To start things off, I'm a big fan of old school Wes Craven. The man is easily one of the greatest horror directors of all time, though sadly he has lost his touch over the last couple of movie (lets not even talk about Cursed). The original Last House on the Left was Craven's big break through, and while it's far from a good film its still one of the most interesting film watching experiences you'll ever have. Craven shows the rape and torture in vivid detail and all while playing happy music over it, but the film also suffers from some of the most awkward and unfunny comedic relief ever in the form of a bumbling sheriff and his deputy. But the final revenge scenes are fun and satisfying, and Craven definately perfected his film formula with his next film, The Hills Have Eyes.
So with remake craze in full effect, Hollywood of course greenlit a remake of Last House. Apparently a goal for this film was to make it easier to watch than the original, and if that was indeed the filmmaker's goal then they accomplished it. In fact, they accomplished it too well.
Yes, this film is easier to watch than the original. The feelings of disgust and discomfort you felt when you watched the original are nowhere to be found, and there in lies the problem. You don't want to watch the girls be tortured and raped, but that is in fact what Craven was trying to accomplish. Wes Craven, above most other horror directors, doesn't seek to glorify the violence in his films but rather show you how vile and repulsive the acts his characters really are. Sad to say but when that repulsiveness is taken away then we really don't have much more to invest in, and that leads to the main problem with the remake.
It's just really fucking boring.
I don't know how someone can make a film that revolves around torture, rape, murder, and revenge boring, but dear lord they do in this movie. The rape scene has to be the longest rape scene in cinema history and the entire time it went on I felt like falling asleep. I should feel something for the poor girl being robbed of her innocence forever but instead I just didn't give two shits. Many times during this movie I honestly felt like I was watching a Disney Channel movie; hell if the violence and rape stuff had been toned down I could totally see Miley Cyrus and her dad starring in this.
There's just a lack of tension or grittiness in this movie, and many times I felt like I was actually watching a student film and not decently budgeted Hollywood film. The frenzied pace of the original is lost for a leisurely feel which never picks up over the course of the film. It seems like the filmmakers wanted to turn the trashy, exploitative feel of the original into a artsy feel, and I'm sorry but the only director that can make an art film out of trash is Quentin Tarantino.
Now not all aspects of this film are bad, the acting more than makes up for the poor script and directing. Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn give heart to the role of the parents in what could have been bland characters . Super underrated character actor Garret Dillahunt carries most of the movie as Krug, the leader of the group of criminals. Sadly, the actors playing Krug's accomplices don't hold up as well, especially the actor playing Krug's son, who just kinda sits around and looks emo the whole movie. Sarah Paxton and the chick from Superbad also do well as the girls in distress (understatement of the year).
But yeah, for the most part I just didn't care what happened in this movie and I really should have. One thing Craven did so well in the original is make you care for the main characters, and really hate their captors. At the end when the parents take revenge on the criminals you cheer the whole time and, sad to say, but you enjoy seeing the pain the criminals inflicted on the girls turned around onto them now. The remake really could have been as intense as the original, but the entire movie plays like the PG rated cut of Last House on the Left.
And just one more nit picky thing, but the one scene I truly loved about the original was cut from this one. Yes, I am talking about the infamous blow job scene, which was probably a little bit ridiculous and unrealistic but I don't care. Sadly, Disney-fied remakes have no room for a scene with a man getting his pee-pee bitten off.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its... Production Delays!
I don't know what it is about Hollywood but for some reason they can't seem to grasp the concept of Superman. It seems that if a superhero isn't dark and brooding then they don't know what to do about him, and that seems to be the case with The Man of Steel. Hell back in the 90's Tim Burton had signed on to direct a Superman film and early scripts actually had Clark Kent meeting with a psychologist on several occasions.
Bryan Singer's attempt to revitalize the series, Superman Returns, was a respectable attempt to capture the spirit of the classic Christopher Reeve films. Which is all well and good but we don't need another Christopher Reeve Superman film, we need Superman for a new generation. For every awesome moment in Superman Returns there were ten boring moments like Supes creeping on Lois Lane's family and his border line retarded Super-Baby. We need a fresh approach to Superman, not an homage to classic films that can never be re-visited (and not a cardboard cut out of Christopher Reeve named Brandon Routh).
After Superman Returns ended up being a box office disappointment, Warner Brothers has been actively pursuing another Superman film, albeit with a fresh take on the character. Then the huge news was dropped not too long ago that Christopher Nolan, the man who resurrected Batman, would be "mentoring" a new Superman film. Just this past week, it was announced that David Goyer, co-writer of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and the Blade movies, has written a script for the new Superman film. Rumors are also persisting that Jonah Nolan, the other writer on the Batman films, has been working with Goyer on the script as well.
