The Adventures of Captain Otter

A second extra post today.  Why?  I just wanted to make sure all of you guys saw this.  Most of the rumors on Iron Man 2 are slowing down now that filming is done, so all we can do is wait for the trailer and any posters.  AND HERE IT IS.

Does this poster give us any new info?  No.  We knew War Machine was going to be in this movie, and we knew that the two were going to part ways in some way.  So how does the armor look?  The first thing that caught me was the red eyes.  Everything about the pose and posture tells me that the two are going to have an antagonistic relationship.  Maybe something a bit more agressive than we expected.  The armor certainly looks more industrial and heavy than the sleek Iron Man armor, and there isn’t as much black as there is dark grey.  Also the chevrons we can see on the left arm have a much more factory based look.  The armor looks like an instrument of war, rather than the Iron Man amor which is bit more superhero-y.  There’s alot less flair, and it’s much more brutal and direct.  Sounds like something a solider would use, and I think they certainly made it look distinct.  They could have easily gone with a shiny black version of Stark’s armor with a few guns attached.  I can’t wait to see these two on screen, and I felt like in the first movie the armor looked best when it was in action.

So, this is one more piece of good news for Iron Man 2.  I hope this movie shatters some box office records, and anything less than a perfect movie will be a disappointment.  May 7th can’t come quick enough.

To the average movie goer, when you think “comic book movies”, you immediately think “superhero movies”.  This is a fair assessment, don’t get me wrong.  Most comic book movies are about superheroes, and most superhero movies are based on comics.  Hancock is one of the few exceptions to the second rule.  But what most people forget is that there are tons of movies based on comics that have nothing to do with superpowers.  Road to Perdition, for example, was a phenominal movie that just happened to be based on a comic.  Surrogates was based on a graphic novel, and so was 30 Days of Night.  Graphic novels and comics are endless source of stories, and I think we have another winner in the works.  And it’s about a bunch of losers.

Enter the Losers.  The original comic was about a group of WWII soliders, but the Vertigo reimagination takes place in modern times.  They were a CIA special ops team who were betrayed by their superior (or something like that), and then decide to go out and get some revenge.  Sounds good enough to me.  It has potential, and I can see it going either way based on the script.  It could be a cliche filled plot, or it could be something fun and different.  Hard to tell.  But the reason I’m excited about this movie is the cast.  We’ve got Watchmen’s Jeffery Dean Morgan as the team leader, Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana as the loose cannon, the Wire’s Idris Elba as the second in command, and Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans as the hacker.  Considering Elba is going to be in Thor, every actor has appeared in some kind of uber-nerdy movie.  That’s probably one of the reasons why I’m so excited for it.  But in all seriousness, this is one cool cast.  Morgan was a scene stealer in the Watchmen, and I’m thrilled to see him gettting some more work.  He’s just such a man’s man, and is a great actor to boot.  Zoe Saldana is starting to pop up everywhere now after her apperance in Star Trek, and she seems to be a good actress.  We’ll see how she can handle some bigger parts, and I think she has a promising career.  And we have Chris Evans, who is cool as always.  I liked him as the Human Torch, but I loved him in the sci-fi thriller Sunshine.  He showed everyone that he’s a solid actor, and can pull off some serious roles.

Everyone in the cast seems to be a highly talented actor who is also super-cool.  Thats a good combination.  You can be super-cool and a decent actor (see: Bruce Campbell), but to have both is pretty special (see: Brad Pitt, mainly in Fight Club).  I think this could be a fun movie.  I’ll definitely go see it, and hope we see a trailer sometime soon.  The movie hits theaters this April, so it’s a pretty short wait.

Today is the day we’re all supposed to remeber what to be thankful for.  Or something like that.  So what in comics am I thankful for?  Read on my friends, read on.

1. Kenneth Branagh directing Thor.  This news was announced almost a year ago, and I was thrilled when I heard it.  A smart director with an unsurpassed mastery of characterization and plot structure?  Sign me up!  Today, I’m even more thankful for his position.  With a guy like Branagh, you bring credibility to the movie.  That credibility helps you cast guys like Anthony Hopkins or Stellan Skarsgard, even when no one knows who your hero is.  Natalie Portman basically admitted that Branagh’s involvement is why she joined.  This guy is going to put Thor on the map.

