Current Events > I'm looking forward to James Gunn's DC movie reboot

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just gonna warn people ahead of time, this post is long, rambling and extremely esoteric, so get your tl;drs ready. I honestly don't think any of this really matters, CE is just a good dumping ground for this sort of brainvomit.

I'm just going to get the ugly stuff out of the way, I hated Zack Snyder's DC movies. If you appreciate the approach he took for Man of Steel or whatever, that's your business - I wasn't a fan, and BvS was actively a waste of my time and money. It's to the point that I don't understand how people can say "at least the CG is good" - that suit of armour Batman wears in BvS looks like shittily painted styrofoam. Justice League - even if it was Joss Whedon's hackjob of a retool - was the last straw. No, I'm not wasting three hours of my life on the Snyder cut when I've hated everything Snyder made for DC.

Even then, I feel really bad for the actors. Henry Cavill could have been a great Superman if he wasn't wasted, they fucking killed him off in his second movie and resurrected him in the third one, and then his role in the later movies boiled down to being a glorified cameo. Ben Affleck always wanted to play Batman - the reason he was in that 2003 Daredevil movie is because it was his closest chance to play Batman at the time. Look at how that turned out: he got replaced even before the full reboot went into effect. Jason Momoa is a cool guy, and he plays a more rugged Aquaman pretty well. Ray Fisher was shafted super badly.

The best thing I can say about DC is that they eventually began to experiment with their properties instead of making a shallow copy of the Marvel formula. Joker was a good move, weird genre throwback that painted an iconic character in a serious, dramatic light. They could have easily competed with Marvel by doing movies like that, trying to capture the tone and scope of a serious work of art, if only in appearance. They already did that with the Nolan trilogy bringing Batman down to Earth. That really would have been something instead of Leto's Suicide Squad.

So why am I looking forward to James Gunn?

What it really comes down to is that he comes across as a fairly real guy. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are cornball, but it's loving pastiche and genuine affection rather than trite self-seriousness. You see an interview or whatever and it sounds like he's actually speaking, not acting as a mouthpiece for corporate through-lines. He is, ultimately, a company man at the end of the day - but when I see him, I sense passion and vision. His superhero movies reflect that.

I feel like James Gunn is more of a trend-setter. He's arguably the reason why Marvel pivoted towards the cornball approach they take now - Guardians leading into Thor 3 probably had one of the most profound effects on the MCU since the first Avengers movie. Meanwhile, in 2013, gritty reboots where people scream about their cock and all their pain were everywhere. Man of Steel, and the ensuing angstfest it kicked off, was following in the footsteps of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Jack the Giant Slayer, Snow White and the Huntsman, Alice in Wonderland, Oz: The Great and the Powerful etc. Most of those came and went. A bunch of them were flops. The DCU kinda steered into that.

And I think that's probably one of the biggest reasons I don't like the DCU. The highest praise I have for it is when it actually took a step outside the box and tried something new and interesting. Man of Steel, BvS etc. felt like a part of that gritty reboot trend, unashamedly so. Joker was a period drama that emulated Scorsese. That was new and interesting. It was novel.

Between Gunn's work for both Marvel and DC, he comes across as more of a Joker director than a Man of Steel director. He's a fan of the Christopher Reeves Superman movie, so that makes me excited for what he can bring to Superman as a character. The way he treated his Suicide Squad roster felt a lot better than the way David Ayers's Suicide Squad mangled those characters. And while I'm not going to say he's "above" making jokes about Batman dropping the soap in prison considering his background and sense of humor, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who goes out to impress people by outright, unironically stating that "in my movies, Batman could get raped in prison". That's something Zack Snyder legitimately said to explain the tone he wanted to set for the Snyderverse movies. On top of being tasteless, it's always reeked of this tryhard Comic Bro pandering. It's charmless and gormless.

I also think Gunn has what it takes to actually capture the essence of a work or a character without making it The James Gunn Version. I think he could do a classic, iconic Superman without the whole goofball side-wink style of humour from Guardians 2. Maybe he could do a grounded, gritty Batman movie without falling into whatever BvS was or cribbing too heavily from Nolan. It's not like the stereotype of Adam Sandler doing the stupid, high-pitched joke voice in all of his movies, or - again - the grimdark pain-and-cocks tone of the early 2010's that the Snyderverse was steeped in. He has passion for the subject matter and he has a broad, branching vision that stays true to the characters.

To cap off this long, stupid and annoying rant, I just wanna say that William Jackson Harper (Chidi from the Good Place) would make a good Superman if they were to do that black Superman movie they were talking about a couple years ago. He'd be a perfect Clark Kent, and he's fucking jacked so he'd make a fantastic Superman. I know Michael B. Jordan is apparently producing, directing and starring in his own Superman movie, but a fella can dream.

didnt read alla dat but good place is overrated af and chidi would be the worst superman ever

BoyOfBattle posted...

chidi would be the worst superman ever

But he would be one of the best Clark Kents ever.

Obviously making him Superman is an oddball idea, but everything that makes Superman Superman is reflected in Clark Kent. It's a gamble as to how Superman would turn out, but I think finding a good Clark Kent is key to building a strong Superman.

I've never seen Chidi's actor in anything else but judging from Good Place he'd make a great Jimmy Olsen <_<

Remember that Gunn is Whedon's protege, so any mention of the MCU going "cornball" could be attributed to Whedon.

The Batman and Joker are GOATed.

Get them to do the DCU shit.

Spiritlittle posted...

The Batman and Joker are GOATed.

Get them to do the DCU shit.

Honestly, all they need to do is learn how to trim these movies down a little. My only complaint about Joker is that it runs too long, and a lot of it are these little character moments where Arthur Fleck Does Something Weird.