At first I was thrilled that the men who saved my favorite superhero from the ashes of bat-nipples and Joel Schumacher, but then I stopped to think about it. Now I have the utmost faith in Nolan who has become one of my favorite directors, and not just for the Batman films, but Nolan deals with thrillers that mostly deal with obsession and self destruction.
Yeah that totally screams Superman.
Superman has always been a hero that stands for hope, even in the darkest of circumstances. For an example of this, check out Superman Birthright. Not only is it a damn thrilling comic, but it successfully updates Superman for our time and delves deeper into what motivates him more than any comic I have previously read. At the end of it, you want to be Superman as well as realize why the character has endured since the 1930's. Now Goyer says his Superman script is "fun" which seems like a step in the right direction, but it seems to me Warner Brothers is hoping lightning will strike twice. Though I have no doubt the Nolan/Goyer Superman film will be interesting, Superman is not dark and angry. The point of Superman is that while other superheroes give into their darker sides, he doesn't.
Even though he's only supervising the new Supes film, Warner Brothers needs to get Nolan where he belongs: The Batman franchise. Nolan does dark, brooding, and obsessive well so keep him with Batman! Give someone else a chance to tackle Superman, there are plenty of other directors out there who would love to jump on that. I want to see the third Batman at least match The Dark Knight in quality, if not surpass it (a tough thing to do). With the entire creative team behind the Bat films now working on Superman movie as well gets me to wonder if something will get lost in translation with both films. Superman and Batman are the two most iconic superheroes of all time (with Spider-Man in a close third) and I think both need to be entirely separate so that each gets the film treatment they deserve.
Bryan Singer's attempt to revitalize the series, Superman Returns, was a respectable attempt to capture the spirit of the classic Christopher Reeve films. Which is all well and good but we don't need another Christopher Reeve Superman film, we need Superman for a new generation. For every awesome moment in Superman Returns there were ten boring moments like Supes creeping on Lois Lane's family and his border line retarded Super-Baby. We need a fresh approach to Superman, not an homage to classic films that can never be re-visited (and not a cardboard cut out of Christopher Reeve named Brandon Routh).
After Superman Returns ended up being a box office disappointment, Warner Brothers has been actively pursuing another Superman film, albeit with a fresh take on the character. Then the huge news was dropped not too long ago that Christopher Nolan, the man who resurrected Batman, would be "mentoring" a new Superman film. Just this past week, it was announced that David Goyer, co-writer of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and the Blade movies, has written a script for the new Superman film. Rumors are also persisting that Jonah Nolan, the other writer on the Batman films, has been working with Goyer on the script as well.
At first I was thrilled that the men who saved my favorite superhero from the ashes of bat-nipples and Joel Schumacher, but then I stopped to think about it. Now I have the utmost faith in Nolan who has become one of my favorite directors, and not just for the Batman films, but Nolan deals with thrillers that mostly deal with obsession and self destruction.
Yeah that totally screams Superman.
Superman has always been a hero that stands for hope, even in the darkest of circumstances. For an example of this, check out Superman Birthright. Not only is it a damn thrilling comic, but it successfully updates Superman for our time and delves deeper into what motivates him more than any comic I have previously read. At the end of it, you want to be Superman as well as realize why the character has endured since the 1930's. Now Goyer says his Superman script is "fun" which seems like a step in the right direction, but it seems to me Warner Brothers is hoping lightning will strike twice. Though I have no doubt the Nolan/Goyer Superman film will be interesting, Superman is not dark and angry. The point of Superman is that while other superheroes give into their darker sides, he doesn't.
Even though he's only supervising the new Supes film, Warner Brothers needs to get Nolan where he belongs: The Batman franchise. Nolan does dark, brooding, and obsessive well so keep him with Batman! Give someone else a chance to tackle Superman, there are plenty of other directors out there who would love to jump on that. I want to see the third Batman at least match The Dark Knight in quality, if not surpass it (a tough thing to do). With the entire creative team behind the Bat films now working on Superman movie as well gets me to wonder if something will get lost in translation with both films. Superman and Batman are the two most iconic superheroes of all time (with Spider-Man in a close third) and I think both need to be entirely separate so that each gets the film treatment they deserve.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
When Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield!
Well the internet has been buzzing about this since it was announced yesterday so I decided to throw my hat into the ring. To start things off, I am a huge Captain America fan, I loved him as a kid for the reasons any kid loves a superhero: because he looked cool. But I grew up and decided maybe i should not be so superficial in my superhero love and decided to read up on him (my superficial superhero love still applies to Ghost Rider in this case). What I read of Captain America only solidified my love of him; I thought the man out of time stuff was brilliantly done when written right, and I loved how Captain America walked the line between extremely moral person and an ass kicking bad ass. The later comics by Ed Brubaker are nothing short of brilliant by playing up Cap's war shell shock as well as his abilities to kick ass like the best of them. So of course with the superhero craze going on in Hollywood, Captain America was long overdue for a (good) movie.