2. Blackest Night.  An epic storyline that’s the culmination of the past few years of Green Lantern stories?  What isn’t there to be thankful about?  Super powered zombie Batman people!  Super powered zombie Batman!

3. Ryan Reynolds.  The guy is playing like 20 heroes or something.  If anyone can bring Deadpool to the big screen, it’s him.  And the whole Green Lantern thing could be really cool too.

4. Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.  Nuff said.

Seeing as it’s Thanksgiving, I’m treating you guys to a double serving of posts.  The first is a recent bit of news that should get you excited.  Jeremy Renner, star of the recent war drama The Hurt Locker, told Empire Magezine that he had been talking to Marvel about playing Hawkeye on the big screen.  Renner has been in a handful of movies and played a wide variety of roles, but it’s his performance in The Hurt Locker that’s earned him mass critical acclaim.  The guy is a definite candidate in the upcoming Oscar season, and it looks like Marvel has decided to take notice.  Renner said that Marvel will be sending him some stuff, and that he is definitely interested in the direction they’re going.  He commented that they’re trying to make things realistic, and not some childish fantasies.  Maybe the guy doesn’t know about Thor then.

Well, first of all, the very fact that they’re talking about Hawkeye is fantastic news.  Hawkeye is my favorite member of the Avengers other than the big three, and is almost as important as they are.  Even though he doesn’t have any powers, his personality and simple awesomeness let him stand alongside Earth’s mightiest heroes.  Sort of like Batman.  Although I think Marvel should keep the membership of the team limited, Hawkeye needs to be there.  I still like the idea of making him a SHIELD agent of some kind, which is an easy way of putting him in the movie and makes alot of sense.  I don’t think Marvel would talk to Renner about the part unless they were sure they wanted to use the character, so this is a good sign.

And I do think Renner is a solid choice.  The Hurt Locker showed that he can play the military type, and the other roles I’ve seen him in show that he can play someone with a bit of a cocky attitude.  I think he can bring a sense of realism to the part, which they need.  If they decide to take parts of the Ultimate version (which I hope they do), then they’ll need someone with a bit of edge.  He is a bit old at 38, but I think the guy is a great choice for the part.  We’ll have to see if he actually gets it or not.

Another question is about when we’ll see Hawkeye show up.  He won’t be a main character in any of the next three movies, but he might get a cameo in.  Maybe they can throw something in at the last second for Iron Man 2, which would be pretty cool.  They could potentially give him a cameo in Thor or the very end of Captain America.  Still, I expect the earliest we’ll see him is in the Avengers, as part of the full team.

Oh, Jonathan Hickman, you are one crazy man.  The guy comes out of nowhere is now probably one of my favorite writers.  He’s the man writing Secret Warriors, a title all about how badass Nick Fury is.  He is also working on Fantastic Four, and has actually made me care about the characters.  Working with some great artistic talent, his work is some of the best in the business.  What’s he starting up now?  The history of SHIELD.

Now, this isn’t just the history over the past few years.  Oh, not even close.  This goes way back to the origins of the organization.  Key characters include Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic’s fathers.  Alot of the other details are a bit messy.  Flashbacks are going to start from ancient Egypt, going up the Italian Rennaissance and even the Enlightenment.  Based on the historical figures they’re using and the use of flashbacks, this sounds alot like Assassin’s Creed.  This could be some crazy stuff.  I would imagine that Da Vinci would have been alot like Nick Fury, with all the gadgets and badassery.  Hickman is doing some big things with Secret Warriors, and has set up this epic conflict between SHIELD and HYDRA.  I think these two will overlap a bit, since they deal with the same organization.  Did I mention that Hickman decided to throw Celestials, Galactus, and the Brood into the first issue just to spice things up?  Damn this guy knows how to make things crazy.

I wish I could give you guys some more details, but it’s very tricky to understand right now.  It will be on ongoing series, and not just a limited, so expect big things.  Some fans are already screaming RETCON, but considering the origins of the organization are vague enough as it is I don’t think they’ll be changing too much, if anything.  You can expand the background with it being a retcon.  I have lofty expectations for this project, or anything Hickman produces.  For a comic book fan, this is surely worth looking into.

