It appears Hollywood is cashing in on the desire to see revamps of the comic book classics; what with X Men: First Class, Spiderman, The Avengers and now a new Superman, as well as the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises I think its time I wrote a post on our all new heroes and villains.
Warner Bros. have cast Henry Cavill as the new Superman who played one of Henry VIII’s advisors in The Tudors and Christopher Nolan is said to be a mentor on the project, with his brother helping to write the modern incarnation of a beloved superhero. Seeing as they are the masterminds behind Inception this is exciting stuff, especially considering that many of the keyplayers at the helm of this reboot, as well as at the forefront are British. I’ll come onto Andrew Garfield and Christian Bale later, but its a refreshing nod toward British cinema. On the contrary, the rumour mill is churning out some not so savoury ‘buzz’ in the form of Kristen Stewart who is supposedly at the top of the list to play Lois Lane, but watch this space, we heard a dozen names linked to Lisbeth Salander in Finch’s remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and none of whom I remember being Rooney Mara. The big question on most people’s lips concerning the industry’s sudden obsession with comic book remakes is do we really need another? Well considering that many considered Superman Returns disappointing this could be a way to revitalise the franchise and appeal to a modern audience; look what Nolan did for Batman. An interesting article with him regarding the new Superman claimed that they have a “fantastic story” and “know how to get it done right”. Let’s hope so.
Now for X-Men: First Class, Empire had a preview spread on this today and all I can say is I am mega-excited. The cast looks brilliant…
The movie is also going back to the formative years of Professor X and thus set in the early days of the 60’s, so should have a iconic, classic vibe to it, plus it means we get to see newbies like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Rose Byrne putting their twist on the characters and hopefully Vaughn will inject some fresh creativity into the film. Furthermore Vaughn has reassured his fanboys that he has the best intentions for his X-Men film. I think what we’re seeing is a shift away from the glossy, action packed superhero movies of recent times and starting to portray a more realistic, character driven version; whilst remaining faithful to the mythology created in the X-Men comics and therefore not betraying its history. Its obviously a thin line between compromising continuity and respect for the other films without treading old territory in terms of the story and the telling of it and as Empire says “the recasting is the obvious focal point”. I’m giving this a thumbs up.
I don’t have much to say about Spiderman, I quite liked the Tobey Maguire version however the major draw for me is this…
Plus Emma Stone is playing Gwen Stacy. A lot of the success of the previous Spiderman franchise was accredited to the unconventional casting of Maguire, so I guess they’re trying to recreate some of that magic, but as with X-Men taking it in a new direction and harking back to the older days.
Saving the best for last, its The Dark Knight Rises. There has been much furore surrounding the casting of Anne Hathway as Selina Kyle, I’m not going to dismiss her right off the bat (no pun intended) because Nolan obviously chose her for a reason. I think she might be able to pull off the psychological darkness of Catwoman; after seeing Rachel Getting Married as well as the sexiness; Love and Other Drugs, we’ll just have to wait and see. Also super happy at the casting of Joseph Gordon Levitt in a mystery role and Tom Hardy as Bane; both were top notch in Inception, so their second collaboration with Nolan will be highly anticipated. Nolan is purposefully very guarded about his films, but as its his last Batman film I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls out all the stops. Let’s hope the saying things can only get better applies here. If so, 2012 could be an amazing year for movies.
Nicole Davis 