This includes some spoilers for Suicide Squad. I have left most of the major plot spoilers out, but if you want to go into the movie completely fresh, and you haven’t seen it yet, wait until you watch the movie to read this review. You have been warned!
The first San Diego Comic Con trailer that I want to talk about is the one for Justice League. In part, because it was the film I was the most pessimistic about. I disliked Batman V Superman, I disliked Man of Steel, so the idea of Zack Snyder getting his hands on the rest of these characters for an ensemble film—and an important one at that—seemed like it just couldn’t end well. But, after the trailer, and after watching Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of Batman V Superman, I am feeling a bit more positive.
The trailer opens with Bruce Wayne tracking down Arthur Curry aka Aquaman in a fishing village. It has the same dark tone that we are used to in these films, and while I’m still not thrilled with their insistence on making Aquaman look gritty and badass (because he just doesn’t look like Aquaman), Jason Momoa does a pretty good job of selling me whatever it is he is actually trying to do here. He immediately shows his strength by lifting Bruce Wayne up and pinning him against the wall, he is heralded as a protector and hero of this fishing village, which lends some credibility to the virtuosity that we have come to expect from this character, and his refusal to help actually plays into Aquaman’s major antagonistic plot element. He’s the king of Atlantis, but is also from the surface world, so intervening with surface affairs is problematic for him politically. Actually, in general, this part in this trailer does a better job of convincing viewers that Aquaman is more than just a guy who can talk to fish than Aquaman Rebirth #1 did, because this trailer shows his strength and the complexities in his character, and doesn’t feel the need to tell us about it.
What really sold me on this trailer, though, was the scene with Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen. I admit that I am slightly biased here. I love the Flash, and so when Bruce Wayne said “Barry Allen” upon Barry’s entrance into his apartment, I internally squealed. That said, what I liked most about this scene was that it was funny. I’ve said it before; comic books (at least superhero comic books from DC and Marvel) should be fun. Sometimes they are dark, sometimes they are serious, but primarily they are an escape. They are there for enjoyment, and this is something that for the last two movies, I felt DC/WB didn’t understand. But this whole trailer shows some lightness in the dialogue and interactions between characters that gives me hope. I shouldn’t really be surprised. In the wake of BvS, WB decided to do Suicide Squad reshoots, because it was, apparently, not funny enough. That should suggest that they realize that humor and lightness is important to the success of this franchise.
I do wish Ray Fisher’s Vic Stone aka Cyborg got a bit more time in this trailer, because I’m still not sure what to make of him. His interaction with Batman towards the end of the trailer has a very serious and down to business attitude about it, but if the rest of the character interactions are any indication, I don’t think he’ll be like that for the whole movie. And if he doesn’t say “Booyah” at least once in this film, I will be disappointed.
The last thing that we REALLY got out of this film is our first real look of these character’s costumes in action and I… Am not really a fan? The Flash is wearing this weird armor-like costume? I’m sure they will explain why in the film, but, seriously, if they wanted to do Injustice that badly, just make an Injustice movie.
(please, actually, make an Injustice movie. That would be amazing).
Vic Stone’s costume is… fine, but it looks oddly like he’s made of crystal or something? It may have been the light. I’m still not thrilled with Aquaman’s costume, as I said earlier. Come on! What’s wrong with the orange scales? But costumes aside, what we have seen of these characters gives me some hope for the film.
All-in-all, though, if this trailer is indicative of the writing in the film, and if they keep this ratio of lightness to grimdark within the film, I think it will be a pleasant surprise. I am cautiously optimistic.
This analysis contains spoilers for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition. If you have not seen this movie, reading this post will spoil MAJOR parts of it for you. Continue to read at your own risk.
Sorry I disappeared for a while. Pokemon Go and like family stuff ate my life, but I’m back now, and HOLY CRAP did stuff happen to talk about. SDCC is full of news and trailers and just too much stuff for me to talk about here. I also have comics to talk about, and some movies to review, and this is just going to be a very busy time for this little blog. So stay tuned. A lot of stuff should be going up in the next week or so, and then next week is GenCon, so… there will be stuff from that.
This review contains some spoilers for Titans Rebirth #1! If you have not read that comic yet, and you care about spoilers, DO NOT READ THIS! You have been warned.
This list contains some spoilers for Action Comics #957, Aquaman Rebirth #1, Batman Rebirth #1, Detective Comics #934, Flash Rebirth #1, Green Arrow Rebirth #1, Green Lanterns Rebirth #1, Superman Rebirth #1, and Wonder Woman Rebirth #1. Some of the spoilers are minor and some are not, it also contains some spoilers for the DC Rebirth event comic, so if you haven’t read any of those and you care about spoilers, do not read this list until you do!
This analysis of the DC Universe Rebirth event comic contains MAJOR spoilers about the comic! If you have not read it and care about spoilers, do NOT read further. You have been warned!
Okay. So, I love Star Wars. This is no secret. If you read my review of The Force Awakens, I make it pretty evident. But, I want to talk about an unfortunate fact of the Star Wars film franchise that no one really ever talks about: the fact that the plots are primarily focused on force users. Don’t get me wrong! I love Jedi. I think the force is awesome. Lightsabers are awesome, and I will watch as many lightsaber battles as they want to put on screen. Seriously. But, one of the wonderful things about the Star Wars universe is how deep and complex and interesting it is. There’s a history there, and some of the most interesting characters we have run into are not Jedi. The problem is, that Star Wars, at least the main film series, is, in essence, a superhero story, as I point out here. And when you are writing a superhero story, it’s hard for your plot not to focus on the superheroes and supervillains. What people forget, I think, is that there was a 19 year gap between the birth of the Galactic Empire and the start of A New Hope where the only people openly using the force were Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. During this period, our stories necessarily have to be about our non-superpowered heroes, which is why when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was announced I got REALLY excited.