So far 2011 is looking like it could be a great year for superhero movies and could even rival 2008 as far as quality superhero movies go. Thor, The Green Lantern,Captain America and were announced to be hitting mere months apart. While casting and pre-production for both Thor and Green Lantern went underway, things were conspicuously quiet on The Captain America front. Just this past month it seems that Marvel suddenly remembered that it had a movie coming out based on one of their most iconic characters and decided that maybe they should throw something together for it's June production start (that's right, filming starts in June and not one role has been cast). Recently a proposed list of the finalists being considered for Captain America was released online, and several websites claimed that John Krasinki, best known as Jim on The Office was top contender for the role. I, like many other fan boys, was confused and then outraged at this, but something else has also caught my attention. Several other web sites say that the final auditions will take place over the next two weeks and there is a good possibility that they could go even longer if an actor is not found, but more on this later...
Lets look at the first issue, John Krasinski. Now I love The Office though recently I think the show has jumped the shark, but I digress. Jim is one of my favorite characters on the show, and a lot of it has to do with John Krasinki's performance as Jim. But whenever Krasinki has attempted to branch out beyond his cubicle on The Office it seems that he just can't leave the Jim Halpert character behind. One website was defending his possible casting by saying that the unconventional casting choices have always yielded the best results, even citing Heath Ledger, Robert Downey Jr, and Michael Keaten as examples. Now I love out of the blue casting as much as the next person, but when you look at the above examples you see that all three were established and respected actors before they were cast. Both Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr. were Oscar nominated actors before they entered the world of comic book movies, and though Michael Keaten was known as a comedic actor before Batman he at least showed that he had range in his comedic roles. Another obvious problem is one thing fan boys have been bringing up as well: the physical difference between Krasinski and Captain America. Now when we first meet Steve Rodgers before he becomes Captain America he is frail and sickly, which Krasinski kind of is. Krasinski could easily pack on the muscle to play the role I really wonder if the short time before filming would allow this, and extra muscle can't make up for a lack of presence. Ah yes, the infamous Captain America "presence". In Marvel comics it is established that not only do many heroes look up to Captain America but they also deeply respect him as a leader and a teacher. Marvel's premiere superhero team The Avengers is made up of the heavy hitters of Marvel comics and for years Captain America has served as their leader, and its no secret that Marvel is building up to an Avengers movie in the near future. Whoever plays Captain America needs to be someone that has the presence needed to make us believe that guys like Thor and Iron Man would actually take orders from him; and I really don't picture the smarmy, passive aggressive Jim from the office bossing around a Norse God and Robert Downey Jr. Now then again maybe I'm doing all of this for naught, in all odds its very conceivable that the John Krasinski rumor is just that: a rumor. Or Krasinski could very well be cast in the role, and if that does indeed come true I hope that I'm wrong about him and that he ends up silencing all naysayers much like Heath Ledger did with The Joker. But casting problems aside, more problems plague the Captain America movie.
As I stated above, Marvel Studios has said that the audition process will take up to two weeks, with possible extensions if a suitable actor is not found. Now if this scenario comes true, we are looking at the title role of a major summer action film being cast a little over two months or less before filming, and still no supporting roles have been filled. Early word on the Captain America film is that it is a big film, The Red Skull has already been announced as a villain, and The Invaders, a WWII era team of superheroes, have been revealed as supporting players, and a "comrade of Captain America who is lost behind enemy lines which causes Cap to go AWOL". Now logic tells me that this comrade could only be Bucky Barnes, Cap's old partner and eventual nemesis. Already this cast is huge and we have no actors to be placed with the roles. It is almost like Marvel IMDB'd Captain America and saw that it had a summer 2011 release date and thought "Maybe we should get on that". As much as I'm looking forward to this movie, I want a good Captain America not a rushed Captain America.X-Men: The Last Stand is a perfect example of what happens when you throw a superhero movie together at the last minute, though Cap has had plenty of time to prepare so hopefully he won't have the script problems Last Stand did. Captain America is one of Marvel's most recognizable characters and deserves an epic, respectable treatment and not a film thrown together at the last minute just to meet a release date. Hell I can wait another year for a Captain America movie if it is done well, and if the character isn't done well... Just look at the direct to video low budget Cap movie made in the 90's...
