Since everyone seems to be throwing their two cents in on the new Star Wars movie I thought I might as well toss my blog into the ring. I don’t understand this film. I mean I know that it is a lead in for a new animated series on TV that will focus on the new character Ahsoka Tano, who is Anakin’s Padawan. And that’s what I’m having trouble with. My understanding of the way the hierarchy works is that you are a Padawan until you are made a Master Jedi at which time you get a Padawan to tutor. And if we look at the new trilogy, Anakin was never made a Master Jedi. Mace Windu even make a vocal point of it in Revenge of the Sith, telling Anakin that although he is sitting on the Jedi Council at the behest of President Palatine, he is not given the rank of Jedi Master. So if he is not a Master how can he have a Padawan? I know it is just a movie and I should go with the flow, but it is irksome when someone sets up a fictitious world and then arbitrarily contradicts their own rules just to create a vehicle for a new character for no other purpose than to make some more money off a cash cow that is all but printing its own currency without it. To quote J. J. Gittes from Chinatown, “How much more money do you really? Is there any better food you can eat? Is their any better liquor you can drink?” It all smacks of a cynical condescending attitude on the part of the creator for his own fan base, feeling he can put out any piece of crap and the stupid fans will buy it up and demand more. No wonder George Lucas has going from being the Golden Boy of Hollywood to just another corporate bloodsucker in the minds of many fans.
Archive for Musings
So, I’m surfing around the web looking for something to blog about and come upon an interesting article on MSN.com. Warner Bros. announced a tentative choice for the next villain in their Batman franchise…..The Riddler. My initial reaction was “No! Not The Riddler, he’s so lame!” Now understand something, The Riddler was originally my favorite Batman villain. I loved the concept of someone so smart he would leave clues for his proposed crimes, confident that no one would figure them out. I could have done without the lime green tights, but that’s another matter.
The main reason I loved the character was because of Frank Gorshin. Out of all the special guest star villains on the old Adam West show, he was the only one who seemed truly menacing, those manic eyes and that weird high pitched giggle that came out at odd moments. This was a man who appeared truly unhinged and on the verge of actually killing someone, no wonder he won an emmy for it.
The character never fared so well in the comics, a low on the totem pole second stringer in the rouges gallery, a thief forced by a psychological compulsion to send clues before he is able to commit a crime, most of the writers for the last forty years have portrayed him as a whiny, pathetic loser. The animated series in the nineties gave him back some dignity, portraying him as a man out to prove he is smarter than everyone and get revenge on the business man who cheated him out of his computer game creation. But then came Jim Carrey , who came across as Ace Ventura: Puzzle Thief!
So I was less than enthused about The Riddler being put into the more realistic setting of Nolan’s Batman Universe. I had thought a suave and sophisticated gangster oriented version of The Penguin or a high rise, safe cracking burglar version of Catwoman would be the way to go. And then I saw who they were thinking of casting and my attitude completely changed.
Johnny Depp! Yes, that could work. His Pirates of the Caribbean movies and such thrillers as Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Secret Window have demonstrated his ability to play quirky, menacing characters who you are never sure what they are going to do from one scene to the next. if this does come to be I think Depp will make the definitive Riddler, like Ledger made the definitive Joker.
In front of The Dark Knight is a trailer for Watchmen, the highly anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons seminal and groundbreaking comic book series, and a property thought to be unfilmable. I have always had my doubts about being able to do the story justice, but now they will give it a try. The director chosen, Zack Snyder, has shown he can make a hit film based on a downbeat and unfilmable comic book property with 300. I just wonder if anyone other than comic book fans will want to see this film. You can say non-comic book readers are flocking to The Dark Knight, but Batman is a cultural icon that has been around for almost sixty years. He is a known character outside of fandom. Does anyone who is not a comic book reader ever heard of Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl or Rorschach? Hopefully a good promotional campaign can overcome this deficit because I would truly love for this to be a big hit, showing that superheroes can be a viable and serious way to explore complex moral issues, making The Dark Knight the start of something big instead of a fluke.
