If you fall off, you just jump back on and try again. Or, in cinematic terms, after being bored to the point of death by Matrix Reloaded I went straight back to the Odeon today for X-Men 2 which proved I should have followed my instincts yesterday and got to see that instead. The X-Men films are just what summer blockbusters (and comic book adaptations) should be - fun action movies that entertain you for a couple of hours, with just enough knowing winks to the fans to keep them happy. As long as they don't produce any Batman and Robin-esque cinematic disaster zones, they're going to be making X-Men movies for years to come. They don't even have to worry about recasting some of the characters - there's a ready supply of new X-Men to bring into the ranks when the likes of Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Famke Janssen decide to go on.
One thing I did notice is that, where other films may have cameos from actors, X2, like the first film, has little cameos from characters. I spotted five - Colossus, Shadowcat and Jubilee are all present at Xavier's School, Dr Hank McCoy (aka the Beast) appears on TV and the name 'LeBeau, Remy' appears on a computer screen at one point (just above 'Lensherr, Erik' when Mystique breaks into Stryker's HQ), which is a very clever move. It's a signal to the fans that the producers are ready to bring in Gambit at some point in the future but they've not cast him, so they're free to bring in a known actor to play him when they can't use Wolverine as the lead tortured hero.
Of course, with lots of comic books being adapted into successful movies, Hollywood's attention has come back to adapting Watchmen again. Alison has been writing about this recently, and while it would be good to see Watchmen finally making it to the big screen, I'm wary about the prospects because it would be so easy to mess it up. I did read the Sam Hamm script for it a while ago (it doesn't seem to be available on the web anymore) which was an interesting attempt at adapting it. From what I remember, it would have made a good film, but it wuldn't necessarily be Watchmen as we know it. But, it did keep in the line 'I did it thirty-five minutes ago' which any adaptation has to have to be a true one. OK, that line probably doesn't mean anything to those of you who haven't read it, but it's the sign of a huge plot twist that, like all the best twists, makes you realise that the story you've just been reading is not the one you think you've been reading. Go read it, you'll understand.
One thing I did notice is that, where other films may have cameos from actors, X2, like the first film, has little cameos from characters. I spotted five - Colossus, Shadowcat and Jubilee are all present at Xavier's School, Dr Hank McCoy (aka the Beast) appears on TV and the name 'LeBeau, Remy' appears on a computer screen at one point (just above 'Lensherr, Erik' when Mystique breaks into Stryker's HQ), which is a very clever move. It's a signal to the fans that the producers are ready to bring in Gambit at some point in the future but they've not cast him, so they're free to bring in a known actor to play him when they can't use Wolverine as the lead tortured hero.
Of course, with lots of comic books being adapted into successful movies, Hollywood's attention has come back to adapting Watchmen again. Alison has been writing about this recently, and while it would be good to see Watchmen finally making it to the big screen, I'm wary about the prospects because it would be so easy to mess it up. I did read the Sam Hamm script for it a while ago (it doesn't seem to be available on the web anymore) which was an interesting attempt at adapting it. From what I remember, it would have made a good film, but it wuldn't necessarily be Watchmen as we know it. But, it did keep in the line 'I did it thirty-five minutes ago' which any adaptation has to have to be a true one. OK, that line probably doesn't mean anything to those of you who haven't read it, but it's the sign of a huge plot twist that, like all the best twists, makes you realise that the story you've just been reading is not the one you think you've been reading. Go read it, you'll understand.
Nick got away with this at 6:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home