Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Reboots and other complaints.

So this is something that has been bothering me for a while now, it seems everyday we hear about some franchise (either game or Movie) that is getting the "Reboot" treatment. This is a highly disturbing trend in my honest opinion. There are a few good examples, like the new Batman movies, I really liked the Micheal Keaton Batman movies from the late 1980's and early 1990's. Then they went into disarray with George Clooney as Batman and once Tim Burton dropped from directing I knew Batman was indeed in trouble. Flash forward to 2005 and we get a new Batman, this one turns out to be great, Batman Begins was perfectly cast, acted, directed, written.

I really enjoyed how they made Batman less fake, he used equipment that is actually around and it was very feasible and realistic. Enough time had passed to make these new movies successful. For every success there is utter failure however.

Now I really enjoyed the last three Spiderman movies, I thought they were really well done, we the fans were all set to get a Spiderman 4 movie sometime this year or next year, however when the Directer and cast and crew didn't want to shoot the movie in 3-D because they were unfamiliar with the technology and felt it was too much of a gimmick, we get a Reboot taking Peter Parker back to high school, which is someplace we've been with him less then eight years ago.

Another Rebooted series is X-men, the reason for this reboot is simple, the original cast was too expensive to get for a new film. Now days when people or film makers smell money they lock up the cast for a multi picture deal, so most of the original X-Men cast were signed on for three movies, now they reboot it with lesses known actors and save money. It's a mistake in my opinion and I pity the people that actually want to see such a travesty.


Games get rebooted now it seems too, Tomb Raider is getting a new look, where she pretty much looks like a guy with short hair, Tomb Raider has come out with some of the best games in recent memory, so why the reboot? I guess the creators just felt she needed an update, this pretty much coincides with the reboot Tomb Raider movie I've been hearing about, not sure why Angelina Jolie couldn't still play the character, she isn't old and is still attractive enough to play the part. It's just one of those things.

The Punisher reboot is another horrid debacle that I suffered through, I actually really enjoyed the Punisher movie from 2005 with Tom Jane, it was filmed locally and I thought it was well done without being over the top, they they reboot it, with a crummy actor who didn't even have a line for thirty five minutes into the movie, the enemies were all over the top, much like the late 1990's Batman films, too colorful for what it's supposed to be.

Switching notes here, I want to say I'm kind of pissed off that some of our great American Super Hero's are now being played by Non Americans, the new Superman for example is played by a British actor, Henry Cavil. The new Spiderman isn't American, even the Green Hornet is played by a Canadian. It's slightly upsetting.

The main reason we get reboots is because Hollywood and film/game makers have run out of original ideas, they bank on the name selling tickets or games, no matter what slop they throw in front of us. I for one will not get suckered into this type of trash. I hope at least some of you feel the same way.