How I Really Feel About Pop Culture - Part 2

 DISCLAIMER: For better context, click here for Part 1.

So today I’ll be continuing with my analysis on present-day pop culture franchises, and where I think pop culture as a whole seems to be going.

So once again, without further ado, let’s start with…

Game of Thrones

Not to toot my own horn but… I saw the hate for this coming from a mile away. Back when this show was all anyone could talk about, my immediate first thought was “There’s no way this shit is gonna end well.” Something with expectations that high usually never has a satisfying finale, cause everyone starts imagining in their head where it should or shouldn’t go. Of course, the fact that the show itself ended up out-lapping the source material didn’t help either, but that’s because the books themselves have gotten so complex that there’s no way they’ll ever have any kind of ending at all (let alone a shitty one). 

Honestly, if I were George R.R. Martin, I wouldn’t even bother writing the last book now. It sounds like what makes those books cool is that they have a “slice of life” feel. Might as well try to maintain that. I suppose the show didn’t have that luxury, though. Even if it were to have suddenly been canceled once they ran out of books to work from (as if HBO would ever piss that much money away like that), everybody on the planet would’ve pissed and moaned for more seasons. That being said though, the way everyone did react to the final season we actually got just shows how flimsy this fandom has always actually been. The best thing to compare this show and it’s fandom to is a toxic relationship. You know those couples where one of the partners obsesses over the other one and puts them on a pedestal? And the moment that other partner does something a little off (you know, because they’re human), the one doing the obsessing freaks the fuck out on them? That’s basically what this was.

What makes this all even funnier is that, in hindsight, I feel like most people didn’t really understand what this story was really all about, at it’s core. It’s not Lord of the Rings. That’s just what’s on the surface. Deep down, this show is actually a political thriller that just so happens to be set in a fantasy universe. But once the “Lord of the Rings-style” stuff ended with the death of the white walkers, and the show went back to it’s political thriller roots, everyone went from loving the show to absolutely hating it. The switch there was crazy! Literally, overnight, everyone’s opinions on this show did a total 180. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fandom that flimsy and unstable before, and that just says a lot as to where all of pop culture seems to be heading, I think.

Now, don’t get me wrong; the final season of Game of Thrones was still completely fucking stupid, regardless of how people reacted to it. I’m not saying otherwise. All I’m saying is that I think people got way too obsessed with this show, way too fast, without maybe stopping to ask themselves “Wait, what’s this shit really all about?”

And mark my words; this will happen to other shit too. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start turning on The Mandalorian, for instance, among other things. I can already see the “BringBackBabyYoda” and “BringBackGrogu” hashtags everywhere in my head. Personally, I think a lot of these franchises just drag themselves out for way too long, and yes, that applies to the Game of Thrones books as well (or A Song of Ice and Fire, I should say). The ongoing “slice of life” thing is cool, but part of me can’t help but wonder if Martin could’ve tried a little harder to wrap all this shit up way sooner, and then the show could’ve at least had something a little more concrete to work from (people would’ve still been at least a little pissed at the finale though, because people are people).

Okay, we’re just gonna speed through the rest of these. Starting with:

Star Trek

I’m only familiar with the Abrams trilogy of films (I know he didn’t direct the last one, but whatever). So I enjoy them in a “surface level” sort of way. That being said, I know a fair bit about the old shows, so I can clearly tell that the only film in the Abrams trilogy that’s really done “in the spirit” of the original series is the last film (again, the one he didn’t direct). I get that when Abrams inherited the franchise, it was on life support, so he needed to do what he could to make it “popular” again, and I’m willing to forgive most things in the first film, but Into Darkness clearly crossed the line. Shame that Beyond didn’t make any money, but it’s probably for the best, as I don’t think a sequel for it was ever needed anyways. 

I’m glad that the franchise has refocused all it’s efforts towards TV for now, as I feel it works better there (same with Star Wars actually), but Picard seems like the most dower thing ever. Again, I’m not familiar with the old Next Generation show, but even I can tell that the show-runners of Picard don’t really know what they’re doing. I used to take issue with Discovery being set before the original series, since it looks nothing like it, but to be fair, it’s not like Gene Roddenberry wanted the old show to look the way it did anyways. In his head, he probably imagined something more visually in-line with Discovery. Also, if I recall correctly, the characters of Discovery are now all in the future instead of the past, so none of what I just said matters anymore anyways.

Fast & Furious

I admire this franchise for breaking away from it’s “Point Break with cars” roots and just fully embracing it’s own ridiculousness. The only one I really don’t like was the fourth one. It was way too dreary!

The Universal Monster Universe (LOL!)

Thank god this shit crashed and burned. If the recent remake of The Invisible Man is anything to go by, it looks like Universal has learned it’s lesson and will stop trying to copy Marvel now. So things could be worse, I guess…

Rick & Morty

Once again; I like this show, for the most part, but dislike most of it’s diehard fans. Like MCU and Snyderverse fans, a lot of these people seem to automatically assume that anyone who doesn’t like this show is, by their definition, effectively stupid. If I recall correctly, this fandom also once caused an incident at a McDonald’s that got so intense that police had to get involved. It doesn’t get any more toxic than that. Except for Star Wars fans, of course (as they’re in a league of their own…).