I don’t know what you guys thought of the Fantastic Four movies, but I wasn’t thrilled.  They were just so mediocre, and the stories were weak.  The goofier tone wasn’t even the biggest problem.  There were just no real fights or solid action.  At this point, Fox is preparing a reboot for the franchise.  But what about the other big hero from the movies?  The Silver Surfer?  Fox had wanted to do a spin off movie for the Herald of Galactus, one that would pick up right where FF2 left off.  The writer, J. Michael Straczynski, recently talked about the project.  It would have been a darker movie, that also covered the origins of the character.  Wow, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that phrase.  Actually, I would probably 50 cents or so, which isn’t that much really.  Anyway, it looks like the project is dead.  The franchise is done, and it looks like the Silver Surfer spin off died with it.

Eh, I can’t say I’m upset.  First of all, I don’t like this description of what it would have been about.  Origins stories usually arn’t that great, with a few notable exceptions, and if you don’t have to tell them then you should just go straight to the best conflicts and story arcs.  Also, I think a good Surfer movie would be very hard to pull off.  The character hasn’t had a good ongoing series in a long time, and usually works best as part of larger crossovers or with Galactus.  You have a character with so much power, and it can difficult giving him some good fights.  He can blow up anything he wants without a second thought.  It’s the Superman syndrome, but at least the big blue boyscout has some brilliant villains he can go toe to toe with.  The Surfer just never appealed to much to me, and once you get over the initial “coolness” factor of his design there isn’t too much else.

However, this doesn’t mean that the Silver Surfer is gone from movies forever.  Only that the spinoff is dead.  Fox could use a different script that goes in a different direction.  I’m not sure why exactly though.  How many different Silver Surfer approaches can you take?  My guess is that, like the long rumored Fantastic Four reboot, this won’t happen for a quite a bit.  I would rather that Marvel themselves handles the character.  I’ve enjoyed both of their movies so far, and think they are making nothing but great choices with directors and actors on their upcoming projects.  I have much more faith in them that Fox, that’s for sure.

Third times a charm.  After two less than stellar directors, WB decided to model a story after Batman: Year One.  They snagged Christopher Nolan as the director, who was a somewhat unconventional choice at the time.  More than a billion dollars later, most people feel that Nolan is the only man for the job.  Creating a dark, realistic, and mature take on the character, Nolan has brought Batman back to the top.

It all started with Batman Begins.  Christian Bale was a great choice of Batman, and certainly the most believable.  He portrays a character who is consumed by his quest for jutice, which is something truly bizarre when you think about it.  But he makes it happen.  I still don’t think he’s a perfect Batman, and his voice can be a distraction at some times.  And he does over act every once in a while.  Despite this, he still delivers an amazing performance that shows just how cool Bruce Wayne is.  And then we have Michael Caine as Alfred.  Amazing.  Finally, a movie that shows how much of a badass Alfred actually is.  Morgan Freeman does a great Lucius Fox, mostly because his voice brings a sense of dignity to the character.  And then we have Gary Oldman, who completely nails his performance as the future Commissioner Gordon.  I can’t say enough how flawless these three actors were.  Katie Holmes is just alright as the love interest, and I appreciate how the writers tried to give her a substantial part rather than simpel damsel in distress.  She is Bruce’s moral compass, and plays a serious role in the creation of Batman as we know him.  She’s the one that teaches Bruce the difference between justice and revenge, and we start to understand how Batman obtained this strong moral foundation.  The villains were fantastic as well.  Cillian Murphy is a fun, and haunting, Scarecrow.  He has that chilling glare, and the hallucination sequences captured the spirit of the character in a way only movies can.  He didn’t have a massive role, but then again he wasn’t the main villain.  That would be Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra’s Al Ghul.  I for one, loved how they approached the immortality issue.  They couldn’t actually make him immortal, or the movie wouldn’t feel real anymore.  Instead Ra’s uses imposters, so that you can think he is dead when the real villain is still alive.  That was downright clever, and was a great plot device as well.  They might have changed alot about the character and his origins, but the heart and essence of who Ra’s is and what he wants remain solid.  Liam Neeson is a great actor, and while his performance isn’t as memorable as some of the more exotic and wild supervillains, is certainly delivered with all the charm and strength of an experienced actor.

