The Wolverine thread!

[Aderleth]

Btw, does anyone remember from like the early nineties when they cut off wolverines claws in the comic book? God, that sucked somehow even more than it did in this movie. I have never looked at the wolverine comic since so I couldn't say if they are back or not, but really, wtf was that about. They even made a big deal of him running around with one claw as if it was a good thing.

I remember that. He's certainly had his claws back since then. I'm about ten years out of date, but he was certainly up and maiming at that point. Remember when Magneto sucked all the adamantium out of his body? That storyline seemed like a gimme. I mean, you'd think Wolverine of all people would avoid the dude whose power is to manipulate metal.

 

[Aderleth]

Well, I don't really disagree with you. I enjoyed it for what it was, but you're right, it doesn't hold a candle to the original story in question.

This kind of thing has been a pet peeve of mine for years. There are several good examples. Notably the major Alan Moore films (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) all of which took extremely clever, well-written, intellectually heady comics, and turned them into popcorn fair for teenagers. That drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to watch all kinds of schlock (e.g. the Transformers movies), and the movie was a reasonably entertaining action film, but it kinda sucks when people take something with some depth and turn it into a two dimensional explosion fest.

 

[Jerry]

This kind of thing has been a pet peeve of mine for years. There are several good examples. Notably the major Alan Moore films (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) all of which took extremely clever, well-written, intellectually heady comics, and turned them into popcorn fair for teenagers. That drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to watch all kinds of schlock (e.g. the Transformers movies), and the movie was a reasonably entertaining action film, but it kinda sucks when people take something with some depth and turn it into a two dimensional explosion fest.

They have to do that in order to appeal to a global audience.

 

[Aderleth]

They have to do that in order to appeal to a global audience.

I've read about this phenomenon, and you're mostly right. If you're making a big-budget action film, for the numbers to add up (financially) you have to be able to market it to a global (which is to say mostly non-English speaking, non-Westernized (or at least non-American)) audience. That means eschewing the personal, and the culturally relevant, in exchange for things that impact everyone independent of their cultural background. Consequently: explosions, gunfights, and lots of blood.

Of course that doesn't mean that they have to do so, it just means that it's good business to do so.

I think there's probably a happy medium somewhere, but we mostly haven't found it. However, if the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy (which was obviously heavily influenced by Frank Miller's seminal Batman comics) has taught us anything, it's that comic book movies don't have to be stupid.

 

[Jerry]

I've read about this phenomenon, and you're mostly right. If you're making a big-budget action film, for the numbers to add up (financially) you have to be able to market it to a global (which is to say mostly non-English speaking, non-Westernized (or at least non-American)) audience. That means eschewing the personal, and the culturally relevant, in exchange for things that impact everyone independent of their cultural background. Consequently: explosions, gunfights, and lots of blood.

Of course that doesn't mean that they have to do so, it just means that it's good business to do so.

I think there's probably a happy medium somewhere, but we mostly haven't found it. However, if the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy (which was obviously heavily influenced by Frank Miller's seminal Batman comics) has taught us anything, it's that comic book movies don't have to be stupid.

Few people will understand the finer points of the second world war and the moral delema of dropping a nuke....but everyone understands "run away from giant monster robot".

I think the happy medium is getting a few good b-actors waiting to be discovered to make low-budget films. Section-9 was a b-film and look how well it did.