The Spy Genre (James Bond, Mission: Impossible, etc.)

Yeah, sure. These are all fine. Some of the really old Bond films are sometimes way too dated (Goldfinger) or way too ridiculous (Moonraker), but at least the franchise seems to be getting more self-aware now. It’ll be interesting to see what No Time To Die is like (assuming that cursed movie still ever comes out, at this point!). As far as Mission: Impossible goes, I still look forward to the next one. I know some people are pissed at Tom Cruise for having an outburst on set recently, but I personally want to refrain from judging him, considering that we don’t have the full context of what really happened there.

Middle-Grade and Young Adult Book Adaptations

It was annoying how after the early Harry Potter films popularized the middle-grade genre, every film studio started buying up the rights to similar book series, to try to copy it’s success, and all of them failed (A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Percy Jackson, Eragon, etc.). Then, when Twilight popularized the YA genre, everyone started copying that shit too (The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, etc.). Aside from the first couple of Hunger films, all of those pretty much failed too. These are all just recent examples, though. “Trend chasing” has been around since 1960’s Western films (if not earlier than that, even!). When will Hollywood ever learn? As I’ve said before though, the example here that annoys me the most is Harry Potter (both the books and films), since they did that whole thing of starting out as middle-grade and then “transforming” into YA, which is a bad idea longterm, in my opinion.

Legacy Sequels

These are sequels to franchises that haven’t been touched in a long time. Personally, I don’t usually have a problem with these. The original actors don’t get any younger, so if there’s an opportunity for them to revisit their classic characters one more time, then I’m all for it. That being said, I feel like a lot of fans miss the point that, once you decide to continue a story that had already ended long ago, you have to undo the happily ever after, or else there’s no new story to tell. That’s why I’m surprised that people acted so shocked and upset when they saw that the classic Star Wars trio of characters were so fucked up in the sequels. Like… What else were they supposed to do to? Going the EU route of having them still be at the top of their game would’ve been boring and uninteresting. That being said, sometimes these legacy sequels do take it too far. For instance, I thought turning Laurie Strode into a “Sarah Connor-like” character in 2018’s Halloween felt random and unearned. So it really just depends on the scenario, I suppose.

“Sequel-boots”

These are the recent sequels that (usually) ignore all other sequels that came before it and name themselves after the original, even though they’re still technically sequels to it themselves (the aforementioned 2018 Halloween movie, the 2019 Shaft movie, etc.). Most of these have proper titles when filming, but then change their names at the last minute because they think that it’ll be easier that way for the marketing. An example of this is how Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen became just Hellboy in 2019 (I know that one is actually a full reboot, but it’s still a very different story from 2007’s Hellboy and therefore should’ve still had a different title, in my opinion). Not only do all of these have shitty titles, but for the most part, they all just simply suck as movies too. Not much more to say other than that, really. Sadly, this trend is still going, as it was just announced that the upcoming sequel-boot to The Matrix will just be called… Matrix… Yay…

That’s enough for now. I know there are plenty of other franchises and genres and whatnot, but I only have so much time to write about all this stuff! So next time, we’re gonna move away from talking about specific franchises, and focus instead on the impact pop culture itself has had on other aspects of life.

Peace!

Click here for Part 3.

How I Really Feel About Pop Culture - Part 1

2024 UPDATE: I regret most of what I said here now, but I linked this post to many others on this blog now, so I can’t really remove it… Oh well…

        So recently I finally published my reviews for all canon Star Wars films and shows, which I wanted to do before the release of all the stuff that was announced at the Disney Investors Call, since that will mark the beginning of a whole new era for Star Wars. That being said, considering the fact that Marvel has just begun a whole new era of their own with WandaVision, and DC is about to cave into fan demands with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and everything in general is moving to streaming thanks to the pandemic, we are not just entering a new era for Star Wars, but a new era for all of pop culture. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity as we experience this transition point to summarize all of my current thoughts on all these different franchises, and the things that result from them.

        For today, we’ll just focus on superheroes. So without further ado, let’s start with…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

It’s not so much the franchise itself that I hate, but rather it’s most hardcore of fans. These are some of the most pretentious and elitist people I’ve ever met. They act like most of these movies are the fucking bible, and that if you say even just one measly little thing you dislike about almost any of them, then you’re a sinner. I can’t even count on two hands how many looks of “How dare you!!” that I’ve gotten from hardcore Marvel fans when I said something bad about one of the Avengers films, or whatever. Mind you, I understand that this is only a minority of the fandom, but they’re a loud minority.

