Comic Book Movies: Expectations vs. Reality

Since this is the year of superhero and comic book based movies, it’s only fair that we’ve been talking about them quite a bit. I was going to take a break from doing so after Civil War‘s awesomeness, but I’ve barely had a chance to because another is on the horizon: X-Men Apocalypse.

As I talked about in my post at the beginning of the year, this is one of the movies I’m most looking forward to. I’m a little hesitant now because of some of the movies I’ve seen so far this year. Deadpool was awesome, but I wasn’t sure what to expect with it, so I was happy. Batman vs. Superman was the essence of mediocrity. And Captain America: Civil War blew my expectations out of the water and pleasantly surprised me with how fantastic it was.

Unfortunately for me while watching a trailer for Apocalypse today, I saw that the reviews coming in from people who have seen it have been very mediocre, to say the least. Currently on Rotten Tomatoes it’s at a middle of the road 50%. As far as action movies go, it could be far worse. What I’ve noticed is that the less than thrilled responses tend to come from the fact that people have very different expectations for comic book movies, and a lot  of different factors go into those expectations.

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Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

Guys, it’s not as bad as everyone says. However, I have a few contributing factors to why I might think that:

• I haven’t seen Man of Steel, so I have no comparison to that movie.
• I love Zack Snyder, and his partnership with Hans Zimmer made me really excited for the movie. Definitely worth it.
• I’m Team Wonder Woman. I wanted to see a female superhero in DC who was a total badass. The whole Batman and Superman thing was a bit secondary to me.
• I had very, very low expectations of the movie. Honestly, I was hoping it was at least a 5/10. Low expectations helped.
• I’m currently on vacation back home and saw this at an Alamo Drafthouse, drinking beer after a couple of margaritas. Alcohol definitely helped.

Instead of doing a huge analytical review, I’m going to focus on a few points that stood out to me. There’s enough reviews out there tearing this movie apart or trying to defend it. This review is coming from someone with a film degree who isn’t a huge Superman fan, had low expectations of the film, and was mildly… okay, definitely, buzzed the whole movie.

Batman v. Superman v. Staying Home

Holly and I have had some difficulties getting to movies. It’s the Geek Baby, lining up a babysitter, the limited movie showtimes in town (only ever one screen showing a movie), and then life. I’ve been working Saturdays. And this weekend is Easter, so it’s busy above the usual.

All of which is to say that, while they were trying to find a time with no competition to release Batman v. Superman, they have also found a time that is really hard for us to make it. If we do see it, it will either be separately from each other (but hopefully with friends), or else in several weeks’ time. That’s just where we’re at.

Not that we don’t love Batman.
From https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-nine-alignments-of-batman/

And then we’re seeing some of the initial reviews are questionable. But it’s a comic book movie, which can get odd reviews from “official” critics. It’s Zack Snyder, whose style turns some people off. It’s a sequel to a hotly contested movie. It’s the start of a larger multi-movie multi-title franchise. It’s DC’s Iron Man 2. All of which is to say… should we even bother?

So I have a few request of you, dear readers.

• If you write a review or read a good one, feel free to drop a link in the comments below. We might not read it for a while, but it can help make up for us not writing one for a while, right?
• If you’re looking for a review, check out any that folks drop in the comments below!
• If you see the movie, give us your feedback: worth running to the theater to see? Finding the time (for a 2 and a half hour movie) and a babysitter worth it? We’d like that word of mouth!
• Vote in our poll!

Batman isn’t getting an origin story… and I’m okay with that.

We’re coming up on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s a couple of things. One, it’s a sequel to Man of Steel, so it is by definition a Superman movie. Kind of like Civil War is going to be a Captain America movie… that is to say, maybe this main character will get a bit more screen time. Of course, the plot is based on a Batman comic, so we’ll see how that turns out…

The other thing that this movie is, meanwhile, is the beginning of a multi-movie franchise, with the Justice League at the center. To compare this to Marvel (the company they are and are not cheating off of to do this…), that makes this movie Iron Man 2. Maybe a painful comparison, but there it is. So the Dawn of Justice part ends up equating to the Avengers Initiative – an Initiative that never actually gets off the ground. However, that did not stop The Avengers from being an absolutely outstanding movie that made some of the most money. Ever. So you can see why one of the closest analogs in all of fiction  – the Justice League and the Avengers – might want to copy that winning formula…

Found on http://boards.panthers.com/threads/3077-DC-Cinematic-Universe-Discussion-Thread

So then we have this: the movie release schedule for DC for the next five years. All spinning off of only one movie at first, Man of Steel, the Iron Man of their films. But then, we’re getting a villains movie right off the bat in Suicide Squad – before we get all the hero movies – and then we’re getting a Justice League movie before there are stand-alones, other than Wonder Woman. That would be the same Wonder Woman that we know is being introduced in this film…

It’s backwards of the Marvel model, with the first movies for the heroes coming after the combined movie. The odds of those films being origin stories (or origin-story-like) seem really high to me. But either way, do you see what’s missing?

No stand-alone Batman movie.

Which means he’s definitely not getting an origin story. And you know what I have to say? Thank goodness. He doesn’t need one. People know. Honestly, we probably didn’t need much of Man of Steel either. People know Superman. It’s when we get down to, say, Shazam, that an origin story might be nice. Or Flash and Green Lantern – to differentiate them from other versions.

But Batman? He’s busy being Batman. We know how that goes. Doesn’t need a movie – and so there isn’t one in the works. And I appreciate that and I’m okay with that. How about you? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

How we got to Civil War

One of the more highly anticipated movies of the year (now that Deadpool is out…) is the next Marvel movie, and the beginning of their Phase 3: Captain America: Civil War.

And there’s a lot of reasons to be excited: not only a bunch of returning characters from throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe (like most of the newly-expanded roster of Avengers), but also the first appearances of Black Panther, Spider-Man (who hasn’t shown up in any trailers yet!), and maybe more.

Add to that the fact that Civil War was a big deal in the comics, showing up regularly as a top storyline for Marvel. It ran as a massive crossover (hitting pretty much every title) from 2006-2007. So, before I got back into comics – not one that I got into when it was first out. Indeed, I only got to it for the LitFlix for Winter Soldier – and after seeing that movie, and reading the comics, I knew that Civil War was coming next.

But Marvel’s Civil War was by no means the first time that this storyline was seen – the decision that superheroes had gone too far, that they had too much free reign. Indeed, not the second time. Not the third. I would say at least the fourth – so let’s look through these titles before we get back to Civil War!