Looking Cool - Visuality in Comic Blockbusters

Film is a visual media. Granted, there is sound adding to it.

But foremost it is a sensational thrill for the eyes. Directors and Producers cater to that by delivering epic spectacles for the summer blockbuster crowd. But not every movie seems to hit that mark. What is the difference between an engaging and a boring blockbuster?

Premise: 'The visuality of a superhero decides over it's fate at the box-office'

I know, it sounds trivial, but let's take a closer look, alright?! 

1. Hulk / The Incredible Hulk

Both movies, enjoyed different critical success, but nonetheless both only earned around 130 million dollar in cinemas when they came out. But why did both movies hardly take in their production costs? 

As the two movies share the same superhero, we can guess it is a fault of the figure of Hulk. After-all he is green monster stomping through cities and grunting incomprehensible. 

It just doesn't look cool! Identification is really hard with this superhero. Let's take a look at another Marvel hero...

2. Iron Man / Iron Man 2

With the same production budget as the Hulk movies, the two Iron Man films managed to cash in slightly over 300 million dollar, although Iron Man 2 also fell through with the critics. 

So, why did they take in that much money? 

As above we have to blame - or rather thank - the main protagonist: Iron Man is a cool, sleek and elegant superhero. Possibly every child dreamt of donning a armor suit, flying and shooting rockets from it's arms. 

Summary:

After these short observations, I hope I made my point clearer. On paper Hulk and Iron Man are not that different, with their haunted past and dangerous 'super power'. The difference is that Hulk has not the same visual appeal like Iron Man. 

Preview:

I thought about writing this post, when I heard about some comic properties being developed right now. I don't want to criticize movies, that are not even released, I just want to voice my fears and doubts concerning some upcoming comic book movies:

1. Ant-Man

Ant-Man can shrink to the size of an ant and communicate with insects. The script has to find a enemy, that can be beaten by turning very small, which I find a strange Idea.

It was used to comedic effect in "Honey, I shrunk the kids', but in an effect-laden action blockbuster it might appear out of place.

2. Wasp

Wasp also shrinks in size, but additionally grows wings and can shoot energy blasts.

A little bit like Angel in X-Men: First Class, without the shrinking part and that already looked silly. I remember the whole audience snicker, when she spit her 'energy balls'.

That's it for today,

- Tristan

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Voltron - Script Review

Post based on the Script by Justin Marks, May 2007, not to be used by Relativity Media.

The Verdict: 

The silly and absurd premise is tackled sternly in this action-heavy script, that suffers from a dragging start and flat characters. 

What's it about?

After the invasion of an alien robot army, a rag-tag group of survivors pilot mechanical lion robots to fend of the intruders.

Plot Summary:

The movie opens with Keith setting out to loot a helicopter that came down in the ruins of New York. He is disrupted by Dukane, a vicious gang leader, but both stop fighting when a huge RoBeasts, a colossal Robot in form of a wolf appears and attacks. Back at his base, Keith is visited by the owners of the crashed helicopter, the beautiful and mysterious Allura and her taciturn bodyguard. She demands to be brought to Mexico by Keith and his mechanic Lance. Not having something better to do, Keith agrees and the group sets off. Upon reaching the border of Mexico the group is attacked by looters, this is where we first catch a glance at the 5 Keys Allura is hiding from everybody else. Unfortunately a RoBeast picks up the signal of the Keys and follows the group into a military compound. Before the RoBeast can attack them, Allura disappears in the compound and come back, piloting a LionBot, a huge backyard-built robot looking like a lion. 

While Keith and Lance stay at the compound, the viewer gets bits and pieces of the background information. Allura is part of an ancient alien race, who hid a powerful energy source (the 5 Keys!) on earth, but the RoBeasts came looking for it. They have to repair the 5 Lionbots before the RoBeasts can destroy the camp.  When they finally attack, they totally overwhelm the five pilots, their only chance is to merge the Liobots into one huge robot, but before that can happen, Keith aborts the process, because he can not come any to close to him...

So, the RoBeasts destroy the compound and kill everybody in it. The group retreats to New York and with the help of Dukane repairs the Lionbots. They start to fight of the RoBeasts one by one and at first seem successful. But then, the RoBeasts form one gigantic Beasts, now Keith has to overcome his issues and merge with the other robots to form VOLTRON. The huge robots battle over the whole world and finally in space Voltron can kill the Beasts.

Down on Earth everybody celebrates the victory and rebuilding of our world starts.