While I applaud Marvel for pulling off an elaborate 23-film structure, I can’t also shake the fact that most of this wasn’t planned either. As I’ve said in a past post, they didn’t know they were doing the Thanos thing until the first Avengers film was already in reshoots, and there have been other retcons since then. Marvel just does a better job than Star Wars at making everything look seamless is all, but the MCU itself has only existed since 2008. Yes, it’s based on comics that have been around for 60 years now, but the unified film franchise itself has only been around for 13 years, and not 40 years, which is how old Star Wars was when The Last Jedi was released. Let’s see how well the MCU is still doing in 2048…

Another thing that bugs me is that, for the most part, these movies all still have the same vanilla “feel” that superhero films in general seem to have had since the very first Superman film hit theaters way back in 1978. Phase 1 especially was filled with a bunch of these cliches like the generic love interest characters that don’t do much, the generic villains that are just big gray versions of the heroes with no motivations, etc. To be fair though, the other phases since then have done a good job breaking further and further away from this formula, so I gotta give the MCU credit for that.

As far as my own preferences are concerned; the first Guardians of the Galaxy film and Thor: Ragnarok are easily my favorites, as they embrace that pulpy “space opera” feel that made the original Jack Kirby comics so great. That being said, I think the other two Thor films are just okay (fun but messy), and I have issues with Guardians 2, but I still admire James Gunn, and I’m happy that he got rehired. I look forward to Guardians 3. I also really like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, though the whole thing about the Hydra supercomputer being able to determine potential threats based on SAT scores was one of the stupidest things ever. I assume Stephen Strange was mentioned because Hydra already saw him as a threat based on his intellect, and not his powers, which I’m fine with, I guess.

But none of this compares to my feelings on the two biggest films in this whole series; Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which are essentially two parts of the same movie. For starters, I thought Infinity War was fairly decent. If you’re going to bring all the different factions of the universe together for one big, climatic event, that is more or less how you do it. Yes, Thanos’s motivations make no sense whatsoever, but I felt the personality of the character, and the way Josh Brolin played him, more than made up for it. In my opinion, structuring the whole movie around him as an “anti-hero,” of sorts, was a pretty smart move. I also didn’t mind the rather “dark and dreary” feel of the movie. While I usually don’t like that stuff, I think it fit well here. Can’t really explain why. It just “felt right.” I’ve also heard some people complain about how this movie wouldn’t be able to stand on its own if it didn’t exist alongside all the other MCU films, and while I agree, this is the one time where I’m willing to give something like that a pass, since the 23-film structure of this franchise is already pretty complex as is, and this is the “culmination” of all that. The only thing I didn’t like was how Thor’s entire character arc from Ragnarok was seemingly reversed (and the jarring tonal inconsistencies between that film and this one make it worse too), but I’m willing to let that slide, since I enjoyed the rest of the movie… Oh yeah, except Star-Lord. He sucked in this too, but it’s whatever.

Now, that all being said… I have a lot of issues with Endgame… The whole thing felt like three very different movies (that don’t really go together, frankly) all shoved into one big, overstuffed package. The first hour is a post-apocalyptic movie, taking place five whole years after Infinity War. This already pisses me off, because it raises too many questions of ethics. Bringing literally half of the world’s population back out of nowhere after they’ve been gone for five entire years would cause so many problems for everyone (emotional issues, economic issues, etc.) that, realistically, it’s not even worth bringing them back after that long. Sorry if that sounds cruel, and I know it’s just a movie, but come on! I get that they wanted Thanos’s actions to have an impact, but I think they took it too far, and fucked with the tone too much as a result. The fact that the next film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, tried to make a joke out of all this and then quickly brush it under the rug like nothing ever happened makes me hate it even more. I know WandaVision recently tried to retroactively make it more serious. Too late, don’t care. 

Then the next hour of Endgame is a time travel movie, and as I’ve said in previous posts, I hate those types of films (bar a few exceptions), and the time travel (or multiverse travel, whatever) in this movie did nothing to win me over. The fact that the movie breaks it’s own time travel rules with Old Man Cap at the end pisses me off even further (people hated the hyperspace kamikaze in The Last Jedi but were okay with this?). Doctor Strange and Infinity War were already pushing it with the time stone stuff, but Endgame took it over the edge for me. I’m fine with Cap getting his “happy ending” with Peggy that he always wanted. I just wish Old Man Cap wasn’t there at the end, is all. I think the other heroes would’ve been able to quickly realize that the reason he never returned was cause he went to go live out his life with her. Also, I know MCU boss Kevin Feige said that he always wanted to do time travel… Okay, fine. But couldn’t they have at least tried to keep the rules consistent?

Then the final hour is basically just a big battle. I get that Marvel wanted their “grand finale” to feel really unexpected and different, but personally, I would’ve preferred a more straightforward story set right after Infinity War that would’ve shown the remaining Avengers figuring out how to properly defeat present-day Thanos and reverse the snap right away. Not five years later! I think a lot of people who saw this movie just bought into the hype. That being said, I understand that the MCU means a lot to some people (like how Star Wars means a lot to me). So if this movie “felt” right to you, then I’m glad you liked it. To each their own. I still applaud it for it’s ambition, as well as for all of the money that it made.

