“Do not feel burdened by the need to understand every part of it—I certainly don’t—or to have an opinion that can be whittled down to 140 characters. There are no prerequisites for going to the movies, and no one has the ability to tell you what you’re going to feel when you see a film. Just go gently into that dark theatre. Let the lights die and allow yourself to be reborn in the firsthand experience. See the world, things dangerous to come to. See behind walls, draw closer. Find each other, and feel. That, above all else, is the purpose of film.”
“It’s Okay” - My Review for Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (No Spoilers)
The only thing more surreal than this movie actually existing is how divisive it really is. Some fans are defending it with words like “genius” and “too big for small minds”, while others are blaming Snyder for ruining what was supposed to be a massive pop-culture event.
And of course critics and professional movie reviewers are having a field day with BvS. Controversy of this magnitude is scarce, so you can bet these critics have been circling Snyder’s mammoth project like hungry buzzards for a while now.
Anyway, all that drama aside, here’s my humble review for Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice. It’s just an opinion, you should really go judge for yourself.
CHIMICHANGA! - The Future Of Superhero Movies Depends On Deadpool
DEADPOOL is one of those movies that should been made a LONG time ago, for all the obvious reasons, but somehow had to have its concept trailer leaked on purpose in order to get any real traction. If you’re using “But Deadpool was in that Wolverine movie, silly!” as rebuttal, you clearly have no idea who Deadpool is.
Think about it. While we were enjoying such gems as Punisher: War Zone, Ghost Rider, Elektra, and Fantastic Four 2, an above-average concept like Deadpool was just sitting in a corner, waiting to be picked up by the right people. And now, after all the clamoring and yelling, it’s finally here. And the weight of the superhero genre rests on DEADPOOL’s shoulders.
Let me explain.
R rated comicbook adaptations haven’t really fared well in the past. Even the most carefully-adapted works - with the exception of 300 - haven’t touched those big blockbuster numbers. Take a look at some examples below.
Now, with the exception of it being complete garbage, a lot of other logistics need to be considered when a movie flops at the box-office. For instance, Dredd suffered a tremendous lack of viewership despite being a good film and it had a lot to do with the movie being an internationally-funded project. And then you have hits like Kick-Ass that made a decent profit but were eventually hurt by a fluid, mostly bandwagoning fanbase. By the time the sequel was out, there was no one left in the bandwagon to give a damn. It was a classic case of studios overestimating their properties.
All contributing factors aside, the constant here is the big fat ‘R’ on the collective forehead of all these movies. History simply doesn’t favor the ‘R’. And that’s where DEADPOOL comes in.
Superhero movies are in that unique experimental phase right now, and we’re seeing more “vibrant colors” in our films these days. What I mean by that is, movies are getting bolder and embracing their comic book origins instead of trying to morph into darker, grittier, more realistic incarnations of their colorful paper counterparts.
DEADPOOL is at the epicenter of that phase. Just a few years ago, the same studio that is allowing Ryan Reynolds to get away with everything under the sun these days literally stitched shut the mouth of ‘The Merc With The Mouth’, in an idiotic attempt to make the character more ‘real’. Now Deadpool is wearing bright red spandex with comically white eyes that move!
The superhero genre could basically pan one of two ways once Deadpool is unleashed onto the cinematic world. If the movie crashes and burns, which is a possibility that I’ll get to in a second, ‘R’ rated movies will be shunned more than ever because no big-boy movie has been given the kind of push or promotion that Deadpool has. If the movie makes bank and succeeds, studios will have to accept the fact that when done right, ‘R’ rated movies are a viable source of income.
Could we possibly see a ‘R’ rated Wolverine movie in the future? How about a ‘R’ rated Batman movie, maybe one that’s based on The Killing Joke? It’s a pipe-dream at the moment but it all depends on how much Deadpool can score at the box-office. If the movie can bring in as much dough as THE WOLVERINE, for instance, studios will have to rethink their boundaries in terms of storytelling and opt to produce better, more true-to-the-source superhero stories that aren’t so watered down.
“But of course it’ll make bank!”, you say with your fist punching the air. Well, maybe not. Remember, Deadpool is only relevant to fans of the genre that also read comics. Casual fans and moviegoers only know Deadpool through marketing, so their expectations are all over the place right now. The ‘R’ rating also prevents anyone under a certain age from being able to pay for it. And with China off the market, Deadpool’s profits will take a bit of a hit.
DEADPOOL’s biggest weapon of choice right now is word of mouth (no pun intended). If the reviews are gold and people think it’s hilariously action-packed, positive word of mouth will spread like wildfire and the movie will undoubtedly make lots of moolah. On the other hand, if the general audience doesn’t understand the snark and fourth-wall-abusing humor that comes with the territory, word of mouth may not be so great. Keep in mind that humor itself varies across the globe, and jokes that may be funny in some parts of the world could fall flat in others. It all depends on what the movie is like. And then there’s that; what will the movie be like? There’s always a chance of it being...well, bad.