The Project: 

On Comic-Con 2011 it was announced that Relativity Media had picked up the Voltron property to written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer. Legal entanglements prevented the movie to be made sooner. It is based on the american re-edited version of two japanese television series, that turned into a huge international franchise. 

Observations:

The Silly Factor: At the core are 5 lion-shaped robots turning into a humanoid uber-mega-robot fighting evil alien robots with his blazing sword. Is it silly? Hell, it is! The script doesn't address this silliness in any way, like that's the only way you can fight back alien robots. In the finale one punch of these robots sends the other one around the world, so they stomp all over India, Egypt, France and so on.  The whole premise is a rather huge stretch for the imagination and credibility - and I don't know how to visualize this without it looking absurd.

Flat characters: It is a problem of most action blockbusters: the characterization of every protagonist is rudimental at best. Keith past is never addressed and thus his actions feel unmotivated and shallow, his sidekicks don't get much more depth.

But for the finale, when the group merges to form Voltron, the protagonists totally disappear and two silent robots fight it out. 

Voltron vs. Transfomers: Do we really need another big robot franchise? But when you take a look at the flood of superheroes in cinemas right now, it is a wonder there are not more huge robots fighting on screen. Transfomers also was heralded as silly and stupid.Being adapted from a line of toys, the story and characters were probably not the top priority for Michael Bay and his team. But those movies earned together more than a billion dollar at the box office, so I can see others want to jump aboard that train.

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'Ender's Game' - Script Review

Post based on the script "Ender's Game" by D.B. Weiss, 2005.

The Verdict: The well-written script features flat characters mulling through a boring, aim-less movie, that seems to be war-mongering cold-war propaganda!

What's it about?

Sometime in the future, a young boy is recruited by the Space Force to lead the fight against insectoid aggressor.

Plot Summary:

On the first page young Ender has to take a test and seems to fail it. Back at home with his sister, psycho-brother and widowed mother he is suprised by the leader of the Internation Force, Rackham, himself, saying Ender had the highest score ever in this test and he is accepted into Battle School. Due to his high score he is singled out and has to join the unit of Madrid, who tries his best to make Ender's life miserable. Meanwhile, Ender's sister Valentine joins a secret project, proping and testing the larvae of a Formic Queen (it is never explained why they have it). Ender strives at Battle School, soon he wins every game and gets to lead his own unit. Soon Rackham reveals that Ender has to lead the army against the Formics. It is one of his sub-commanders that finds out, that Earth doesn't have to defend itself against an attack of the Formics, but rather Earth started an pre-emptive strike against their homeworld. But he is ordered not to tell that to Ender - and so he doesn't! Ender sacrificies most of the Earth fleet but manages to kill every Formic, except the Formic Queen lying in Valentine's laboratory. On the last page Ender lauches off into space to find a suitable new homeworld for the Formic Queen.

Observations:

No Aim: A huge complaint is visible in the logline: Ender desperately wants to join the Space Force and does so on page 13. After that he plays just along. He trains and fights when other people tell him to train and fight. He kills a whole species when he is told to kill a whole species. But he has no motivation, no goal for the remainder of the script, leaving the viewer bored and uninvolved.

No Character Arc: Ender - or any other character - makes a change for the better in this script. After the shocking revelation of their genocide, Ender and his commanders do not change or reow. The script doesn't seem to be interested in the dramatic conflict the story poses for the protagonists. On the last page Ender starts a space mission to search for a new world for the Queen. But that Ender is the same Ender from the first page. Not for a single moment anyone of them has to struggle with the heavy burden of genocide.
No Obstacles: The point of a story is to see a hero overcoming the obstacles to reach his goal. As said before, the script of Ender's Game features no goal for the hero. Likewike the obstacles are nearly non-present. I re-read it: He doesn't lose one game he plays. Everything he does, he does perfectly. Yes, it takes him 2 pages to learn the art of the Zero-Gravity Battle, but after that no one stops him. Throughout the script Karpov is described as a genius, as the idol of almost anyone. Even he just resign after he lost one Battle Simulation against Ender.
Only the bullying is ever-present. It starts on the second page, when Ender is beaten by his older brother and in Battle School Madrid continues to harass Ender. But this has nothing to do with Ender's genius. It it not on the same plane and as such it is no obstacle Ender has to overcome as he is already genius.