Now, even though I didn’t exactly love the finale of the now-dubbed “Infinity Saga,” I still think the future of this whole franchise has the potential to do some more interesting stuff. The fact that they’re making the shows more important now is kinda neat, and I really love WandaVision so far (it might be my favorite thing in the MCU now outside of Guardians 1 and Ragnarok), though admittedly I’m nervous about the whole multiverse thing it’s obviously building up to. Also, even though the Marvel fandom still seems to be mostly united now, I have a feeling that can change literally any second. We came super close to this shit all falling apart with Avengers: Age of Ultron, a movie that most people actually disliked when they first saw it, myself included (and I blame both director Joss Whedon and the studio for that). Sure, they were able to develop cool stuff from it since, but the movie itself is still polarizing, and if we ever get another movie that divisive ever again, I have a hard time seeing the fandom staying as united as it is now…

To summarize my thoughts on the rest of these: Iron Man was good (until the final battle at least), and it’s two sequels are a mixed bag. The Incredible Hulk was bad (I don’t think the character of Hulk himself works as a central protagonist, really). Captain America: Civil War was good, though often felt like two movies combined together. I appreciate the first Avengers film for being the first to pull off the whole superhero crossover thing. Both Ant-Man films have some charm. Doctor Strange was pretty trippy, which I can respect. Black Panther was good, for the most part. What happened to Chadwick Boseman was absolutely heartbreaking. Hopefully they find a tasteful way to honor him in the sequel. I have mixed feelings on Captain Marvel (more on that one later). Daredevil was good, but it’s not clear just how canon that show is or isn’t, so whatever. Haven’t seen the other shows. 

        So on that note, let’s move on to…

The DC Extended Universe (DCEU)/ Snyderverse

Man… Where do I even start with this one?!… Okay, first thing is first: It’s annoying how the two sides of this fandom literally talk to each other in hashtags. On one side, you have people crying out “ReleaseTheSnyderCut” and “RestoreTheSnyderVerse,” and on the other side, you have people crying out “RejectTheSnyderCut” and “ResistTheSnyderCULT.” Personally, I find both of these sides to be way too extreme. They both represent fan entitlement at its worst. Who are any of these people to say what DC Films should or shouldn’t do? What’s interesting is that none of this would’ve ever happened before social media existed, but that’s a whole other can of worms…

I suppose the argument could be made that DC caving in to all the fan demand to actually finish the director’s cut of Justice League (now dubbed Zack Snyder’s Justice League) sets a bad standard for the future, as it leads fans to expecting that they can get whatever they want as long as they bitch and moan about it for long enough. That being said, however, the circumstances here are a little different, considering that Snyder stepped away from the original production of Justice League after his daughter’s tragic passing. I may not like Snyder’s films, or most of the things he says in interviews, but it was still a shame that he never got the chance to finish his original vision due to such a sad situation, so the fact that he’s finally getting the opportunity to do so now is cool.

For those who are pissed about it, here’s my suggestion: Just pretend that the timeline splits after Man of Steel. On one timeline branch, you have Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition and Zack Snyder’s Justice League completing Snyder’s “trilogy,” with Suicide Squad: Extended Cut thrown in for good measure. Together, all these films make up “the Snyderverse.” Then, on the other timeline branch, you have the theatrical versions of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League, along with all the other films that have been released since, and the planned future ones too. Together, these all make up the proper “DC Extended Universe.” See? Was that so hard? I’m not a fan of the whole multiverse thing (as we’ll discuss here soon), but in this case, seeing it that way really helps to properly organize all this shit.

I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway, though, since the DCEU’s foundation was so flimsy to begin with. Man of Steel retroactively became the start of it all once DC realized that they weren’t making as much money as the Avengers films were. This is especially bad, because Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman were directed by Zack Snyder, a man who once called Superman “the enemy” and said he wished Batman was raped in prison in Batman Begins, and written by David S. Goyer, a man who once said that the only people who like characters like Martian Manhunter and She-Hulk are virgins, and that Batman Vs. Superman is what you do when you run out of ideas… Yikes…

But again, I’m fine with Zack Snyder’s Justice League being a real thing now. What I’m not fine with, however, is the fan culture that has resulted from it since. As much as I try to be neutral with all this, I have to admit that I absolutely hate seeing the “RestoreTheSnyderVerse” hashtag everywhere now. Just because Snyder is getting the chance to properly close out his vision (I know he was originally supposed to do one or two more Justice League films, but whatever) doesn’t mean DC should just suddenly scrap all of their current plans and give him all the power back now. Whether people like it or not, the DC Extended Universe at large has moved on. That being said, if for whatever reason the powers that be at DC decide to cancel all the upcoming films and give the keys to the kingdom back to Snyder, then fine, but that should be their decision, made on their own terms. They shouldn’t do that just because a bunch of so-called “fans” are clamoring for it.

The reason this is all different from the fan uproar to get the final season of The Clone Wars finally completed and released is because that show doesn’t really override the rest of the continuity in the (post-Disney sale) Star Wars universe, whereas “restoring the Snyderverse” would. Unless, that is, they decided to have the Snyderverse and the proper DCEU continuing to run alongside each other (kinda like what I suggested above for all the stuff that exists up until now), but there’s no way they’d ever do that, especially since all of the other multiverse stuff they’re planning now is already confusing as is.