http://www.joblo.com/paramounts-captain-america-shortlist-full-of-relative-unknowns
http://www.cinematical.com/2010/02/24/exclusive-is-john-krasinski-our-captain-america/
So far 2011 is looking like it could be a great year for superhero movies and could even rival 2008 as far as quality superhero movies go. Thor, The Green Lantern,Captain America and were announced to be hitting mere months apart. While casting and pre-production for both Thor and Green Lantern went underway, things were conspicuously quiet on The Captain America front. Just this past month it seems that Marvel suddenly remembered that it had a movie coming out based on one of their most iconic characters and decided that maybe they should throw something together for it's June production start (that's right, filming starts in June and not one role has been cast). Recently a proposed list of the finalists being considered for Captain America was released online, and several websites claimed that John Krasinki, best known as Jim on The Office was top contender for the role. I, like many other fan boys, was confused and then outraged at this, but something else has also caught my attention. Several other web sites say that the final auditions will take place over the next two weeks and there is a good possibility that they could go even longer if an actor is not found, but more on this later...
Lets look at the first issue, John Krasinski. Now I love The Office though recently I think the show has jumped the shark, but I digress. Jim is one of my favorite characters on the show, and a lot of it has to do with John Krasinki's performance as Jim. But whenever Krasinki has attempted to branch out beyond his cubicle on The Office it seems that he just can't leave the Jim Halpert character behind. One website was defending his possible casting by saying that the unconventional casting choices have always yielded the best results, even citing Heath Ledger, Robert Downey Jr, and Michael Keaten as examples. Now I love out of the blue casting as much as the next person, but when you look at the above examples you see that all three were established and respected actors before they were cast. Both Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr. were Oscar nominated actors before they entered the world of comic book movies, and though Michael Keaten was known as a comedic actor before Batman he at least showed that he had range in his comedic roles. Another obvious problem is one thing fan boys have been bringing up as well: the physical difference between Krasinski and Captain America. Now when we first meet Steve Rodgers before he becomes Captain America he is frail and sickly, which Krasinski kind of is. Krasinski could easily pack on the muscle to play the role I really wonder if the short time before filming would allow this, and extra muscle can't make up for a lack of presence. Ah yes, the infamous Captain America "presence". In Marvel comics it is established that not only do many heroes look up to Captain America but they also deeply respect him as a leader and a teacher. Marvel's premiere superhero team The Avengers is made up of the heavy hitters of Marvel comics and for years Captain America has served as their leader, and its no secret that Marvel is building up to an Avengers movie in the near future. Whoever plays Captain America needs to be someone that has the presence needed to make us believe that guys like Thor and Iron Man would actually take orders from him; and I really don't picture the smarmy, passive aggressive Jim from the office bossing around a Norse God and Robert Downey Jr. Now then again maybe I'm doing all of this for naught, in all odds its very conceivable that the John Krasinski rumor is just that: a rumor. Or Krasinski could very well be cast in the role, and if that does indeed come true I hope that I'm wrong about him and that he ends up silencing all naysayers much like Heath Ledger did with The Joker. But casting problems aside, more problems plague the Captain America movie.
As I stated above, Marvel Studios has said that the audition process will take up to two weeks, with possible extensions if a suitable actor is not found. Now if this scenario comes true, we are looking at the title role of a major summer action film being cast a little over two months or less before filming, and still no supporting roles have been filled. Early word on the Captain America film is that it is a big film, The Red Skull has already been announced as a villain, and The Invaders, a WWII era team of superheroes, have been revealed as supporting players, and a "comrade of Captain America who is lost behind enemy lines which causes Cap to go AWOL". Now logic tells me that this comrade could only be Bucky Barnes, Cap's old partner and eventual nemesis. Already this cast is huge and we have no actors to be placed with the roles. It is almost like Marvel IMDB'd Captain America and saw that it had a summer 2011 release date and thought "Maybe we should get on that". As much as I'm looking forward to this movie, I want a good Captain America not a rushed Captain America.X-Men: The Last Stand is a perfect example of what happens when you throw a superhero movie together at the last minute, though Cap has had plenty of time to prepare so hopefully he won't have the script problems Last Stand did. Captain America is one of Marvel's most recognizable characters and deserves an epic, respectable treatment and not a film thrown together at the last minute just to meet a release date. Hell I can wait another year for a Captain America movie if it is done well, and if the character isn't done well... Just look at the direct to video low budget Cap movie made in the 90's...
http://www.joblo.com/paramounts-captain-america-shortlist-full-of-relative-unknowns
http://www.cinematical.com/2010/02/24/exclusive-is-john-krasinski-our-captain-america/
Why Do People Love Boba Fett So Much?
