I first became aware of A. O. Scott when Roger Ebert went into the hospital again for his cancer, and Roeper started shopping around for a new co-host. No offense to Roeper, but I think the best show would feature Scott and Kevin Smith. (I'm sorry. There's nothing wrong with Roeper, but I just never warmed to him. I miss Gene too much.) I loved Scott even though he seemed far too well-spoken to be a natural in front of a camera--as on-camera failings go, it's a hell of a lot better than any of mine--and I found him easy to listen to. I subscribe to his Tivocasts and read his reviews, and I really enjoy them.
This weekend finds a quick little ditty by Scott on the state of superheroes in film, and his assertion is that The Dark Knight represents a peak, to be followed by a decline, mostly because the genre has rules (that whole Good and Evil thang) that make the films a little samey.
I'm no comic book expert, but it seems to me that this represents an opening to look at some heroes who aren't household names. What of it, people? Are there no Dark Horse-type comics (or heroes even more off the beaten path) who could really give the genre a good shake-up? Don't you think the time is right for a "hero" who makes Batman look a little unambiguous and sunny? Someone who makes Hancock look like Annie doing her final chorus of "Tomorrow?"
Sunday, July 27, 2008
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Actually, one of the movies that is due out soon is Watchmen, which was Alan Moore's answer, to some extent, to the same themes of righteousness, inevitability, and black and white that Scott was railing against. Watchmen did this brilliantly as a comic/graphic novel. The question is whether a very complex, nonlinear plot such as Watchmen can translate well to the big screen, even if they've got gobs of money and hopefully good talent to pull it off. Batman, as fun as he is, is hardly the hero to go to if you want to see serious issues explored without a pat answer at the end. Ditto Ironman, Spiderman, etc. From the comic book world, these are all VERY cliche and thus prone to exactly the stereotypies lamented in Scott's article. As you intimated, Katy, there are other more adult comic books that may not lead to cliche movies. Recent movies that explore this theme in different ways would include A History of Violence, V for Vendetta, and Road to Perdition. None of those is particularly deep, but they are all a bit more morally challenging than a cliched superhero. Ok, V for Vendetta wasn't all that morally ambiguous but it was freaking awesome anyway.
But to be fair to Mr. Scott, most of the comic world that escaped these cliches did it by turning away from the caped crusader stuff and going in different directions, which is true of all three of the books that lead to the movies I just mentioned. The two efforts that come to my mind that tried to explore things in a more realistic way WITHIN a super hero model were both by Alan Moore - Watchmen and Miracleman. As I said, let's see if Hollywood can work with them effectively. They did a great job with Vendetta, but I'm nervous about Watchmen.
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