As of right now there’s a plethora of characters eagerly waiting behind the floodgates, ready to be written and directed as is, unfiltered, with a bold ‘R’ on their collective backs. Let’s face it, we’ll probably never get a ‘R’ rated Batman film because it just makes more sense financially to allow anyone from any age bracket to have access to his movies. But if Deadpool wins at the box-office, we’ll get to see other comic book and graphic novel characters hop onto the scene to follow in his footsteps. And they’ll look and behave just like they do on paper, because if Deadpool can have cartoonish white eyes, why can’t they all?
Deadpool grabbing that blockbuster brass ring means we’ll get to see characters who say “F*ck” actually say “F*ck” when they need to say it. And they’ll do it wearing exactly what they’re supposed to be wearing; some weird sh*t off the pages of comic books.
We’ll just have to wait and see if the ‘Merc’ can put his money where his mouth is and change the way ‘R’ rated superhero movies are treated from here on out.
DEFENDING KYLO REN - And Why He’s Better Than Darth Vader
I’ve seen The Force Awakens five times so far and one of the things that gets better with each viewing is Kylo Ren’s character. The keyword here is ‘character’. While fans can debate ad nauseam about whose Force powers are greater, it’s relatively easy to see that as a character, Kylo Ren has surpassed Darth Vader in terms of depth and storytelling. Again, the keywords here are ‘depth’ and ‘storytelling’ and not ‘popularity’ or ‘pop-culture footprint’.
We’ve become so accustomed to liking our villains that we’ve forgotten what a villain is supposed to be; totally and utterly disliked. And while I still like Kylo Ren because of the turn his character takes, his traits are those of a true antagonist. He’s aggressive, impulsive, emotionally unstable, whiny, and fueled by nothing but hatred and anger. And because of that-thing-he-did-to-you-know-who, he’s also a cold-blooded psychopath. Of course, for the character to come full circle he will have to be redeemed at some point, but at the moment he has reached a standard that few villains go to these days; he’s genuinely hated for who he is and what he stands for.
The irony of this scenario is that Tom Hiddleston’s Loki - another popular villain under Disney’s banner - is equally if not more of a whiner and tantrum-thrower than Kylo Ren. He has the same physique, the “emo hair” as they call it, and an abundance of daddy-issues. Yet Loki is revered by the Marvel fanbase. Why so? The answer is ‘marketing’. While Loki was always meant to be a mischievous pain in the ass to his brother, Thor, Kylo Ren was advertised as the ferocious trisaber-wielding poster child of The First Order. But as we learn in The Force Awakens, he’s not as confident or as decisive as he’d like those around him to believe. And herein lies the line that has split Star Wars fans into opposing camps; those who like Kylo Ren and those who don’t. But what if I told you that this controversial twist was deliberate?
Filmmakers often use certain characters as surrogates so that the audience can relate to a scene on a deeper level. When Kylo removes his helmet in front of Rey, her expression mirrors that of the viewer. It’s a mixture of fear, confusion, and even fascination. It is at this precise point in the movie that Kylo’s character truly evolves into something else. He’s human.
Beneath all the theatrics and bulky apparatus is a man struggling to define himself; torn in half by the calling of the Light and the seduction of the Dark. Here’s a guy who dons a mask and scatters his voice in a mad attempt to replicate the tyrant before him. Without a doubt, the Kylo Ren we see during the first half of the movie is only a portion of who he truly is on the inside. And who he is on the inside is a far more complex, and oftentimes far more frightening individual.
He’s also everything Anakin Skywalker should have been. The old guard had six movies to tell Darth Vader’s story yet it’s almost impossible to connect the boy we see in The Phantom Menace to the teenager in Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, and even harder to relate that same person to the genocidal monster we see in Episodes IV, V, and VI. In contrast, Kylo Ren’s character is brilliantly developed in a little more than 120minutes. He’s a core component in the trifecta that will spearhead the new Star Wars trilogy into the next decade or two.
Had Kylo Ren remained a fully formed villain with little to no weakness like so many other villains in today’s cinematic landscape (especially under Marvel’s wing), he would have paled in comparison to Rey and Finn - both of whom ride on such smooth, masterfully-told character arcs in The Force Awakens.
By the time Episode 9 is done, Kylo Ren would have cemented himself in Star Wars lore and overall pop-culture as a worthy villain to the saga. The fact that his character has only just begun and will endure more cycles of development over the next couple of films is enough to keep me - and I’m guessing everyone else - interested and invested. He may never surpass Darth Vader in terms of popularity or sentimental value, but the fact that he is talked about and very-much debated about means his character has made its mark, and believe me, that mark will only get bigger as time goes by.
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