Well, the title basically says it all, this one has been on my mind for some time. It all started one day in science class, I was sitting there, zoning out as my professor rambled on about something or other when suddenly it popped into my head, seemingly out of nowhere... Why do people love Boba Fett so much?
I would go on to spend the next hour and a half of class sitting there debating in my head as to why this glorified extra had gone on to become one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars saga, hell when I was a kid he was one of my favorite "characters". This question popped into my mind yet again when a few friends and I decided to sit down and watch the entire original (good) trilogy for the first time in years, back to back in one day. While I immensely enjoyed this trip down memory lane, I wish I would have had a stop watch on me in order to time Boba Fett's total screen time, which I'm pretty sure sums up to less than fifteen minutes. So once again the question started churning in my mind: Why do people love Boba Fett so much?
First we have to look at what he does in the original trilogy, seeing how this is where he first rose to prominence; though Boba Fett's first appearance was not in "Empire Strikes Back" but in the "Star Wars Holiday Special". To satisfy demand for more Star Wars between "A New Hope" and "Empire" George Lucas crapped out a television special in 1978 that featured the cast journeying to Chewbacca's homeworld for "Life Day" the Wookie Christmas, oh did I mention it was a musical? Anywho, the special was a disaster aside from a animated short in the middle of it that involved Luke and the droids being betrayed by Boba Fett, who apparently rode a dinosaur. Now I've never seen the special since George Lucas buried it and refuses to release it (probably burned every copy) but I hear the Boba Fett segment was sweet, but anywho I'm pretty sure no one else from our generation has other than those willing to track down bootlegs so once again I'll just look at the original trilogy.
We first meet Boba Fett as one of the bounty hunters Darth Vader hires to track down the Millenium Falcon, seeing how every officer at his command is incompetent in his eyes (he's not too far from the truth). While Vader is giving the bounty hunters their marching orders he specifies he wants the crew of the Falcon alive and " No disintegrations" with an emphasis and even wagged finger at Mr. Fett. So this may be our first hint at Fett's potential badassness, perhaps he has an itchy trigger finger? Or maybe he just likes blasting away at his enemies until nothing is left. After this Boba Fett utters one of his grand total of two lines in the entire series... " As you wish." Other than showing that he's a huge "Princess Bride" fan this shows that Fett agrees with Vader, which shows the man has some common sense because one thing we learn from "Empire" is that bad things happen to those who disagree with Vader. But anywho, later on the Millenium Falcon escapes The Empire by posing as space junk and floats away, though we soon find out that Boba Fett in his ship was also posing as junk and Fett takes off after them. We see here that once again that Fett has a pretty good head on his shoulders, knowing his enemy's tactics. Or Fett was just chilling is space and happened to come across the Falcon and saw dollar signs (Nah!). So Fett follows our heroes to Cloud City, where he gives Vader a call, who then shows up and uses Han Solo as a human stressball for a bit. Vader then decides to test the carbon freezing chamber on Han, at which Fett bitches that Vader may be killing his pay dirt. Of course Vader just tells Fett he'll pay him off if Han dies which seems to please him. Many fans say this is an example of Vader giving into someone else's orders, which he only does with the Emperor later on in the series. Except when Grand Moff Tarkin orders Vader around like his coffee boy in the first film, and when Luke tells Vader there is still good in him, and when Luke begs Vader to save him in "Jedi"... But I digress, but many people say Vader was being submissive to Fett, when in fact he was being diplomatic. Yes it took balls on Fett's part to speak up, but he was really just looking out for his job, hell both The Empire and Jabba the Hutt were paying him to find Han Solo, Boba just wanted a paycheck. And Vader, the man clearly had other things on his mind, like kicking the shit out of his whiny bitch of a son and then having to take him to his boss, as well as maybe paying up on all that back child support? But Fett escapes with Han and takes him to Jabba the Hutt, who uses Han to tie together the Fung Shui of his palace. The third film begins with Luke's clearly not too well thought out rescue plan, where for the most part Boba is seen hanging around Jabba's palace looking kinda bored, except when a disguised Princess Leia pulls out a grenade, prompting Fett to draw his gun (which is kinda natural to do). Later on our heroes are taken to the Sarlacc Pitt to be executed, at which point Luke starts turning Jabba's henchmen to mincemeat. About halfway through the battle Fett decides he should show everyone how its done uses his jet pack to blast onto the skiff, at which point he gets his gun promptly cut in half by Luke. But Fett has more left in his bag of tricks as has a "arm band lasso" that ties Luke up for all of a second before Luke deflects a laser blast onto Boba, stunning him. Luke then proceeds to whup ass on a few other guards as Fett takes his good ol' time taking arm with his wrist cannon.... And misses. Han then accidently bumps into Boba Fett with a stick, setting off Boba's jet pack sending him crashing into the side of Jabba's barge and into the waiting Sarlacc Pit below. And thats it, accidently bumped by a blind man and sent to a thousand years of agonizing digestion. Bit of an anti-climatic ending?