And then there’s all the controversy that surrounds DC’s parent company, Warner Bros. The Joss Whedon and Ray Fisher controversy, the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard controversy, the Ezra Miller controversy, the fact that Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill keep stepping in and out of all this, the fact that WB released an announcement about a fake Frosty the Snowman reboot with Jason Mamoa just to try to distract people from all of their other bad press… I can go on! I’m not gonna go into any detail here, though, because it doesn’t really have anything to do with the topic of pop culture itself. I will say this, though: I have a sinking feeling that every studio in Hollywood is fucked up like this. The rest of them just seem to mostly do a better job at covering their own tracks than WB does, is all.

In short; the Snyder films feel more like “elseworld” films, and probably should’ve been marketed that way from the very get-go, instead of retroactively being turned into the foundation of DC’s mainline answer to the MCU. The theatrical version of Batman v. Superman in particular should’ve been an “elseworld” thing that was rated R. When I saw it, there was a little kid sitting with his dad right in front of me, to my right, and when Batman was killing a bunch of thugs, the kid said “Daddy, is that a bad Batman?” Then when the two titular characters finally started fighting (90 minutes into the movie), the kid started happily swinging his fists in the air, cause what he came to see was finally happening, but then the fight ended just a few minutes later, and the kid went back to looking confused. Also, as Wonder Woman was looking at the clips of the other heroes, the dad had to whisper into the kid’s ear what was going on and who each character was, and the kid still looked lost as all hell…

        The funniest thing though is that, as soon as the movie ended, some teenager sitting right next to me screamed to his friend that was right next to him “That was so bad, dude!” and then the friend shouted “Nooooo!” as he ran out of the theater. I caught some other fellow attendees outside, and overheard one of them say “I can’t believe they spent that much money on something that bad!” I knew right then and there that the DCEU was destined to be controversial in some way or another forever. Actually, right before I saw it, some random guy told me in the bathroom “It was weird. Be wary of the first 90 minutes.” I should’ve known right then and there that I was in trouble…

That all being said, even if Snyder’s films were “elseworld” things, they still wouldn’t fully work, cause if you’re trying to imagine what Superman would be like in real life, then you might as well just go all the way with it and make him evil. Either that, or WB should just adapt one of the good elseworld Superman stories from the comics (All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come, New Frontier, etc.). Either way, it’s clear that Snyder never wanted to make “MCU-like” films, so WB should’ve just rebooted again after Man of Steel, with someone else in charge. Oh, and when I say “the Snyder films,” by the way, I’m not counting the theatrical version of Justice League (since he didn’t really direct that one, despite still getting credit). Ironically, I actually enjoy that one, but only when I pretend it’s a comedy movie from 1995 (same can be said for Sony’s Venom). As far as my opinions on the rest of them go; Suicide Squad sucked (the new one looks good though), the first Wonder Woman was good, Aquaman was charming but weird and too long (the secondary villain should’ve been cut), Shazam was good (for the most part), and Joker was a little pretentious (I know it’s not really in the DCEU, but whatever). Haven’t seen any others… Okay, moving on!

The X-Men Foxverse

Similar to the whole DCEU/ Snyderverse situation, I just pretend that the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film from 2009 isn’t canon, since it causes so many continuity issues. I know both Deadpool films reference it, but those films are meant to be “loose” and break the fourth wall already as is, so it doesn’t matter. Also, I had to look this up, but apparently the original X-Men trilogy has been retconned a bit and no longer takes place in the early 2000’s (which was when those movies were made), but rather much later, to explain why the characters all look so much older there than they do in Dark Phoenix, which takes place in 1992 (and in a different timeline, but that doesn’t matter). Kinda like how the third Fast & Furious film, Tokyo Drift, was made in 2006 but now retroactively takes place much later (in between the sixth and seventh films, to be exact). If I recall correctly, though, there’s at least one character in Tokyo Drift that uses an old flip phone (let alone all the old cars). Maybe we can retroactively consider that guy to be a hipster? Are there any old phones and stuff in the first three X-Men films too? Also, this still doesn’t explain why the X-Men looked the same from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. Do all mutants just age slowly, like Logan does? Oh wait, that doesn't add up, cause Mystique is still younger than Charles and Eric in the first film from 2000. Is that just one of her fake looks? Or do different mutants age at different rates or something? Ugh, my brain hurts…

As far as which I like and which I don’t, I agree with the majority out there on this one. The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants are all really bad, and the rest of them are all really good. Not much else to say there. So let's move on to…

Multiverses

The fact that both Marvel and DC are confirmed to be moving in the direction of multiverse storytelling, let alone at the same time as one another, just gives me a raging headache. They seriously expect me to keep up with multiple Batmen and multiple Spider-Men and whatnot? All at once? Give me a break! As much as I enjoy stuff like Michael Keaton’s Batman, I’d rather he not coexist alongside two other Batmen (those being Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson, of course). And if rumors are to be believed, Star Wars might also start playing around with this multiverse concept via the upcoming Ahsoka show. I would like to think that Star Wars wouldn’t sink that low, but these days, nothing really surprises me anymore… But you know what, as much as I dislike the thought of all this multiverse shit, even I have to admit that it was inevitable. All of these fandoms are getting too big, and different people want different things… UPDATE: Star Wars: Visions doesn’t really count as true “multiverse” stuff, in my opinion, and besides, the fact that it’s not canon is probably for the best, as it allows the creators to tell whatever stories they truly want to tell.

