Marvel debuts the first official preview for The Mighty God of Thunder.
A shorter version of the Comic-Con footage. But the additional shots like Odinson’s armor coming off his body piece by piece, crashing to Midgard (which seems unlikely The Asgardians will refer to the mortal plane) through a worm tunnel (similar to the emerald gemstone that sends Ryan Reynolds to Oa in the Green Lantern trailer), striking down the Frost Giant’s lair with Mjolnir, the effects of the hammer flying from his hand, and Destroyer causing mayhem in the small town in New Mexico doesn’t make it less awesome.
I wasn’t going to comment until the full preview came out, so here it is:
After hearing his narration on The Story of DC Comics documentary released on DVD last Tuesday, I still think Ryan Renyolds can pull off Hal Jordan. It sounds like he’s taking this seriously while having fun at the same time which is good.
The make-up department did an astonishing job on Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond in his big headed glory. Sinestro (Mark Strong) looks freakin sweet. He definitely stepped off the pages of Ivan Reis’ Sinestro Corps War. If this movie fails, at least he’ll be a saving grace.
CG on the fist contruct, Oa, Tomar-Re, and Kilawog (even in the ET sneak peek) are awesome. Of course, not all of the effects were perfect. Keep in mind, they just started post production and the film doesn’t come out till late June of next year, so hopefully by the release, it’ll look spectacular.
Odd that Tom Kalmaku is being played by an older New Zealian (Taika Waititi) instead of an young Asian kid like Aaron Yoo (who had a brief cameo in the subpar Elm Street remake). Guess they didn’t want him to be too much of “The Jimmy Olsen to GL” (which he is in the comics).
Unfortunately, Blake Lively hasn’t convinced me in the role of Carol Ferris (future Star Sapphire). Her acting is so stiff. It’s like she’s trying to sound all grown up, when she’s still a teenager. The age difference is still glaring, and that quick shot of her getting up out of bed at 2 hours and 4 minutes, her hair is in it’s natural blond (since they dyed it or but a brunette wig on her as opposed to black from the source material). This could go either Katie Holmes / Maggie Gyllenhaal or even much worse, Kristen Dunst level of bad.
Lastly some of the dialogue is ho-hum. It’s the same-old generic lines we’ve heard before in past superhero movies. That’s what happens when you have Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter 5) and Michael Green (who wrote the majority of Season 1 episodes of Smallville) doing the rewrite.
I was disgusted with last week’s episode. Darkseid portrayed as one of the demons on Supernatural (with the black eyes as-it’s-supposed-to-be volcanic red), Kara glorified up the ying yang and Clark being kicked 3 times in the nuts. And the writers taking his self respect away AGAIN.
However, the 200th episode lived up to the title unlike the 100th, “Desperation” (which I like to call the Season 5 episode, “Reckoning” because Clark sacrificed Jonathan Kent for the town whore.)
Jeannot Swarc who directed Perry White’s centric, “Exposed”, and the failed Supergirl movie (shock of shocks) did a really good job. But what really boggles my mind is that the huge piles of shit that Brian Peterson & Kelly Sounders puts us through that were Seasons 8 (Human Kryptonite/Failsday), 9 (Stalktower/Chollie), and the first few episodes of this year can do a 180 and write this landmark to the series (double shocker).
Tom Welling was FINALLY given the spotlight again. The look on Clark’s face when him and Lois were pronounced king and queen was priceless. But of course the best part was him meeting his future self and witnessing himself save the day as The Man of Steel. Clark (in his recent Superman threads) saying goodbye to Pa Kent at his resting place was excellent closure.
Erica Durance as her character’s future self was just great. I’d enjoyed every minute of it with this being how Clark finds out that she knows about him was absolutely hilarious (again, another priceless expression from Tom Welling). The homage to the helicopter save from Superman: The Movie was a nice touch. Lifehouse’s “Everything” benefited Lois & Clark as opposed to that overdone shipper.
