the fans.
My hat off to Rodriguez (and maybe he'll consider swapping as I do love his head-wear) and all I can do is live in hope that there are more directors out there like him. The next biggie is Watchmen, and so far it's looking good. But you can never tell what a director's done until the whole thing's released.
And please, please, please. Don't make Wonderwoman. It can only be terrible.
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