Hypocrites in the superhero movies biz

You know what’s funny? When critically-acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer did the music for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, he said he’d be “retiring from the superhero business” after that. You know what other films he’s done the music for since then? Dark Phoenix and Wonder Woman 1984. So much for retiring from superhero stuff, I guess! Now, to be fair, he probably just genuinely had a change of heart about the superhero genre, though I have a feeling something else was at play here (cough-money!-cough). Hans is just one of many examples of this, though. Remember when Ben Affleck vowed to never play a superhero again after that Daredevil film he did in 2003?

Let’s stop there for now. I know there are other superhero films, but I don’t think I really care enough to talk about them, so we’ll talk about some non-superhero franchises next time.

Peace!

Click here for Part 2.

The Good & The Bad: Star Wars (The Sequel Trilogy)

 DISCLAIMER: For better context, click here for Part 2.

So now the time has come to fully review and analyze the ever-controversial Star Wars sequel trilogy…

Once again; let’s just dive right in!

The Force Awakens (2015)

THE GOOD: I really like how this movie utilized that “mask motif,” which is expressed by having Rey, Finn and Kylo all introduced in masks, as a means of symbolizing how they all learn how to be their true selves throughout the film. What makes this even cooler is the fact that this theme is continued throughout the entire trilogy. I also give this film credit for primarily using real sets and practical effects, all of which are accentuated beautifully by the top-notch cinematography. In addition, as much as people complained about it, I actually didn’t mind a lot of the Star Wars 1977 “repeats” (at least the ones that felt meta). Some of the “ideas” behind the new characters were also solid (a Vader poser who needs to learn to be his own kind of villain, a runaway Stormtrooper, etc.), though the execution of these ideas could’ve probably been handled a bit better than it was, admittedly. My favorite thing about the film, however, was the saber fight! It was shot so beautifully, and felt so grounded and elegant. Finally, saber-fighting felt believable again! And no, Rey being as strong as she was there didn’t bother me. As I’ve said before, Luke and Anakin were pretty much Mary Sues themselves. Besides, she had been fighting with a staff all her life on Jakku (probably always using the Force without even realizing it), and the film made it clear that Kylo was both physically and emotionally damaged right before that fight started. Somebody needed to be the Jedi hero of the fight, and it wasn’t going to be Luke, cause that would’ve made him a deus ex machina, and it wasn’t going to be another Jedi either, cause Luke is supposed to be the last one left at this point anyways. I know some people were disappointed that Finn didn’t turn out to actually be a Jedi, but as I said here, that was more of a problem with the marketing of the movie, not the movie itself. They should’ve just marketed Rey with the saber from the very start.

THE BAD: I remember going to see this film on opening night, and the air was fucking electric, which helped me to enjoy it quite a bit upon first viewing. Sadly, I don’t like the movie as much as I used to now. For starters, Poe should’ve died near the beginning of the film, as planned. As great of a character as he is, his extended presence got in the way of Finn’s development for the rest of the trilogy. Also, as mentioned above, the marketing for this movie sucked! Too many mysteries (like trying to hide Rey with the saber), and too much of an emphasis on nostalgia and “We made it exactly like the original trilogy” (Translation: “Please like us again! Please!!”). I understand there was pressure to market it that way, due to all the prequel hate at the time (from idiots like me), but they took it too far in the other direction, sadly. In addition to the marketing, the movie itself also had too many mysteries. A lot of people walked out of this movie thinking they liked it, but that’s only because the movie itself avoided answering so many questions, as a means to not upset people. That may work in the short term, but certainly not in the longterm, and it puts the two sequels to this in a bad spot. I know JJ Abrams loves his “mystery boxes,” but seriously, did Rey’s lineage really need to be one of them?! It felt like they were just trying to come up with a cheap way to set up this trilogy’s equivalent of “I am your father” (when it probably didn’t need one). How hard would it have been to just say right from the start that she was a Skywalker, Solo, Palpatine, Kenobi, etc.? Any of those probably would’ve made her character way more interesting right from the get-go. Better yet; they should’ve just said right from the start that her name was Rey Smith and her parents were some bums named John and Jane Smith and they abandoned her long ago and they don't matter. Make it clear right away that she’s the new hero from a spiritual sense, and not cause of bloodline. That would’ve been great! But instead, she’s nothing more than a walking question mark, set up to have a “twist” that would’ve been dissatisfying no matter what the answer was. That’s actually just one of many examples of how this movie acts as a poor setup for the rest of this trilogy. That fucking idiot Sam Witwer (the guy who voices Maul) blamed Rian Johnson for “ruining Luke,” saying that he “would’ve helped his sister.” If you’re gonna blame a filmmaker for that, don’t blame Rian. Blame JJ. He’s the one who put Luke on that island for no clear reason. First the movie says Luke gave up and “walked away from everything,” but then shows him wearing Jedi robes and standing all elegantly (EDIT: In hindsight, a lot of these problems will become irrelevant with time, as more people continue to grow up seeing this new trilogy as “one big story,” like most fans these days did with the originals). The movie also implies that Luke left behind that map and wanted to be found, when really, that was actually a long-lost ancient map to the Jedi homeworld, where most people suspected Luke to have gone to (he probably used the Force to find that planet, or had a different copy of the map or something). This bit could’ve been explained a bit better. The thing I hate the most about this film though, by far, is the section with the giant octopus creatures. That shit went on for way too long…