James Marsters delivers another solid performance as Brainiac 5. However in the comics, this Legionnaire has blonde hair, guess he didn’t want to look like Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer over again (which is ironic considering he was forced to make a reference in one of the worst episodes of Season 5, “Thirst”).
I hated the producers ripped off the first Iron Man movie by having Oliver go public (BEFORE CLARK) with his alter ego. My predictions are this character will be too stupid to realize the consequences. But the way it was played out that he was looking for Clark’s support and give him (long overdo) credit.
Of course it wasn’t perfect, the first half was pretty dull. The recap was suckage, the on screen Chloe worshipers with the text message from their idol at the end from wherever scummiest rat hole (which is opposite to what I’m saying since she’s probably enjoying the best form of luxury imaginable considering Amanda Waller even glorified her aswell) Blondie at Checkmate was ridiculous beyond belief.
Three gripes I had were the scene with Psycho Guidance Counselor was just random, if Bug Boy hadn’t give Clark “The Stare” when his character was just going to say thanks for setting him straight, Kal-El wouldn’t have overacted and grabbed Brainiac’s ring, and the line of dialogue about him being the creator of The Legion’s time travel was complete contradicting since we clearly saw in their centric that they were doing that before Brainiac was cured.
Rating: 9
Next week looks to be filler with Lois being possessed again, not by Silver Banshee this time (who was completely misused in last year’s “Escape”) but to the Egyptian goddesses, Isis. Only it’s not the DC Comics character of the same name, SO WHAT’S THE POINT?! It’s the “Henry Olsen” scenario all over again.
After the forward progression that happened in this episode, next week undoes all of it. So here we go again with the “two steps forward, two steps back” bullshit. But the upside is the Lex subplot comes back.
Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy are excellent as always. Susan Eisenberg sounded like she never left the role of Wonder Woman, who also manages to transition with the first Superman (since she worked with George Newburn in both Justice League shows) very easily. She is the definitive voice for the Amazion Princess and having the essential Trinity all there was just awesome. Julianne Grossman (who was the Bizarro-Etta Candy in Wonder Woman) as Big Barda was more assertive then hard edged in the other versions from the DCAU shows, Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited. It’s pretty sweet to hear Daly speak Kryptonian and even in general to hear it outloud.
So glad Bruce Timm & Company went with a different composer this time around with John Paesano since Christopher Drake’s music are starting to sound alike. The choir for Kara’s theme didn’t go full out like Diana’s in her feature. Animation stumbled in the beginning where The Dark Knight is introduced, his face looked flat as a pancake. but other then that, it looked pretty much fluent that captured the early Michael Turner’s style.
Summer Glau of Sarah Connor and Firefly fame did fine as Kara Zor-El, but when time came to play the evil version of herself, she didn’t pull it off. As I predicted, Andre Braugher failed as Lord of Apokolips. No one can replace Micheal Ironside. Lastly a small nitpick, they cut out my favorite moment from the graphic novel, where Kal-El is forced to put on the Kryptonite ring to take down his brainwashed cousin. Overall this was definitely better then Public Enemies.
Rating: 8
The Green Arrow Showcase was another good one. The story was a very modernized version of a classic medieval scenario with a little twist which I won’t give away. But the one thing I will give away is Count Vertigo is involved. I disliked it because it reminds me of The Emerald Archer’s misfired centric from The Batman, where he was incorporated into the origin story.
Neal McDonough (who’s going to be playing Dum Dum Dugan in Marvel Studios’Captain America) was okay but Kin Shriner’s vocals in JLU was alot more distinct. In that series, Ollie had a more of the swashbuckling attitude unlike Justin Hartley who’s become so irritating to hear on Smallville.
Next movie is an adaptation of Grant Morrison’s All Star Superman.
James Benton as The Man of Steel does nothing for me but Anthony LaPaglia playing Luthor shows a little bit of potential even though the essential for me will always be Clancy Brown.
Our trip to the convention yesterday at the DC booth.
