Reboots!

     The world has a problem!  Well actually the world has a ton of problems but only one has any effect on this blog.  That problem I speak of is reboots, re-imaginings and remakes of popular properties.  Comic book films are a huge one in this arena but they are not alone to say the least.  Every few years a new director comes along and thinks he or she can make the movie better than it already was previously.  It's not only new directors either, some are proven and acclaimed directors that believe the same thing.  Some pictures were done the correct way the first time and need no other story, no other change.  Okay, so I may have to rephrase that a bit.  They weren't done correctly, they were done better the previous time.  Although, that is not the case all the time.  Sometimes the best one is the first redo of the property and sometimes it's the last one.  Not all are created equal in this respect.
     The biggest, most overused films for this are comic book films.  And the most amusing part and also the most disturbing part is no director has gotten them right yet.  How can you mess it up when most of the well known comic characters were written decades upon decades ago?  The story is already there!  Just film it the way it was meant to be told!  I mean most everyone already knew the origin of Spider-Man so when you don't do it right people get upset.  And not just comic fans.  Or the filmmakers get the hero origin correct but completely destroy the villain.  You can't just take out a part or add a part because it fits "your" story better!  Let's get one thing straight here Hollywood!  There is no such thing as "YOUR" story!  There is only the story that was written all those years ago that got famous in the first place.  So, if it was good enough then, why is it not good enough now?  I mean seriously, how would the filmmakers like it if they had a story all those years ago that they were proud of and some douche bag comes along and changes the whole thing?  Sometimes I may be able to overlook the change if the film itself is enjoyable but I would still like it to be the way it was originally written.  Occasionally a film is released that is one of these but the audience knows already it is a different version of the character from a different universe but was still one of the original comic stories.  

     I will continue to look at Spider-Man for this first part.  Back in 2002 Sam Raimi released Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire as the webslinger.  While it wasn't terrible, it still needed some help.  Maquire was halfway decent, J.K. Simmons was perfect and Kirsten Dunst was horribly atrocious.  But this article isn't really on the acting so much the film as a whole.  So, the origin story was done partly right here.  Partly, because all they managed to get right was he was bitten by a radioactive spider.  All other aspects were changed to fit the filmmakers vision.  Which I said before, the vision was already done decades before, all you had to do was film it.  Willem Dafoe was a perfect choice as Green Goblin but too bad they destroyed him.  Instead of a green goblin we get a crazy dude wearing green armor!  It really is a shame they had to do that to what could have been the best version of the Goblin.  

     Two years later we got one that most, including myself, consider one of the best comic book films to date in Spider-Man 2.  This is just so much better than the previous outing with the one exception being Kirsten Dunst was brought back.  She really kills these for me.  Alfred Molina does Doc Ock about as perfect as they come, although he doesn't look like the original character he still does it good.  And besides Elton John just wasn't available at the time, cause let's face it, he looks like the comic version.

     Now three years after that perfection we are delighted with a hodgey podgey thrown together story that should have been the Spider-Man crowning achievement.  But, as everyone knows, it was terrible.  Had so much potential in the Black Suit Spider-Man and the appearance of Venom!  Instead they throw in the stupid ass New Goblin!  I'm sorry, but I do not remember that one from the comics.  With all the characters in the Spider-Man universe there is no need to make up new ones for a film.  That's not the only problem here, the guy they chose to play the absolutely huge Eddie Brock is...Topher Grace?  WTF?  That was the guy that popped into their heads when they thought of Spider-Man's greatest enemy?  I will give this film one thing and that is it has great effects.  But it still killed the franchise.

     After five years and the ownership of Spider-Man about to be hanging in the balance Sony reboots it.  So we get the origin story again! Awesome, right?  Hell no!  People want to see Spidey not Peter Parker.  I did love the Lizard and Andrew Garfield.  I loved Emma Stone.  I liked how Spider-Man's web shooters were done right in it.  I liked it better than 2 of the other films for sure.