The Last Jedi (2017)

THE GOOD: I used to be unsure how to feel about this movie, but it has grown on me a lot recently! I don’t care what anyone says; this is one of the most creatively-inspired films in the entire franchise. The WWII-style opening, the way that wildlife plays a role in all the different subplots, the “three sides to every story” thing with the flashbacks, the design of Crait (and everything that happens there), the throne room fight (it’s just a dance, but it’s so unique that I don’t care), and so on! It’s also just simply my favorite Star Wars film to look at. Every shot feels like a work of art! Like a moving painting, of sorts, and the way the color red is used to tie it all together makes it all even better. This is also the film with the most memorable dialogue (for me, at least), though some of that dialogue does come across as a bit pretentious at times, I’ll admit. That being said, however, I still feel that this is the most thematically-consistent film in the entire series since Star Wars 1977 (read this and get to Part 4 to see why), and works as a standalone, and even as a saga-ending, just as well as it does as a normal sequel. That being said, my absolute favorite thing about this movie is the characters, as I feel they were best developed here (for the most part). I think all the character development actually made up for the fact that the plot didn’t “move forward” all that much (the novelization does an even better job of highlighting this aspect of the story actually!). This is easily the best Leia has ever been (Mary Poppins scene and all). Luke was presented as someone with actual flaws and emotions, which made him feel much more human, and gets to go on a whole new kind of hero’s journey, all in one movie! The new kids, good and evil, all get faced with interesting challenges that force them to have to take a deeper look into themselves. And for the record; yes, I’m glad Snoke got killed one movie ahead of schedule. While I would’ve liked for him to at least have a hint of backstory beforehand, it was pretty obvious even in Awakens that he was just meant to be a plot device for Kylo, and not really an actual character (like Rey).

THE BAD: Now, this movie is basically three stories going on all at once; Rey’s story, Finn’s story and Poe’s story. As stated above, I pretty much liked everything about Rey’s story (except for how the meaning of “balance” keeps changing, much like in the prequels), whereas Finn’s story took some getting used to, but eventually grew on me too (Canto Bight has that wacky, pulpy spirit of 1977). Poe’s story, on the other hand, still doesn't fully work for me to this day (again, read this to see why). Another issue is that this movie can’t seem to decide if it’s for kids or adults (and no, just saying “it’s all ages” doesn't count). The Marvel-ish jokes and the dark moments are fine, when viewed separately, but when you put them together, it creates a weird “disconnect,” of sorts. As much as I love humor, I feel that this story was in a position where it needed to be somewhat “dark,” due to the way everything from Empire to Awakens set things up. So if I were Johnson, I would’ve held back on stuff like the prank call in the intro (supposedly he fought really hard to keep that in the movie though, so good for him for sticking to his guns, I guess!). This next point is a bit of a “cheat,” cause I’m about to say three things all at once: This movie is too little (doesn’t set up IX all that well), too late (trying to stray away from themes established since Empire), and too long. None of those three things bother me, personally (and in some ways, they actually make me like the movie better), but I understand that I’m in the minority there, and that most people would probably be pissed off by any one of those points, let alone all three! I also can’t ignore the fact that this movie asks the audience to “fill in a lot of blanks,” such as continuity issues with Awakens (Hux suddenly looking different and the Resistance suddenly being referred to as Rebels or “the Republic fleet”), Holdo not telling anyone the plan (I like the kamikaze moment, though!), Rose stopping Finn’s sacrifice (kinda contradicts Holdo’s sacrifice), and so on. The last thing I’ll say is that some of the film’s messages might seem pretentious to some (but again, not to me).

The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

THE GOOD: While I think the whole Skywalker Saga/ “trilogy of trilogies” concept is overrated, if we absolutely had to abide by it, then I would say that this film did a fairly decent job at “ending the saga” or whatever. For that angle, bringing back Palpatine makes sense, as it brings things “full circle,” and the way they handled Leia felt tasteful, given the fact that they only had recycled Awakens footage to work with in wake of Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing. I like how they were even able to give her a Jedi past, and explain why she no longer was a Jedi by the time of the sequel trilogy. For those reasons primarily, it seems this film worked well for casual audiences (not critics or diehard fans, though!). I’ll also say that, at least at first, I liked the super-fast pace of the film. It felt like a “victory lap,” of sorts, as if the movie itself was trying to say “Hey, this is the last one, so we’re gonna move fast. At this point, you’re either on board, or you can fuck off!” That being said, this crazy-fast pacing got old, fast. When we got to the second act, I started to have a headache. But it worked in the first act for me, at least. I can also say with confidence that, for the most part, I still thought Kylo and Rey were handled well. The “yin and yang” thing between them was always interesting (the kiss was overkill, though), and I liked Kylo’s redemption involving the Han memory and all. It may sound silly on paper, but Adam Driver was able to somehow act it out in a way that worked beautifully, for me (and he barely even said anything!). Furthermore, like Awakens, this is one of the only films in the whole damn franchise that seems to have a rather consistent tone. What Abrams lacks in originality, he makes up for with tonal consistency. Lastly, I can’t talk about this movie without addressing the elephant in the room; Duel of the Fates (Colin Trevorrow’s canceled version of Episode IX, the script for which leaked last year). Overall, I would say that Skywalker was executed better than Fates, however, Fates had better ideas. It’s a bit of an unfair comparison, though, given the fact that Fates was only ever a first draft (a rough one, at that!) and nothing more.