Yet the Boba Fett legend has endured, when the question first popped into my head about his popularity I asked many of my friends why and many of them referred to his actions in the "Expanded Universe", the Star Wars books, video games, and comics. In the books and comics, it is revealed that Fett used his handy jet pack to blast out of the Sarlacc Pit and continue his bounty hunter ways. Many other books and comics have been written turning him into a sort of anti-hero, even giving some backstory until Episode II came along and at least explained some of that. But while the Expanded Universe did indeed add to the legend of Fett, this all came after the movies, so once again it all goes back to why? Why him? There are other, far more interesting characters to look at (and I'm still waiting for that Admiral Ackbar spinoff!) so why did the fan boys choose Fett as their messiah? After talking to a few fans of the series and looking at why I loved him so much as a kid, I've narrowed it down to three factors:
A.He's Mysterious Theres a scene in the underrated comedy "Mystery Men" where our three misfit heroes, played by Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, and Hank Azaria are sitting around debating who to recruit for their super-team when one of the suggests they recruit the hero known as The Sphinx, when asked what The Sphinx's powers are Hank Azaria's character, The Blue Radhja responds- "Well, he's terribly mysterious!" And therein lies on of Fett's greatest assets: his mystery. Fett doesn't say much, he doesn't do much, we don't know what lies under the helmet, or where he came from. This is the source of my childhood love him, I wanted more, I wanted to know what he looked like under the helmet, wanted more shows of ass kicking from one of the coolest designed characters in the series. My overactive pre-adolescent imagination ran wild, creating tales of Fett kicking rebel, Empire, and bounty hunter ass, visions of a horribly mutilated visage under the helment danced through my head. But I realized something, whenever Fett's background was explained, whenever the helmet did come off, I would never be satisfied with what I saw. My mind had built up the legend of Fett so much that nothing that the Star Wars films could ever do would please me. And thats part of the love of Fett, I had fallen in love with the mystery of the man, as had most fans like me.
B.He Looks Cool Its almost like George Lucas gathered a group of scientists into one room and said " I want you to create badass manifested into flesh" and the result was Boba Fett. Fett may one of the best designed characters in cinema, never before has character been so directly communicated through costume design. The man is wearing armor from head to to covered in heavy wear and tear, clearly he's seen alot of action, and dished some out as well. He has a jet pack, a sweet looking helmet, a wrist lasso, a wrist cannon, hell he even managed to squeeze a cape in there as well! He also has several braided wookie hairs hanging on his shoulder, which shows that not only did more than one wookie allow him close enough to braid it's hair, but he also killed it after! All in all, his getup shows that-
A. He really knows how to accessorize
B. He is not someone to be messed with This further adds to his mystery because once again, we want to know where that armor got it's dings at, we want to know why he killed a wookie after braiding it's hair?
C. He has a Jet Pack People love jet packs, I don't know why but whenever I would ask someone why they loved Boba Fett usually the first thing they would say is "He has a Jet pack!" So fellas, if you ever wanna make it with a fan girl, buy yourself a jet pack.
And thats it, thats really what I could analyze from this whole Boba Fett love thing, though I really think when you look at the Boba Fett, you need to look at the love for Star Wars in general. Though I'm not a fan of George Lucas personally, the man used to be a good filmmaker. The first "Star Wars" film is arguably one of the most important films made, though I haven't seen his other film "THX 1138" I loved "American Graffitti", sadly something happened to George and I'm pretty sure he crapped out the scripts to the prequels one saturday night while bored and is now diving head first into the pools of money he made off the films. But one thing the man did do was create a living breathing universe and mythology, every character, no matter how small in screen time, has a unique appearance to it. You wanna know where each of these characters came from and what they do, hell in the cantina scene in the first one you just wanna hang out and check out all the cool aliens. The reason why these movies are so popular with kids is that all the sweet creatures capture your imagination, hell I created backstories for each little insignificant character with my action figures when I was a kid, I wanted to spend more time with them than I did the main characters. And Boba Fett sums this all up, he steals our imaginations, we each have an idea of where he came from and what he looked like (at least before Episode II) and what crazy ass kicking adventures he has been on a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
I would go on to spend the next hour and a half of class sitting there debating in my head as to why this glorified extra had gone on to become one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars saga, hell when I was a kid he was one of my favorite "characters". This question popped into my mind yet again when a few friends and I decided to sit down and watch the entire original (good) trilogy for the first time in years, back to back in one day. While I immensely enjoyed this trip down memory lane, I wish I would have had a stop watch on me in order to time Boba Fett's total screen time, which I'm pretty sure sums up to less than fifteen minutes. So once again the question started churning in my mind: Why do people love Boba Fett so much?
