9. Reboots
The world of superheroes is rich with character, stories, plot twists and more. Visionary artists and writers have been cranking out loads of content since Prohibition. There is enough content inside those beautifully illustrated tomes to keep the WGA at work for decades. Still, there comes a certain time when it is acceptable to reboot a popular franchise and freshen the story with modern film making techniques, a new cast, and the latest special effects for a new generation. Take, for instance, Batman. There have been three notable additions to the live action franchise.
Batman (1966) featured Adam West as the caped crusader Followed up 23 years later (1989 & 1992) with an inspired performance by Michael Keaton and Tim Burton ... until the series spiraled out of control with Val Kilmer (1995) and George Clooney (1997) Finally, 8 years later with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale at the helm (2005, 2008 and 2011) Good spacing, matched with a dramatically different style with each version. Honestly, if you pretend that two Joel Schumacher movies never existed (as I do), then it makes the spacing between the two movie franchises even more profound, 13 years. Top marks to DC. On the other side ... Spider-Man again. Really? It also started out as an cheap, syndicated show as
The Amazing Spider-Man (1978), but got its real legs with Sam Raimi, nailing it with pitch perfect casting and story line (2002). Just as the Nolan Batman films, the second Raimi film (2004) was even better than the first, tackling Spider-Man's true nemesis, Doctor Octopus. The third film (2007), though, lacked energy ... and a point. Now, only 5 years later, after a very successful trilogy ($2.5 billion), they are going back to the well with a new actor and a new telling of the origin story. By all accounts they are going to try to rip off Nolan's gritty, realistic style. Somehow they are going to do all of that with the Lizard as the main villain and Spider-Man still in Glee club. Gotcha. Can there be a more clear indication that most of Hollywood has lost any pretense of creative authenticity or even imagination? The reboot cycle is getting shorter and shorter. I hear that the new reboot of the Avengers is already in production to be released in 2013. And don't even get me started on the colossal bunghole that is the all of Punisher movies.