Of course, they showed the first trailer we’ve already seen before, but with a crowd response to the moments like Lex Luthor killing Superman with the Kryptonite spear had more of an impact.
Micheal Shanks drops the gravel for Hawkman’s alter ego, as Carter Hall does Clark a favor by keeping an eye on Lois in Africa and giving us exposition to what we already know about his backstory. About the new “suit”, I expected a colorized version of his Emoman outfit from last year, but it’s okay. Minor complaint is he should’ve been wearing that two seasons ago.
Cat Grant who was previously played by Emilie Ullerup in last season’s “Crossfire” is recast to Keri Lynn Pratt. But instead of continuing where we left off with her as the anchor of Good Morning Metropolis, TPTB decide to reintroduce her as some bystander who changed her name because she and her son (reference to the comics’ single mom counterpart, who’s child is later killed by Toyman) are being stalked by Deadshot.
Bradley Stryker as Fyold Lawton looked like he stepped off the set of that P.O.S. Jonah Hex movie, especially with his secret lair being some warehouse out of the old west which was probably The Barn redressed since they love to recycle their sets.
Painfully, we got more Chloe worshipping and Oliver giving another annoying pep talk. Newsflash producers, that might’ve worked back when Clark was still mopping about the first Human Kryptonite on The Kent Farm in previous seasons, but that stunt doesn’t work anymore. Plus, Mercy reciting a love letter was another cringe-worthy moment. And WTF is Jessica Parker Kennedy doing back as Plastique?!She’s one of the worst actresses in Season 8, first being Kristen Krusek.
Rating: 6
Next week is the dreaded episode where (again should never been brought in) Kara becomes the first public super as opposed to her rightful cousin.
This was the weakest premiere I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately this got another glorifying Dumb Blond line of dialogue out of Clark. Writers, Don Whitehead and Holly Henderson didn’t help things shoehorning Chloe into yet another plot when she should’ve stayed dead in the Season 3 finale,“Covenant”. They even had a second chance in “Failsday”, but the “supporting” (backstabbing) cast gets more attention than the main character (cringe-worthy)! They did get some comeuppances, though, and I liked seeing Oliver get beat up by Suicide Squad member, Rick Flagg and Chloe get driven off. I only wish she’d have gone insane putting on Fate’s helmet , but I forgot that nothing can happen to Chloe. Her worshipers call her the “heart and soul” of the show, after all. And now we have to deal with her in the comics, too.
The last conversation between Kal-El and Jor-El really felt off to me, as well, and more plot conveniences. At the end of “Abyss”, father and son saw eye to eye, and after seven years he finally called him father! Now they’re making him shady again, because it really was the producers, Brian Peterson and Kelly Saunders talking. Clark was about to wear the fucking costume and they took it away and put it in a crystal. That is more teasing to the audience, laughing at us, not building anticipation. The anticipation has been building for ten fucking years, we don’t need you dangling it in front of us like a god damn carrot.
This isn’t Batman!Where are they coming from with this “inherent darkness” in Clark? Is this because of the BS put into last season with Clark being rough around the edges, dangling Ms. Graves over the edge of The Daily Planet? And Michael, where are you??? Mackenzie Gray (who played the evil scientist from Cyborg’s centric episode) was forgettable. Rosenbaum will always be Lex for me and anyone filling in just won’t cut it.
At least there was some silver lining. Erica Durance FINALLY got second billing after Tom Welling and I liked the throw back to the pilot hanging Lois as Smallville’s Scarecrow, but there should have been more Clois scenes in this premiere. Season 10 should be about Lois & Clark, notmore Chollie. It’s a pointless shipper. We all know Oliver ends up with Dinah Lance (Black Canary).Just have them get together and write him off the show.Why does it need to take years for these things to happen?