This is a movie about all of the cool stuff in the Star Wars universe that isn’t magic. Sure. There will be some force stuff in there. They are stealing Death Star plans, it would be weird if we didn’t get an image of Vader, and, in fact, we seem to in the trailer (maybe?), but, nevertheless, what we are going to be seeing here is the first film not focused around a Jedi’s journey, but, instead, on a group of extraordinary badass rebels with no superpowers backing them up. That’s cool! And it gives the film makers the opportunity to dive into aspects of the Star Wars universe that often go unexplored. So let’s talk about what we can gather from the trailer.
At just under two minutes, the trailer isn’t very long, but it’s phenomenal! The amount that they are able to pack into this trailer is truly impressive, and I don’t mean content-wise, though we get some great content. But this is a trailer that understands how to get you excited. We see some great shots. That shot with the rebels rushing in against the AT-ATs is so stunning. And the trailer does an excellent job of showing us a blend of the Episode IV-VI aesthetic with the old rebel helmets and the Imperial star destroyers, and the new look and feel of Episode VII, with its beautiful blend of practical and CG-rendered effects that take advantage of modern technology, but still feel like Star Wars. What we do get a lot of in this trailer is a look at Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso. We get to see her in combat with some storm troopers, both in melee and with a blaster, we see her being a spy in her tie-fighter pilot disguise, and, most importantly, we get to know more about her personality in her interview with Mon Mothma: “This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel.” Also, we see a shot of the Death Star being assembled, which made the 10 year old me so giddy with excitement that I almost couldn’t contain him. And to top it off, we get our first chance to listen to Alexandre Desplat’s score, which sounds AMAZING. I was a little concerned at there being a Star Wars movie without John Williams, but Desplat kills it. The trailer ends with what sounds like a blend of the Imperial March and The Force Theme (except slowed down), and it sounds haunting and mysterious and just gives me chills. I am very excited for this film. December is much too far away.
We stand on the precipice of yet another DC reboot event. Even though DC has made a point to everyone that this is NOT a reboot, when you are changing your lineup of characters to this degree and shaking up your universe in order to create a new, more palatable one for new readers, that’s a reboot. Sorry, DC. Anyway, DC Rebirth is the newest attempt from DC to rebrand itself in a way that fixes whatever people didn’t like about the New 52 lineup. And for the first time since the New 52 reboot in 2011, I am REALLY excited about the changes that are happening. It seems like DC has finally realized that they messed up when they made the New 52, and so they want to do their best to put things back the way they were. So what are they doing to accomplish that, and why am I so excited?
Well, first of all, they are reverting a lot of characters to their Pre-52 looks or close to it. Nightwing is back in blue, Tim Drake is actually back in some version of his Robin costume, but, more importantly, he’s not Batman Beyond anymore. Speaking of that, Terry McGinnis is alive again and back to being the Batman of the future. Stephanie Brown is Spoiler and in a larger role than she had in the New 52. Pre-52 Superman is becoming the main Superman again. And there are several other moves in that direction.
So all of that is good, but, in addition to that, DC is bringing back good, classic writers like Greg Rucka, who will be working on Wonder Woman. They seem to be very focused on their creative teams this time around, which is great. It’s always good when comic publishers realize the difference that a good creative team makes. A great example of this is the upcoming All-Star Batman title, which promises to match the artist for each arc up with the villain of that arc. The details on this are a little slim, but I am assuming something like “Okay. This upcoming arc involves the Joker. Who is the best Joker artist we can get?” Which is a pretty cool idea that really places the focus on the art of the issue. I’m super excited about that title.
That isn’t to say that DC is totally giving up on what they have done in the last 5 years. They have said that they want to keep the things that they liked (by which, I assume, they mean their readers liked) like the new Batgirl costume, the addition of Jessica Cruz as the first female green lantern, who will have a much larger role in this upcoming universe, a greater move towards racial diversity by keeping, for example, the new-52 Wally West, etc.
I am very excited about all of this. The event starts with a universe-wide Rebirth issue on May 25th, and then the individual issues start in June. Everyone will get a one shot “Rebirth” issue and then move forward into a new #1 issue, most of which will be released twice a month, instead of the once a month schedule DC has been going with. Perhaps to compensate for the more frequent releases, the price is dropping from $3.99 an issue to $2.99 an issue. All of the titles that have been announced so far look great, but I will especially be picking up Detective Comics (it’s where they are putting Tim Drake for now, and my wife is a big Tim Drake fan), Teen Titans, Titans, and All-Star Batman just to check them out. From there, I will probably wait for the trades, but I may pick up some other titles depending on certain life factors (like money).
For a complete list of titles, Newsarama has a pretty good list with release dates, so check that out here.
This review contains some spoilers for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, though, I am leaving out the most significant spoiler that wasn’t in the trailer. If you want to remain thoroughly unspoiled, please avoid reading this review until after you see the movie.
Critical Geekery 