Before I talk about the plot, I want to mention the sense of realism that the movie had.  Sure, the X-men movies tried to be realistic, but Batman Begins felt completely believable.  The technology, the style, the fact that it was shot in an actual city.  Everything felt like it really could happen.  The Batmobile isn’t some crazy car.  It’s a modified TANK.  Yeah, if you were going to fight crime, wouldn’t you use a vehicle like that?  Gotham isn’t some neon concrete jungle, it’s a part of our world.  There are no superpowers, and everything is possible.  Sure, some spoilsport physics major could probably prove otherwise, but they can go straight to hell.  While this isn’t the “truest” take on the character and loses a few of the more fantastical elements, it keeps the heart of the character and works much better in movies.  There is a problem with this take though.  It makes it easier to believe you actually can be Batman.  Trust me, that can be a serious problem for someone like me, who will consider following through with those dreams.The greatest strength of this movie is that it focuses on Batman, not the villains.  We get to see Bruce’s struggle, and the villains are just a part of that.  The villains are well done, but a good comic book hero needs to focus on it’s protagonist.  I also love how father figures are used.  After the death of his parents, Bruce finds guidance in Alfred and Ra’s Al Ghul.  While Ra’s is instrumental in turning Bruce into Batman, it’s Alfred that emerges as Bruce’s true mentor.  I liked this angle, and maybe could have been emphasized a bit more.  Like why did Bruce completely forget about Ra’s (or Ducard, in his POV), after he destroys the temple?  This guy did share Ra’s beliefs, and he kind of let it go.  There was also the theme of fear, which is a timely issue.  There were some comparisons to the War on Terror, and whether or not we should use fear to combat those who prey on the innocent.  For the most part, these are underplayed, and the emphasis is on Batman’s world, not politics.And now we have the Dark Knight, one of the most successful movies of all time.  It’s complex, and I could analyze it forever.  I’ll try and condense it a little bit.  TDK maintains the realism and maturity of it’s predecessor, and throws in a overwhelming intensity to the movie.  You can’t relax for a second.  It captures your attention and never lets go.  Part of this is the excellent writing, which continuously builds tension until everything explodes, both literally and metaphorically.  The other part is the Joker.  The Joker isn’t just one of the best comic book portrayals.  Nor is it one of the best performances of the decade.  It’s one of the best performances of all time.  Just try not to watch him when he’s on screen.  He’s unbelievable.  And they didn’t make him pure evil either.  They turned him into an agent of chaos, a force of nature.  The decision not reveal his true origin was definitely the right thing to do.  Knowing how the Joker came to be makes him less elemental.  The Joker always existed.  Nothing created him, he’s part of the chaos of our world.  Some of what he says is hauntingly true, and he raises some serious questions about human nature.  And then we have Batman, a force of order who staunchly opposes the chaos and disorder that the Joker brings.  While Harvey Dent doesn’t have the willpower or strength to resist the horrors of the world, Batman’s strength of purpose shows that humanity can overcome their dark side.  The boat scene highlights this conflict, and even forces the audience to decide what they would do in that situation.  Is Batman right, and would we refuse to press the button?  Or is the Joker right about humanity, and will we save ourselves and the cost of others?  Or will we do something else entirely?  The Batman/Joker conflict is the greatest dichotomy in comics, and TDK captures this perfectly.  And it blatantly shows that the two will fight until the end of time.  “You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won’t kill you because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.”  And they will.  Comics never end, and the two will battle until they disappear from our culture.  And there is a reason this fight will never end.  The two are polar opposites, and believe in entirely different things.  The Joker has no rules, Batman has one.  Chaos vs. Order.  And yet they are so similar.  They are both completely committed to their cause, and they both work outside of society.  Batman uses fear, but the Joker’s war paint and general reign of terror does to.  They complete each other.  Alone, they’re awesome characters.  But together, they’re legendary. 

