Film Shrapnel

I tried to watch the Punisher film on Channel 5 tonight (the new one, not the Lundgren one), and boy is that film a mess. I don't want to diss the man that gave me Die Hard With A Vengeance, but this was all over the place.

I stopped watching about two-thirds of the way through, so if the end redeemed it I'll retract this criticism.

The Punisher as a comicbook character doesn't really work on film. The reason is, he became a comic version of films like Dirty Harry and Death Wish in the first place. It's a superhero-ised revenge movie. When you transfer it back into film, it just seems wrong. In fact, it seems just like a superhero-ised revenge movie. Which isn't good.

You could tell they didn't know what it was supposed to be. Tragic events and comic fight scenes, scenery-chewing Travolta and grim faced Thomas Jane, torture but no violence.

It was one of those films where you can think of a million ways to make it better, and are amazed they didn't think of any of them.

The only saving grace was Kevin Nash getting scalded. But that's not quite enough for a thumbs-up.

Since the superhero movie revival started with X-Men (only 8 years ago), it's been a pretty mixed bag. As a recovering comics nerd (7 years since my last score of superhero wackiness), I feel I have the background knowledge and the emotional distance to give my thoughts on the main examples of this new wave. So here are some capsule reviews.

X-Men - Very good, exceeding everyone's expectations

Spider-Man - Great casting, great visuals, a real treat after a long wait

The Hulk - Ugly, flawed, not as bad as many people think. The Hulk is a difficult concept to mess up, but Ang Lee (don't enrage him) managed it somehow. Let's see if they can save it with the sequel (Gary Neville as The Abomination is a good start).

X-Men 2 - Underrated, Brian Cox rules the world, and Nightcrawler looked great (I didn't think about The High Life once).

Spider-Man 2 - Another Raimi success.

Daredevil - I went in with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. But on second viewing it turns out it was shit.

Fantastic Four - I went in with even lower expectations, and... I didn't think it was that bad. Ok, they totally ruined Dr Doom, but at least the group dynamic was right

Spider-Man 3 - Dreadful

X-Men 3 - Dreadful

Batman Begins (token DC entry) - Fine, good, enjoyable, but nothing special.

The rest (Electra, Catwoman, Fantastic Four 2, Ghost Rider, etc) I haven't seen, but none of them seem too appealing.

So, the comicbook movie boom looks to be faltering after an excellent start. One could be pessimistic about future adaptation. But one would only be pessimistic if he or she hadn't seen this yet:



This makes me do a little fanboy dance. It even has Jeff Bridges in it.

Sorry for a whole nerd entry. I'll try not to let it happen too often.