Pointless B-Stories: In theory, the B-Story, starting at the beginning of the second act, should come together with the main plot before the finale and provide the protagonists with the means to overcome any obstacle laid in his way. The first and most prominent B-Story involving Valentine and her discovery of the Formics Queen serves no purpose at all in the story. It feels like a cheap ploy to redeem the characters in the end, after everything they did. Which leads me to:

War Propaganda: To be honest, I have no insight into the ethical discussion of Ender's Game. So reading the script, I despised the ethics, I loathed the presented morals. The world view is so degenerated, so corrupt, that an genocide is easily justified and not one character struggles with the events for very long.

The script is not concerned with questions of blind obedience or of military tyranny. Ender is their puppet and seems to like it that way.

The way in which a deadly war is equalized with a game is sickening! It removes any moral doubt over the actions by placing the intention to "win the game" above everything. The loss of 100,000s of people has no weight in this script, their sacrifice means nothing as it was necessary to win.

The Project:
In 2003 Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, Das Boot) was interested in adapting Enders' Game, bringing in screenwriters David Benioff (25th Hour, Troy) and D.B. Weiss (Game of Thrones). After he left, Orson Scott Card adapted his own novel and brought in Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, X-Men Wolverine), but nothing came of it.
At the beginning of 2011 it was reported that Orci & Kurtzman (of Lost & Star Trek fame) had started prepping this project. Shortly after Summit Entertainment picked up the Ender's Game movie. (References: Wiki)

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'Killing on Carnival Row' - Script Review

Summary: 
A gaze into highly innovative world, propelled forward by a well-known detective story.

What's it about:
In an alternative world, where fairies live in ghettos oppressed by humans, a police detective has to find a serial killer, when his faerie girlfriend is the latest victim in this killing spree.

Plot Summary:
On the first page the first faerie dies and while her corpse floats down the river, we are introduced to Inspector Rycroft Philostrate. In a very noir Voice-Over he gives the viewer/reader an overview over The Burgue. He tells us about the faerie opression and the high tension between everybody living in the city. We get to know the Mayor and his wife, who fights very openly for more faerie rights. On page 6 Philostrate takes on this case and interviews the only eyewitness: a selkie - a half-human / half-seal creature. Afterwards he pays a visit to his secret faerie girlfriend, who has to work at a faerie brothel. By page 16 we already have two dead faeries and a Haruspex is called to the crime scene. These can not only see the future, but also the past and help the efforts of the police force. Philostrate goes to the Museum of Natural History to get the help of the faerie expert, Professor Alcandre.
Now all the players are in the game and the plot starts turning...

On page 30 the new victim of the serial killer, called Unseelie Jack, is revealed to be Philostrate's secret girlfriend. Not able to cope, he walks into a bar and gets wasted. Still high, Philostrate rescues a young faerie, Vignette, from an attack by Unseelie Jack. Meanwhile the Haruspex finds evidence, that points to Philostrate as Unseelie Jack. Vignette, cared for by the inspector, has to flee with him, when the police approaches. Together they hide in the underground of the faerie district, but Philostrate wants to catch the killer of his girlfriend. The fourth victim is found at the Museum of Natural History. When Philostrate goes to the crime scene, he is spotted by tzhe police and has to flee, only to be saved by Vignette. On page 71 they kiss the first time, but Philostrate backs off, the memory of his dead girlfriend still haunts him.
We are coming closer and closer to the end...

On page 78 a whole ballroom of important politicians is killed by an attack of the faeries. But it is revealed, that the Mayor is responsible for this horrible attack. He uses this event as justification to round up every non-human and put them in prison. On page 89 it is revealed that the Haruspex is Unseelie Jack, but before Philostrate can kill her, she escapes with Vignette. He follows them and we find out, that the Haruspex is a creation by Professor Alcandre: he was payed by the mayor to terrorize the faerie disctrict. Vignette kills the professor, but the Haruspex can escape. The two follow her to the prison and Philostrate kills the Haruspex in an aerial fight. The Mayor is shot by the Police Chef and everything returns to normal. After these horrible events the faeries get suffrage and equal rights in the Burgue. Philostrate and Vignette fly away on a Zeppelin to see the world, and he is finally strong enough to admit loving a faerie in public.

The Project

The script was written in 2005 by Travis Beachem and sold to New Line just a few month later. It attracted the talents of Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth & Hellboy) and Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Wolverine, The Prestige), but got stuck in development hell.
It is Beachem's first sold script and hailed as one of the best spec scripts floating around Hollywood. Beachem went on to do assignment work (The last draft of Clash of the Titans).

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- Tristan