     In two more years time we get yet another Spidey film and while it has two great looking villains, I still believe they should stick to one for each film.  There really isn't enough time during a film to do backgrounds on 2 separate villains.  It is really cool to watch visually but ultimately falls short in my eyes.
     So all that being said about the Webhead we can see that even though there are two different directors doing two different visions of the same character they still start the downward spiral because they can't for the life of them just follow the comic book story lines.  That would be much easier I think.  Fans would like that it was completely faithful.  And the non fans would watch it no matter what anyway so why not just make it right the first time?

     I am now gonna move onto a different franchise that most non fans love but true fans have extremely mixed views on.  I am talking about the X-Men.  I will say this as quickly as I can.  Since the cinematic X-Men universe began not one of these films has been done right.  Yeah they decided to make First Class but failed to make it about the first First Class!  And they have botched just about every origin story in it as well.  How hard is it to just take from the original story and film it that way?  Why change it?  Anyway I am gonna have to say something now that most people will hate but it has to be said.  Wolverine is not the X-Men!  Yes, X-Men include Wolverine but every single story does not revolve around him at all.  You want to know why?  Because he is a boring ass character.  First off, they have him all wrong.  Hugh Jackman is about a foot too tall to play the character!  Wolverine is like a half tiny person with claws and a bad temper.  That's his story.  So please stop putting him in the center of every one of these films.  Well I guess he was the non center of one and that was First Class, but they made up for it in the sequel!  Not to mention that the idiot that made the first Wolverine stand alone film should never be allowed to make another movie as long as he lives.  He should resort to making commercials about adult diapers from now on because they will be filled with about the same amount of shit as his film was.  That easily could have been one of the best comic based films of all time but no they had to add more characters then I can count and destroy a character that so many people love, I don't particularly like Deadpool but it is quite embarrassing what they did to him.  I will have to emphasize...just follow the original stories please, I am begging you!

     Superman!  Something near and dear to my heart.  The big blue boy scout!  He has been done pretty well over the years, not flawlessly but done pretty well.  Christopher Reeves will forever be known as the hero.  May he rest in peace forever because he will be remembered forever because of this character.  He has been changed as well because of all the different directors that have tried to tackle him.  Even though the more recent Man of Steel film changed somethings about the guys origin I enjoyed this movie immensely because of one thing, Lex Luthor!  What's that you say?  Lex Luthor isn't in it?  Oh right, I know that, that's precisely why I liked it as much as I did.  I very much dislike the character and he has been done to death and was about time Supes could actually fight someone.  I do understand Luthor is the most famous of Supes rogues gallery but come one, that doesn't mean he needs to be in all of them.  Whatever happened to all the other villains he fought in the comics?  Now we have a new Superman film coming down the pipe and guess what?  Lex is making a come back!  Damn!
     
     There have been a few reboot/remakes that I do like and it's not necessarily because they are better films it is because they maybe added something that I like or rather didn't hate.  One of them is Texas Chainsaw Massacre and as most who know me know, I love the 1974 version.  It just brings something new to the table.  Family is still crazy but a different crazy.  Shows Leatherface making his masks, which hadn't been done before.  Also another film I liked over its original counterpart, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.  Star Trek Into Darkness was just a spectacular fun film that was all around well made.  I was never a fan of the original because the film kept saying Khan was a genetically superior super soldier but you never see him do anything but talk...boring!  The remake has him doing the super stuff and it is by far acted way better.

I know this article has been really a mix of stuff from the get go but like I said a few too many times...I am not a true writer.  I do this for fun and sometimes I hope some people will agree with me or not but at least we can talk movies.  I do hope that my original idea of the stick to the material that came first is giving you some thought at least.  But, to explain it a bit simpler my ideas for remakes, reboot and re-imaginings isn't just for films alone.  It goes for comic books, novels and video games.  I just wish that when a person decides to redo an already established property they would at least do some research into it and show the world how it was meant to be seen.  I do not care about someones new take on an old story especially when they want to change most of it.  I really don't know if I got my point across at all but I will see.