THE BAD: First of all, I hated how this movie tried to center itself around the idea of Rey, Finn and Poe coming together as a trio for the first and only time ever. I get the appeal of that idea, but in the end, I just feel that it wasn’t truly meant to be (especially since Poe wasn’t supposed to even be there in the first place, as I’ve said earlier). The worst part about this however is the fact that it lead to Rose being sidelined for literally the entire movie. I get that people didn’t like her (and as I’ve admitted in the past, she took a while to grow on me, like the rest of The Last Jedi), but sidelining her like that still felt scummy nonetheless. Furthermore, the idea of Rey being a Palpatine seems cool on paper, but the way it was executed here felt absolutely haphazard and, quite frankly, batshit! Another thing that really pisses me off is all the lore-breaking this movie does. The Death Star II remains make no sense (we saw it blow to smithereens in Return of the Jedi), all of the new Sith stuff came out of nowhere (They have a language now? And assassins?), the whole thing where one Imperial ship needs to guide the rest of the fleet out of that nebula and the map to do that can only be on one ship at a time and… I can go on! And no, I don’t count the kamikaze moment in The Last Jedi as “lore-breaking.” As Finn himself says in this film; “that move was one in a million.” Just because it’s rare doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The remains of the Death Star being almost perfectly intact though? After we saw it blown to oblivion before our very eyes? Even a kid wouldn’t be able to stretch their imagination that far! This movie also just felt way too fan-servicey, with the Reylo kiss being the (rotten) cherry on top, in that regard. Another major gripe of mine is, simply, just the way this movie looks. Abrams drenches the entire movie in this weird blue tint, which I guess was his way of trying to match up to the heavy use of red in The Last Jedi. The thing is that all of the red in Jedi was always contrasted with white and/or black, whereas in Skywalker, it’s just blue on blue on blue (UPDATE: someone pointed out to me recently that all the blue on Exegol vanishes once Palpatine dies, so that makes it a little cooler, I’ll admit).

Okay, I’m finally done! As I said in the beginning of all this, I don’t plan to talk about Star Wars again until after we get through this wave of all these new shows and films they announced last month at that Disney Investor’s Call (unless for some reason I feel the need to talk about it again sooner). I’ll say this, though; of all the new stuff, the project I think I’m most excited for is the anime anthology Visions. I used to laugh at the idea of Star Wars cartoons, back when I was stupid and thought Star Wars was supposed to be serious, but now I realize that the cartoons are actually the best thing about Star Wars! I’m also looking forward to Obi-Wan Kenobi (just for the sake of seeing Ewan and Hayden again) and The Acolyte (since it takes place 50-100 years before all the movies, which in itself is interesting). I also hope that the rumors are true that Taika Waititi’s movie will be about the origins of the Jedi. Furthermore, I hope Rian Johnson’s trilogy still happens (sounds like it won’t though, sadly).

The very last thing I’ll say is this; in case it wasn’t obvious from all these different posts, I like Star Wars better when it’s cheesy instead of serious. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that the future of the franchise will probably go in a pretty serious direction, bar a few exceptions (like Taika’s film, of course!). That being said, no matter what the future holds, one thing cannot be disputed, and that’s that Lucas created an amazing universe here. As much as I rag on the guy sometimes, he really did push both filmmaking and storytelling, and really all of pop culture actually, in a (mostly) better direction, and nobody can ever take that away from him! Hell, even just the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” alone created endless possibilities. I know people have loved to shit on Star Wars since 1999 (and arguably since 1983, or even 1980!), but the fact that we always come back around to it no matter what pretty much says it all, as far as I’m concerned…

Peace!

2023 UPDATE: Wait, wasn’t Padme trying to stop the creation of a Republic army at the beginning of Attack? Yet another subplot in that film that just “fizzles out.” Also, wouldn’t she be pissed at Jar Jar for giving Palpatine emergency powers, in that case? And why does Natalie Portman no longer use the “formal” (British) accent when talking to other government officials in Attack and Revenge? She does it in Phantom…

2023 UPDATE: Funny enough, I used to dislike the first half of The Rise of Skywalker for being too fast, and enjoyed the second half much more, but now I feel the opposite. The fast pace of the first half has grown on me, whereas the second half makes less sense the more I think about it (still some good moments in the second half too, though).

Related: Ranking Repository