by Dukasaur on Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:07 am
I'm really done with comic book movies.
Like most kids, I liked comic books. I was a big fan of Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Green Lantern. As I grew up, the illogical nature of comic book universes started to annoy me more and more, and I read them less and less.
Still, there was a certain nostalgia factor, and when the first Batman movie came out I rushed to see it. It wasn't too bad; a bit disappointing but not horrible. Then the next Batman movie came out, with a different actor and a different director portraying a radically different Batman. Now we're up to what -- about five movie Batmans, all with completely different personalities? The suspension of disbelief is difficult enough the first time around, but when you have these glaring differences it becomes totally impossible.
Spiderman was another one. I was a huge Spiderman fan as a kid, so when the Spiderman movie came out I was very enthusiastic about seeing it. Like the first Batman movie, it was imperfect but not horrible. I was content. But then there was another, and another, and another, again with different actors and different directors having different visions. It's all a bit too much. After a while it becomes impossible to ignore the fact that all these remakes have nothing to do with creating art and are just a cash grab to pick on people's nostalgia.
Of course, Hollywood's penchant for needless remakes isn't limited to superheroes. A few years ago one of my favourite movies of all time, the Wicker Man, was remade into an absolute abortion. Edward Woodward's brilliant portrayal of a pious and tortured hero was replaced by Nicholas Cage at his shallow worst. It got worse from there. An absolute criminal desecration of a classic. Then they remade The Producers, another classic desecrated. Now I'm told there's another remake of A Star is Born. Hell, who thought it was necessary to remake Deathrace 2000? Just blatant cash grabs, and each version is less palatable than the last.
The only comic book movie I enjoyed lately was Guardians of the Galaxy. I never saw the comic book, so I didn't know it was a comic book movie until after the fact. Maybe that saved it for me. Still, in due course of time I'm sure they'll reboot that one with a whole new cast and ruin that too.
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
― Voltaire