Arach Knight said:
-Comic movies may be a more serious medium now than they were in the days of Nicholas Hammond and Bill Bixby, but they still aren't as well off as they could be. Today I was at the video rental store....to my dismay, Lion Gate Films released Man-Thing on DVD. Craptastic doesn't even begin to describe what I saw as I read the case. Lets not forget about the medicority of Elektra and Catwoman (with Catwoman obviously being the worst of the two). Comic films have come quite a way, but they still have a few more rungs on the ladder before they reach the top.
Agreed. I think its fair to say that comic book movies and live action shows being better than what they were 10, 20 and 30 years ago is something that isn't surprising and is expected, given the advancements in technical achievements and whatnot, however, as you said thats not the same as saying that these newer movies are spectacular and flawless. Much still needs to be done to make these movies better than they are. For me, I believe that a huge problem is, deviation. In every Marvel movie, there has been a strong sense of deviation that veers away from the source material and ideas that can be exctracted from the source material.
Take Blade for example. The first 2 movies were awesome but th 3rd was garbage, why? Because you had dracula, king of all vampires who to me, was a joke. His fear factor was significantly lower than Decon Frost's and Nomak's, was is that about, its dracula for godness sake. Then here was the nighstalkers. I get that they were supposed to be introduced and then get their own movie but damn, it was prety much their movie. For the premise of blade 3 to feel like a blade movie and still introduce the NS, they should have had blade do his thing, hardcore and have sick-ass batles with vamps and dracula. The NS should have had much smaller roles and should merely have been lowkey characters, in which the audience can see that they have the potential to be great on their own. Thats how it should have been done imo but instead the film deviated, heavily from its roots, pushing the main character of the trilogy to the sidelines and ruining a legendary character, dracula.
Then there's the spider-man movies, I dont even want to get started on this beause I've said it all in the spidey forums, so I'm going to keep this insanely brief. These movies are mediocre at best and what's annoying is that these movies are potentially the easiest in terms of storytelling and compelling plots to make and bring to the audience. Instead the powers that be shamefully deviate from the source material. No webshooters, GG's silly costume (I saw the other designs they had and they were much better), wimpifying peter parker to the point he's nothing but a shy, clumsy, monotonous, socially inept individual and thats still by the end of the second movie. Then there's doc ock, who's background origin was completely unecessary and a slap in the face to the greatness of the source material.
Then there's the hulk movie, thats self explanatory. If you've seen it, then you'll know how much unecessary deviating took place.
I dont want people to think I don like change because I do but what I dont like is unecessary deviations from the comics that could easily work well and perhaps even better on film
-I don't think that Hollywood, Avi Arad or Brian Singer, are unaware of the character. It isn't difficult to draw on some source material to come up with a reasonable adapation of Storm. That is why I said earlier that I don't blame Halle Berry at all. She is just doing what her role limits her to. I blame the writers for not having the concern to script her character with depth. They gave no origin to Storm. Not everybody needs one, but it can help if you are missing the other element. Motivation...Storm had no real motivation. We know that movie Storm fears humans. We know she is kind and powerful, but that is just about it. We don't know what motivates her to keep on being an X-Man. I think that is where the biggest mistake has been with Storm. She has no history or motivation. You can sometimes have one without the other, but never can a supporting character function as they should, without either.
I'm not saying that the powers that be are unaware of the character, I'm merely saying that their knowledge regarding the mythos/characters are severly limited. In order to bring out the best results for these movies, one has to consult the source material and to try and at least, gain a profound appreciation for what they're going to be working on. These days, we get writers and directors who are only familiar with the characters/mythos and have Avi Arad giving them synopsis'. Its interesing because I'm willing o bet most of these directors directing Marvel movies havn't actually sat down and read a comic for over a decade prior to filming.
In regards to storm, they're aware of who she is and what her powers are but have instead deviated from her true character and made her a shallow shadow of her comic book counterpart. Wether people like Halle or not, its undeniable thats she's a good actress, so its not her that is the problem. Care and attention needs to be applied to the script and thats whats been missing in not only the X-movies bt every other Marvel movie made.
there'd be anarchy, we'd get James Cameron's horrendous rendition of spider-man no doubt and a plathora of craptastic movies if ever made, will shame the comic book industry and the thoght of comic book movies based on heoes and characters of colour probably wont even be considered, if at all, it'd be a joke.