Oh wow, that went on for a while.  Well, if you’re still reading, I guess we should talk about Harvey Dent.  The movie removed alot of Dent’s pre-transformation insanity.  Dent was never perfect in the head, and this movie glosses over that a bit.  Instead, the character experiences a greater fall from grace.  We see a few outbreaks that allude to his corruption.  He “can’t imagine” losing Rachel, and when he thinks she’s in danger, he starts showing a sense of ruthlessness.  When he finally does lose Rachel, he can’t accept it.  Dent can’t make sense of the chaos in the world, and why he was the only one who suffered.  He can only understand this as chance, pure probability.  No bias, and entirely fair.  He finds that order has failed, and gives into chaos.  A very different kind of chaos compared to the Joker, but still chaos.  I think we should have seen a bit more reason for Harvey to transform though.  The Long Halloween, a big inspiration on the movie, implied that Dent had done some questionable things in his pursuit of justice.  This movie alludes to a shady past in Internal Affairs, where he first got his nickname, but this should have been touched on.  The first time you watch the movie, you don’t care at all.  After the second time, you have to look harder to find the signs that Dent will go bad.

Okay, so I could talk about this movie forever.  Is it perfect?  No.  It has a few flaws, but contains some of the best performances of all time.  I’ll never forget the first time I saw it, and how even after the midnight showing I wanted to go back the next day.   TDK shows us that comic book movies can be mature, and can have real themes.  I’m still angry with the academy for not nominating it for best picture.  I’m not saying it should have won, but it should have been nominated at the very least.  I think the academy realized that people are getting upset at the fact that only artsy movies get nominated, so they bumped up the number of nominations to 10.  A year too late though.  Still, the movie made over a billion dollars in theaters.  It was huge.  Beyond huge.  Chris Nolan created something special.  In the wake of all this Twilight nonsense, at least we still know that moody half-vampires and 1-dimensional mary sues can’t break the single weekend record of Batman.  And hopefully, we have one more outing from Nolan to look forward to.  Trilogies always work for me, and I’m a big fan on things that come in threes.  Give us one more movie to finish it all of, and explore all the aftermath of The Dark Knight.  Rumor has it that by January, Warners and Nolan will announce what’s going on.  Could someone replace Nolan?  Maybe.  All they have to do is follow the groundwork he established.  But I think all of us want to see the director finish up his trilogy.  No matter what else happens to Batman in movies, we’ll always have this shining moment to look back to.  Let’s hope we get it.

If you’ve been reading comics, you’ve probably noticed that many Marvel titles are returning to their original numbering in celebration of their 600th (or 500th) issue.  Personally, I’m not a big fan of this.  I like collecting things, and the collection feels broken up when my issues of Thor jumps from #12 to 600.  But how bout the issues themselves?  Are they any good?  I figure it would be a good things to talk about now that the tide of anniversary issues is slowing down.

The answer?  Yes and no.  Some have been resounding successes, while some have fallen flat.  Each issue has one main story that hopes to really shake things up, and then is filled with back up content and extra stories.  Thor and Daredevil are examples of issues with amazing, legendary issues with somewhat decent backup material.  Thor’s issue came out a year ago, and saw the God of Thunder fight his reborn grandfather before being banished from Asgard.  The issue was a culmination of the past year’s storylines, had some big fights, and set the stage for tons of stories.  We’re still feeling the repercussions, and Thor’s exile is going to be a big part of the upcoming Siege event.  You can’t ask for anything more, and this issue should go down as one of Thor’s best.  Daredevil had an even crazier issue, with Matt Murdock taking control of an army of lethal ninjas.  Yeah, you read that right.  A man who refuses to kill now runs an army of ruthless murderers.  The issue’s pacing was flawless, and built up to this big moment where Daredevil stops the Kingpin and takes over the Hand.  Both issues were absolutely fantastic, and are going to be remembered as parts of the best story arcs the characters have ever seen.

Spiderman’s big issue had a decent main story.  It was interesting, and had some good artwork, but wasn’t quite as big as Thor’s or Daredevil’s.  Instead, the issue had some downright touching backstories.  My personal favorite was a story that was only four of five pages long.  It’s told from Uncle Ben’s perspective, and talks about that he always told Peter as a child that his father would be proud of him.  Yet this never cheered Peter up.  Why?  We find out that Peter doesn’t want to hear that his father was proud of him, he wants to hear that Uncle Ben is.  That’s downright touching shit!  I enjoyed this issue overall, and would give it a decent rating.  It could have been alot better, but the timing wasn’t right to shake things up in a major way.

