I Like This Job – I Like It!
Today, I wanted to express my gratitude for movies inspired by, based on, and made about comic book stories. After a few certain movies that I won’t mention (cough’daredevil’catwoman’fantasticfouroneandtwo’cough), it looked as though these kind of movies were being made for the sake of gathering money from the public. But the past few such movies have perhaps turned that particular page (for this summer, at least). The movies still have commercial qualities in them; crazy special effects (I loved the Skyhook and the somersaulting truck in Dark Knight), deliberately long action sequences, and violent gasp-worthy fight scenes. But there is also artistic integrity, more respect for the original story’s intention and a new love for painstaking attention towards morals and responsibility (Dark Knight piled it on, but I’m also talking about Guillermo del Toro’s action sequence between Hellboy and the last forest god).
The artwork of a comic is usually what draws the eye towards the story. Hellboy is pulpy, uses thin lines but thick blocks of colors such as red and black. Guillermo del Toro was able to play up these features in film form; the settings were usually many shades of the same color, and the colors took care to be the same temperature. Hellboy would stand in his crimson glory, just jutting out of the shadows- stylized in the way of Mike Mignola (the creator). Batman was a bit of a different story, there were many fantastic artists working on that comic, and Christopher Nolan was faced with a choice. Batman Begins was dark and moody, but the Dark Knight had more color and less exposure on it. The main villain, Joker, was never a shadow, he was a perversion of light behind the shadow. He wore purple and green clothing and had a bright white face. Since the rest of the comic was dark, color was something artists can fall back on when creating the Joker on screen/in the book. Christopher Nolan’s version expertly used this brilliant expression of evil in his own Joker, creating one of the most demented, strange, chaotic villains on screen – and that was before Joker spoke a word.
The artwork really builds the characters and story, and that kind of strong and caring foundation allows the audience to fall in love with the personalities created for them. Now that I know that there are directors that care about the films they’re making, all I can say is that I’m pretty damn excited for Watchmen.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 am
Thank you for telling me not the story,what happed
in those two movies, but the artistic qualities and the actors work. It’s what make movies work!
The way you describe the use of color effects in the
movies is phenomenal!
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
What’s also interesting is that while comic movies have always cast big names (Nicholson, Clooney, Reeves), few have really given actors the opportunity to shine. Yes, the original Superman is good, but it’s not exactly an actor’s piece. It seems like lately, the roles are more complex, more interesting (I’m thinking The Joker in Dark Knight, Iron Man, etc.). And like you said, other elements are becoming better as well…particularly the look of the films.
I really think that Frank Miller (Sin City) and Zack Snyder (300) were a big part of it.
The big concern now will be whether style will ever overtake substance.
Watchmen will be a big test of this. The book is TOTALLY substance over style, so it will be interesting to see whether the movie can bring the look up a notch without losing any integrity on the content front.
Great entry!
August 14th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
August 30th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Thanks!