Have DC Movies Turned the Corner?
DC Comics held something called FanDome on Saturday where a number of movie trailers debuted and announcements were made. In May I wrote about why Marvel was so successful with their connected film franchise and what DC could learn from it. In one major regard it looks like DC has taken a big step in the right direction, specifically with regard to hiring top filmmaking talent.
Wonder Woman 1984 is again directed by Patty Jenkins who did a great job with the 2017 film, so I’m optimistic with this one. From the trailer it looks like a fun movie with a lot of humor, though I’m concerned that the action looks a little more fantastical than I prefer (for example I thought the beach battle scene from the original was extremely well choreographed while the climactic fight scene was too divorced from reality).
I’m most eager to see The Batman, first because Batman is one of my all-time favorite characters, and second because director Matt Reeves’ recent take on The Planet of the Apes was excellent. The trailer suggests a gritty and down-to-earth vibe that I’m very much on-board with. Robert Pattinson appears to be a good choice to dawn the cowl despite his Twilight past and you can’t do better than Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon.
The Suicide Squad didn’t get a trailer, but rather a neat roll call video that shows the characters and cast who plays them, which is promising. Best of all they snagged James Gunn during his Disney-sentenced limbo for decade’s-old ill-advised tweets to direct it between Guardians of the Galaxy Vols. 2 and 3. This gives me every reason to believe that this sequel will be a massive improvement over the original that I was only able to endure once.
The other films that were highlighted at FanDome were The Flash and Black Adam, the former of which is directed by Andy Muschietti who helmed the It films and the latter by Jaume Collet-Serra who helmed some forgettable Liam Neeson action movies and The Shallows (which I really enjoyed). I’ll put these in the “we’ll just have to wait and see” bucket.
I do wish that DC would do more to create an inter-connected universe similar to the MCU, but by keeping the movies more independent they can offer talented filmmakers more creative freedom, which may prove to be a key differentiator. The poster-child for this philosophy is Joker, which stands apart from the DCEU both in terms of continuity and tone, but personally while I found the acting in the film to be compelling, overall it was just a downer that I don’t want to see again.
But looking forward I intend to keep an open mind as DC is moving forward with their characters on film in ways I hope will prove to be far more compelling than Batman v Superman or Justice League.
And speaking of Justice League, DC also premiered a trailer for the Snyder cut, something die hard Zack Snyder fans have been begging for. I will certainly take the time to watch it, but I expect it to be mostly like the theatrical version, just darker, longer (4 hours!) and without the funny parts… except where it is unintentional.
“Martha!”