Some characters wern’t so lucky.  I thought Captain America’s issue was a waste of my time, and just did more to set up Reborn.  You find out that Steve might not be dead.  Great.  That revelation took up a grand total of two pages.  The rest was just didn’t catch my attention, and nothing worthwhile happened.  Then there are some worthless backstories that came off as filler.  There was one good story about an auction of Captain America memorabilia, which shows the impact he’s had on everyday people.  And then we have the Hulk’s special issue.  I havn’t been a fan of all this Red Hulk stuff, and the current overarching story has been pretty poor.  The issue itself didn’t have a great premise, and there is way too much jumping around.  All of the sudden certain characters show up, disappear, get kidnapped.  Some it makes sense, alot of it doesn’t.  The story just wasn’t told well, dialogue was annoying, and the artwork was mediocre.  Nothing about the issue was appealing, and the highlight was that Bruce Banner can no longer be the Hulk.  This was a pretty meaningless moment, since we know that A) the Hulk is coming back in a matter of months (recent issues have said it blatantly as well) and that B) the means of this depowering were left unexplained.  Something “big” happened, sure, but it’s not even going to last for an entire year.  So why do I care?

We have one more issue to look at.  Deadpool #900.  Anyone can tell that Deadpool is nowhere close to 900 issues, so this is all one big joke.  The issue was somewhere in the middle of the pack as well.  Some hilarious moments, sure, but some pretty lousy ones too.  Not the best Deadpool issue ever, but a good one.  Still don’t know exactly why they felt the need to have it all though.

Lesson learned?  Anniversary issues can be great excuses to tell great stories.  And they can also be chances to hype up something pointless.  I highly suggest you pick up the Thor and Daredevil anniversary issues, even if they might be a bit tricky to find.  Get them in trades if possible.  If you like the characters but arn’t into comics, these will be a great place to jump off.  If you don’t like the characters, read them to get a look at how interesting they can be.

We continue our look on the Batman movie franchise with Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.  If I could summarize these movies, I would do so in two words: rubber nipples.  Just check out the costumes….

I should stop my article right there and allow us to forget the experience.  But hey, you’ve been scarred enough already.

So….Batman Forever.  Not an awful movie by any means.  Val Kilmer comes off as cold and aloof, which is a bit fitting for Bruce Wayne.  It’s a shame he comes off as too cold.  There’s not enough personality and I never find myself caring about him.  Chris O’donnell makes a pretty decent Robin, which is saying alot considering how much I don’t care for the character as a sidekick.  Nicole Kidman’s character is a simple damsel in distress, and felt kind of pointless.  She was almost a love interest for the sake of having a love interest.  The biggest problem of the movie though, is the same as Batman Returns; it’s all about the villains.  Now Jim Carrey does make for a fun Riddler.  He’s not at his best, but he still pretty damn funny to watch.  Too bad they missed what makes the character unique and compelling.  The Riddler isn’t some Joker rip off.  He’s clever, witty, and has a crippling case of OCD.  In the movie, he was crazy, but his love of riddles was more of a hobby than a compulsion.  It’s his inability to resist making these puzzles that makes him crazy, and they failed to illustrate that.  They did even worse with Two-Face.  Two-Face is one of Batman’s greatest foes, and there is a great element of tragedy in the character.  Instead, he’s some crazy mob boss.  He’s reduced to a raving lunatic, and I’m surprised they didn’t give him a mustache to twirl.  The movie missed out on the elements that make these two unique and interesting villains.  Instead, we get two simple nut jobs.  Frequently entertaining nut jobs, but nut jobs nonetheless.

The story itself wasn’t much better.  The writers tried to throw in a theme about the duality of Bruce Wayne and Batman.  Not a bad theme.  Too bad they didn’t actally explore it.  They tell us that Bruce has this struggle.  Then at the end, they tell us he’s resolved it.  They never actually try to understand why he has this problem or how it affects him.  The plot isn’t too entertaining other.  There’s no suspense, and it feels like the movie is running on autopilot.  Edward Nigma goes bad.  Two Face kills Robin’s parents.  Heroes learn to team up and defeat the bad guys.  That’s the movie in a nutshell.  It’s not a bad movie, and could have been much worse.  It’s just that it could have been SO much better.