First we have to look at what he does in the original trilogy, seeing how this is where he first rose to prominence; though Boba Fett's first appearance was not in "Empire Strikes Back" but in the "Star Wars Holiday Special". To satisfy demand for more Star Wars between "A New Hope" and "Empire" George Lucas crapped out a television special in 1978 that featured the cast journeying to Chewbacca's homeworld for "Life Day" the Wookie Christmas, oh did I mention it was a musical? Anywho, the special was a disaster aside from a animated short in the middle of it that involved Luke and the droids being betrayed by Boba Fett, who apparently rode a dinosaur. Now I've never seen the special since George Lucas buried it and refuses to release it (probably burned every copy) but I hear the Boba Fett segment was sweet, but anywho I'm pretty sure no one else from our generation has other than those willing to track down bootlegs so once again I'll just look at the original trilogy.
We first meet Boba Fett as one of the bounty hunters Darth Vader hires to track down the Millenium Falcon, seeing how every officer at his command is incompetent in his eyes (he's not too far from the truth). While Vader is giving the bounty hunters their marching orders he specifies he wants the crew of the Falcon alive and " No disintegrations" with an emphasis and even wagged finger at Mr. Fett. So this may be our first hint at Fett's potential badassness, perhaps he has an itchy trigger finger? Or maybe he just likes blasting away at his enemies until nothing is left. After this Boba Fett utters one of his grand total of two lines in the entire series... " As you wish." Other than showing that he's a huge "Princess Bride" fan this shows that Fett agrees with Vader, which shows the man has some common sense because one thing we learn from "Empire" is that bad things happen to those who disagree with Vader. But anywho, later on the Millenium Falcon escapes The Empire by posing as space junk and floats away, though we soon find out that Boba Fett in his ship was also posing as junk and Fett takes off after them. We see here that once again that Fett has a pretty good head on his shoulders, knowing his enemy's tactics. Or Fett was just chilling is space and happened to come across the Falcon and saw dollar signs (Nah!). So Fett follows our heroes to Cloud City, where he gives Vader a call, who then shows up and uses Han Solo as a human stressball for a bit. Vader then decides to test the carbon freezing chamber on Han, at which Fett bitches that Vader may be killing his pay dirt. Of course Vader just tells Fett he'll pay him off if Han dies which seems to please him. Many fans say this is an example of Vader giving into someone else's orders, which he only does with the Emperor later on in the series. Except when Grand Moff Tarkin orders Vader around like his coffee boy in the first film, and when Luke tells Vader there is still good in him, and when Luke begs Vader to save him in "Jedi"... But I digress, but many people say Vader was being submissive to Fett, when in fact he was being diplomatic. Yes it took balls on Fett's part to speak up, but he was really just looking out for his job, hell both The Empire and Jabba the Hutt were paying him to find Han Solo, Boba just wanted a paycheck. And Vader, the man clearly had other things on his mind, like kicking the shit out of his whiny bitch of a son and then having to take him to his boss, as well as maybe paying up on all that back child support? But Fett escapes with Han and takes him to Jabba the Hutt, who uses Han to tie together the Fung Shui of his palace. The third film begins with Luke's clearly not too well thought out rescue plan, where for the most part Boba is seen hanging around Jabba's palace looking kinda bored, except when a disguised Princess Leia pulls out a grenade, prompting Fett to draw his gun (which is kinda natural to do). Later on our heroes are taken to the Sarlacc Pitt to be executed, at which point Luke starts turning Jabba's henchmen to mincemeat. About halfway through the battle Fett decides he should show everyone how its done uses his jet pack to blast onto the skiff, at which point he gets his gun promptly cut in half by Luke. But Fett has more left in his bag of tricks as has a "arm band lasso" that ties Luke up for all of a second before Luke deflects a laser blast onto Boba, stunning him. Luke then proceeds to whup ass on a few other guards as Fett takes his good ol' time taking arm with his wrist cannon.... And misses. Han then accidently bumps into Boba Fett with a stick, setting off Boba's jet pack sending him crashing into the side of Jabba's barge and into the waiting Sarlacc Pit below. And thats it, accidently bumped by a blind man and sent to a thousand years of agonizing digestion. Bit of an anti-climatic ending?