Clark even showed a little promise and I liked his determination in the beginning of the episode, smashing the tombstone and being certain that he was ready to become Superman. He had gotten his balls back there, but then they were ripped away as the premiere went on. He wasn’t being prideful. The supporting characters were once again projecting their problems on him, ego and arrogance, and it makes them all even more unlikable. Telling him he’s not doing what needs to be done, then telling him he can’t do it yet because he’s not ready (how fucking hypocritical is that?), it’s just stupid. Even Kara (who shouldn’t have been brought on to begin with) is going to come back and say he isn’t ready, stealing the spotlight with the glasses, a secret identity, stealing all of Clark’s impending thunder. Why does this show insist on making everyone but Superman look competent and successful? Honestly, if the comic book Clark Kent had this much trouble, I don’t think he’d have ever would’ve become the hero we know and love. The show has a remarkable ability of fucking up.
At least we saw Darkseid as he should look, even though I think we’re going to get some unfortunate vessel who can’t top Michael Ironside. Just watch Batman/Superman: Apocalypse to see what I’m talking about. I’m going to say Highfather was the one that brought Clark back to face the real threat, so hopefully we’ll see a little of New Genesis (Orion perhaps). This does bring up the question, though, if Season 10 will end on a high note or a low note. I’m assuming because this is the final season that it’ll end with Clark becoming Superman on a high note, as opposed to his track record of failures.
AND RAO HELP US – LET HIM FLY!
Rating: 5 1/2
Next week, look for the producers to waste an opportunity with Deadshot like they did to Roulette and Silver Banshee last season.
I liked that line about being the target, but the rest of the speech sounded lame. The upside of this is Clark back to red and blue, even though the suit was taken away by TPTB.
Director, Edgar Wright (Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz) created a stunning visual piece of filmmaking, combining the elements of Video Games, Martial Arts, Anime, Comics, and Rock & Roll that Bryan Lee O’Malley’s trade is about. Which also included Bryan’s artwork appearing at key moments in the film, much differently then John Romita Jr.’s style in Kick Ass.
When Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel, the first member of The League of Evil Exes shows up, the movie really gets rolling. A musical number with Demon Hipster Chicks (with eyes and fangs that reminded me of The Witch from Conan The Barbarian) throwing fireballs is only the tip of the over-the-top iceberg. Many memorable antics ensue as the film goes on.
Even though his screen time was short, Chris Evans was still hysterical as skateboarder-turned-action-star Lucas Lee (second member) with a Tom Cruise impression was really funny. Surprise appearances by Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins Jr. (who was the better-acted Romulan in last year’s Star Trek) as The Vegan Police was absolutely hilarious. Their high five at the end of the scene was a great exit.
The stand off between Sex Bob-Omb and The Katayangi Twins (Shota and Keita Saito) resulting in a physical manifestation of (pun intented) Double Dragons against a square shaped gorilla is spectacular. Also the cat fight between Romana Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her ex-girlfriend (fourth member), Roxanne Richter (Mae Whitman) was also pretty good. “Sledgehammer vs. Razor-Blade Belt”.
Out of the video game sound effects (the pixelated Universal Studios logo and theme in classic Nintendo fashion being an excellent way to start the movie) I heard Emperor Ming’s ring noise from Flash Gordon when the leader, Gideon Gordon Graves (Jason Schwartzman) enters the fray towards the end.
Unfortunately like in the trailer prior, the first act is so dull, I was marking time for the exes to show up. If you take the fantastic elements out, your left with another Michael Cera teen drama.
The supporting characters kept dragging the plot, especially emo ginger band drummer (the first ex), Kim Pine (Alison Pill) and Julie Powers (Audrey Plaza). Although he had two good supporting moments, Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) isn’t on the same level of friend/A-Hole as Randal Graves was for Dante Hicks in Clerks I & II.
And my major gripe with modern cinematography in general rears it’s ugly head again in the final battle… Shaky Cam! I can’t follow what’s going on, though I’ll admit it wasn’t as dreadful as Quantum of Solace.
Overall, it entertains the targeted demographic and despite my qualms with it, it’s enjoyable ride (with several speed bumps along the way). The annoying side characters, Scott being a cheater, which made it hard to sympathize with him at points, the stunning visuals made up for it.
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