So lately I have been going through information on some of the upcoming comic book adaptations. It all started with Garth Ennis’ Preacher on HBO. This, I already knew may be destined for disaster, but I thought I’d do a little more research to convince me otherwise. Like Kris said at the Greenville Comic-Con [Mark Steven Johnson is only the producer on it so how much damage can he cause?] Well, that made me feel better. At least until I looked up some real info on the Internet and found this from Newsarama:
That’s right. MSJ is writing the adaptation! And yes. That is the same guy responsible for both Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and the one they don’t mention because even compared to those to it sucks, Elektra. How does he keep getting work on comic movies? Well, I take partial responsibility for that. We wanted to review Ghost Rider for the show, so we went and saw it. Bad review or not (which it was) we still bought those damn tickets, which in turn boosted that crap writers numbers. I say here and now there will be no more of that. I expected a bad movie and I got a bad movie. Next time I expect a bad movie you will be hearing my review after it reaches HBO. But I digress.
* I’ve recently read that this next part of the rant is outdated, but it still pertains to the scope of the rant. Just the fact that it was attempted pisses me off. Word is there is no named director at the moment, but rumor is hoping for Robert Rodriguez. Now that I can get behind.
Okay so MSJ is “just” adapting it. Thank god he’s not directing it, right? We for director we have Howard Deutch. And you are right again. That is the guy who directed “Pretty in Pink.” Cause when I think a kick ass Garth Ennis adaptation I thin, “Get me the Guy who directed Pretty in Pink!” But don’t worry he has experience with action movies. He also directed The Whole 10 Yards. What do you mean you don’t consider that an action movie? OK. OK. He directed “The Great Outdoors” and that movie is great, but it sure as hell is no HBO series Preacher.
So there is my venting on the Preacher adaptation. Let me take a break preemptive bitching and say that Iron Man looks like it could be sweet ass. At least it looks exciting. You gotta give it that. And the suit looks awesome. The only complaint that I have so far is that they decided to use Black Sabbath’s Iron Man and the trailer music and I think that is just lame. Well that and I’m not a fan of the Super Hero in the Middle East thing, but let me feel that one out first before I really complain.
OK. Back to venting. This next one I don’t really know how I feel about and that is Mark Millar’s “WANTED.” It looks like it could be a really cool, exciting movie. Guns, violence, hot chicks. But, here’s the thing, according to the trailer and IMDB its not going to be WANTED. Its going to be a movie with the same name as the book. Its going to have the name of the main character and supporting female, but that looks to be about it. Oh, and he shoots a gun and his dad dies. But where are the super villains? Where is the professor? Where is that sweet WANTED plot? Sure the plot might be good, but it isn’t WANTED. Why not just do a movie loosely based on a stolen idea and call it Former Pussy With a Gun? Why adapt a book if you aren’t going to adapt a book? The title WANTED sure as hell isn’t going to bring people into the seats just because it is based on that book. Hell I read WANTED “again” last night and about10 pages into it I realized that I had already read it before and I remember loving it and I loved it again.
Anyway, its not that the movie looks bad, but it isn’t WANTED. I don’t care what they call it. WANTED has a good plot with great characters. I say use them damn it or don’t at all, but its too late for that. Oh well. Maybe someday they will have comic fans who can adapt and direct take these things so everyone can like them. I mean hell it worked for Spider-Man (sorta).
Dollar Bin