Yet the Boba Fett legend has endured, when the question first popped into my head about his popularity I asked many of my friends why and many of them referred to his actions in the "Expanded Universe", the Star Wars books, video games, and comics. In the books and comics, it is revealed that Fett used his handy jet pack to blast out of the Sarlacc Pit and continue his bounty hunter ways. Many other books and comics have been written turning him into a sort of anti-hero, even giving some backstory until Episode II came along and at least explained some of that. But while the Expanded Universe did indeed add to the legend of Fett, this all came after the movies, so once again it all goes back to why? Why him? There are other, far more interesting characters to look at (and I'm still waiting for that Admiral Ackbar spinoff!) so why did the fan boys choose Fett as their messiah? After talking to a few fans of the series and looking at why I loved him so much as a kid, I've narrowed it down to three factors:
A.He's Mysterious Theres a scene in the underrated comedy "Mystery Men" where our three misfit heroes, played by Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, and Hank Azaria are sitting around debating who to recruit for their super-team when one of the suggests they recruit the hero known as The Sphinx, when asked what The Sphinx's powers are Hank Azaria's character, The Blue Radhja responds- "Well, he's terribly mysterious!" And therein lies on of Fett's greatest assets: his mystery. Fett doesn't say much, he doesn't do much, we don't know what lies under the helmet, or where he came from. This is the source of my childhood love him, I wanted more, I wanted to know what he looked like under the helmet, wanted more shows of ass kicking from one of the coolest designed characters in the series. My overactive pre-adolescent imagination ran wild, creating tales of Fett kicking rebel, Empire, and bounty hunter ass, visions of a horribly mutilated visage under the helment danced through my head. But I realized something, whenever Fett's background was explained, whenever the helmet did come off, I would never be satisfied with what I saw. My mind had built up the legend of Fett so much that nothing that the Star Wars films could ever do would please me. And thats part of the love of Fett, I had fallen in love with the mystery of the man, as had most fans like me.
B.He Looks Cool Its almost like George Lucas gathered a group of scientists into one room and said " I want you to create badass manifested into flesh" and the result was Boba Fett. Fett may one of the best designed characters in cinema, never before has character been so directly communicated through costume design. The man is wearing armor from head to to covered in heavy wear and tear, clearly he's seen alot of action, and dished some out as well. He has a jet pack, a sweet looking helmet, a wrist lasso, a wrist cannon, hell he even managed to squeeze a cape in there as well! He also has several braided wookie hairs hanging on his shoulder, which shows that not only did more than one wookie allow him close enough to braid it's hair, but he also killed it after! All in all, his getup shows that-
A. He really knows how to accessorize
B. He is not someone to be messed with This further adds to his mystery because once again, we want to know where that armor got it's dings at, we want to know why he killed a wookie after braiding it's hair?
C. He has a Jet Pack People love jet packs, I don't know why but whenever I would ask someone why they loved Boba Fett usually the first thing they would say is "He has a Jet pack!" So fellas, if you ever wanna make it with a fan girl, buy yourself a jet pack.
And thats it, thats really what I could analyze from this whole Boba Fett love thing, though I really think when you look at the Boba Fett, you need to look at the love for Star Wars in general. Though I'm not a fan of George Lucas personally, the man used to be a good filmmaker. The first "Star Wars" film is arguably one of the most important films made, though I haven't seen his other film "THX 1138" I loved "American Graffitti", sadly something happened to George and I'm pretty sure he crapped out the scripts to the prequels one saturday night while bored and is now diving head first into the pools of money he made off the films. But one thing the man did do was create a living breathing universe and mythology, every character, no matter how small in screen time, has a unique appearance to it. You wanna know where each of these characters came from and what they do, hell in the cantina scene in the first one you just wanna hang out and check out all the cool aliens. The reason why these movies are so popular with kids is that all the sweet creatures capture your imagination, hell I created backstories for each little insignificant character with my action figures when I was a kid, I wanted to spend more time with them than I did the main characters. And Boba Fett sums this all up, he steals our imaginations, we each have an idea of where he came from and what he looked like (at least before Episode II) and what crazy ass kicking adventures he has been on a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
I Bid You Velcome...
Well the title says it all. No, not the Bela Lugosi rip off title above, but the actual title of this blog. I am indeed a twenty something nerd (yes I live with my mom still, so don't even think of using that insult), and I decided to finally jump on the blog bandwagon to voice my thoughts on life, the universe, and everything. Well, actually just stuff worth talking about, lets face it no one wants to hear me whine about whats happening in my life and why I'm so sad; those are just self indulgent cries for attention, which is what Facebook is for. But yes, here I will rant about anything nerd related, movies, comics, games, books, etc. So sit back and enjoy as I rant about nothing to particularly no one special (that's what us nerds do best anyway). May the force be with you!
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