This year's massive Comic-Con event took place between Thursday 22nd July and Sunday 25th July, held, as ever, in San Diego. Over the four days a whole showcase of panels presenting upcoming, much-anticipated movies took place, entertaining thousands of eager film geeks. I am just going to talk a small amount about the films that most grabbed my attention.
SUCKER PUNCH
I already mentioned this as one that particularly stood out to me this year. Maybe it's just the hot girls. But it looks like it will be a whole lot of fun, even if it doesn't really make much in the way of sense. I'm interested to see how Snyder will deal with an all-girl cast having worked with predominantly male casts before on both 300 and Watchmen. It will be especially interesting to see what kind of a performance he can muster from, say, Vanessa Hudgens, who is certainly untested in a more meaty dramatic role. But then if Zac Efron can make the transition from High School Musical to an effective and well-respected performance in a more dramatically challenging role (Me and Orson Welles), then there is nothing to say Hudgens cannot do the same. It will remain to be seen how the cast work as a cohesive unit, each of them having such different acting backgrounds. Of the lead females, only Carla Gugino has any real experience of working on a stylized action film. Speaking of style, a criticism often thrown at Zach Snyder is his predilection for style over substance. The Sucker Punch trailer has probably not done a lot to silence these critics, but we will wait and see. One thing seems sure, that this film will continue Snyder's knack for remarkable and innovative visuals. Whether there will be enough meat to chew on underneath that is something we will discover on March 25th 2011 when the film is released.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
My big concern with this film is Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, The First Avenger, Captain America. I know I may be proved wrong, but I simply don't think he is the right choice for the role. He was enjoyable as The Human Torch in the two fairly awful Fantastic Four films, but he was predominantly the comic relief in those films and hardly showed any truly impressive acting ability. He was better in Sunshine, but this was again as part of an ensemble piece. I'm just not sure of how capable Evans is going to be as a leading man, having to deal with the dramatic material as well as the witty one-liners. Of course, he could easily prove me wrong. I don't agree with a number of fans who have voiced concerns over him playing both Captain America and The Human Torch. Let's face it, most people have already forgotten that those two films even existed. I think the majority of audience members will go in ready to accept Evans as Steve Rogers, until proved otherwise. I do also like the supporting cast, including as it does Samuel L Jackson (as Nick Fury), Hugo Weaving (as The Red Skull), Tommy Lee Jones, Dominic Cooper and Stanley Tucci. So we will see! On the 22nd July 2011 in fact.
THE AVENGERS
Seeing all the cast members of The Avengers up on one stage together must have created one almighty geekgasm. In fairness, I was impressed myself. They do look good together. The anticipation for this film borders on the ridiculous. Bringing together the collective brains and brawn of Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), this could well be the comic book movie to end all comic book movies. It could also, equally, be a disaster, very much a case of too many cooks spoil the broth. What keeps me positive about this film's success is the sight of another man up on that stage. Joss Whedon. A massive film and comic book geek himself, Whedon knows what the fans want. He is also, quite simply, a fantastic director. You can clearly see and hear just how much this job means to him, and how much he wants to do it justice. And in his hands The Avengers may well be the movie event of 2012.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD
My most eagerly anticipated film of the next couple of months. I've read some fantastic early reviews on Twitter from people who attended the premiere. Hilarious, and with great fight scenes too. It will be nice to see what looks like a return to form for Michael Cera, who has dipped recently into a bit of a typecast. It will also be fantastic to see Edgar Wright be provided with the money and scale that his directorial talents so deserve. The story looks great, the visuals great, the humour great. Dealing with, essentially, Scott Pilgrim's (Cera) quest to defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win her heart, this could be a complete winner. Out in the UK on the 25th August.
GREEN LANTERN
Though never a comic book or character that particularly caught my attention, Green Lantern is still a film that I will keep my eye on. I especially like the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. As the sharp-tongued Deadpool, he was easily the best thing about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it will be interesting to see him turn his attentions to another superhero character. IMDb pointed out a sweet exchange at the Comic-Con event where a young fan went up to Reynolds, who recited the Green Lantern oath to him while they each held up their power rings. Incredibly geeky, I know, but it shows just how much this means to Reynolds and how much he is likely to put into his performance. Plus, he's probably just provided that kid with the highlight of his young life. Green Lantern is due out on the 17th June 2011.
Honourable mentions should also go to TRON LEGACY, which comes 28 years after the original Tron film and which brings up some interesting discussions about modern film technology (which I may talk about in a later blog), featuring as it does a 30 years-younger Jeff Bridges, thanks to the wonders of motion capture.
Also, Jon Favreau's COWBOYS AND ALIENS< which features Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano, and revolves around the very clash stated in the title. In the comic book film anticipation stakes, THOR ranks pretty highly. Released in the UK on 20th May 2011, the most intriguing thing is possibly the director Kenneth Branagh. Known mainly for Shakesperean dramas it will be very interesting to see how he handles such a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. The film also has a solid supporting cast consisting of Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard.
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