And then we have Batman and Robin, the movie that every comic book fan loves to rip into.  And who can blame them?  The movie took away all the things that made Batman cool and sent him back to the Adam West days.  I mean, they even brought back the Bat family.  All they were missing was Batmite and Ace the Bathound (although that dog was awesome in Batman Beyond).  Gone is the tormented Bruce Wayne, and the dark, realistic, or noir tones.  Batman became just another crime fighter, and Clooney was horribly miscast.  That’s just not Bruce Wayne.  Clooney comes off as too light hearted, and not nearly driven enough.  Batman isn’t interesting just because he fights criminals.  He’s a hero with the highest goals and the strongest moral code, yet he acts almost like a villain.  Batman should be f@#” terrifying to the criminal underworld.  Instead he’s like Superman, and feels comfortable going out and hosting fashion shows in his costume (or whatever that was).  The rest of the cast wasn’t better.  Poison Ivy was awful, Batgirl was annoying, and Bane was reduced to drooling henchman.  Then we have Arnold as Mr. Freeze.  The current governor of California is the king of one liners (see: Commando), but even he didn’t have the ability to make the character work.  And wait, since when was Mr. Freeze big enough to crush Batman in his giant armored gauntlet?

I’m sorry, I just can’t do this anymore.  Batman and Robin ruined the franchise.  At least Clooney had the decency to admit it.  Instead of realistic or noir Gotham, we got a neon concrete jungle.  That just doesn’t work.  I haven’t been able to force myself to watch the whole thing for some time now, but it’s too painful.  I’m going to end this review by reminding you that Schumacher did want to do another Batman movie after this one.  Yet Batman and Robin was so bad, so mind numbingly cheesy, it actually ended the run of one of the most successful characters of all time.  It took a complete overhaul to bring him back.  Luckily, we’re going to talk all about that tomorrow.

Thor looks to be ready to go.  The sets are built, and word is that all the parts have been cast.  We get another actor on board.  Idris Elba will be playing Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard who generally likes to keep things in line.  I wouldn’t expect this to be a massive role, but in future films I could see him getting a fair amount of face time.  Along with Balder, Sif, and the Warriors Three, Heimdall is one of the more important Asgardians. 

Hey, wait a second…

Not to point out the obvious, but Elba is black.  The Asgardians are usually drawn as Norse looking, seeing as they are Norse gods.  Heimdall is no exception.  Sure Hogun is being played by an Asian actor, but he should be since he’s not actually from Asgard.  But Heimdall (to my knowledge) has never been a non-Asgardian.  So, I figured this would be a great chance to talk a bit about race, loyalty to the comics, and the integrity of the characters.

Needless to say, this is a departure from how the character is portrayed.  But should race matter?  If an actor is a good actor, then shouldn’t he get the part?  Shouldn’t we be able to look past race?  Yes and no.  To some degree, you have to stay loyal to the source material.  And race is part of a character’s identity.  With some characters you can be flexible with these portrayals.  Others, not so much.  Captain American should have that all-American look, and it part of his character that he was the son of Irish immigrants.  He needs to have the blue eyes and blonde hair too.  Thats just part of his identity.  When you change his origin, you start making a different character, which is usually a change for the worse.

My ultimate verdict on this topic is that if a character’s race is truly important to their identity, stay with the comics.  If it’s not, then the studios should feel confortable taking a bit of freedom on the issue.  So, is it alright that Heimdall is being portrayed by a black actor?  At first, yes.  I think he’s a great actor and I’ve enjoyed him in everything I’ve seen him in.  You might know him from Rock’n'Rolla or his few episodes on the Office.  I think that you can have an Asgard where not every character looks Scandanavian.  It will feel a bit more like traditional fantasy, rather than specifically Norse legend and nothing else.  So yeah, he’s a cool choice, and I don’t think it will detract from the character or Asgard.  The problem?  He’s Sif’s brother.  This would be a case where race doesn matter, since I just won’t believe this guy is the brother of Jamie Alexander.  I don’t know if they’re going to ignore their brother/sister relationship (it’s not exactly a big plot element), but it’s a small change that I don’t care too much about.  The movie is about Thor.  You can take a some liberties with the supporting cast.

 So all in all, I think that Elba is another inspired choice on Marvel’s part.  This movie is going to rock, and I’m looking forward to the blending of traditional fantasy and superheroes.  They’re has been nothing really like it before.  Imagine if in the Return of the King, Thor popped up at the Black Gates.  That’s what I’m hoping out of Thor.  And with an established quality cast, I have no more doubts that this movie is going to be a huge success.