Superhero films - 2012
| The Avengers | The Dark Knight Rises | The Amazing Spiderman |
| DC animation |
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The Avengers, benefitting from several hit films leading up to it, was possibly the most satisfying superhero movie of all time. This is really saying something, since it is in the company of such great works as Superman (1978), the first two X-Men movies (2000 & 2003), Spiderman (2002), and The Incredibles (2004). These are all marvelous examples of the best of the genre. But you really have to admire a story that brings together such disparate iconic characters - Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, and the organization SHIELD - and makes an engaging story which gives all of these characters a chance to shine.
It was immensely satisfying (especially as a long-time Avengers fan) and I hope they can continue the good work.
Favorite plot points: the juxtaposition and rivalry between the hero of the past (Captain America) and the modern hero (Iron Man); Thor's conflict between the hope for his brother's redemption and protecting the people of Earth; the outcast state of Bruce Banner who fears his temper (justifiably) but yearns to be a part of the world again; and the men and women of SHIELD - we can't all be super but they come as close as humanly possible.
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The Dark Knight Rises was a very impressive film. Nolan re-created Batman in Batman Begins, showed him into his crime-fighting career and facing his greatest challenge (the Joker) in The Dark Knight, and now in his final take he puts the character to rest, pulling out all the stops to do it.
But I have to admit I had a lot of quibbles with the story and the way the characters were handled. (1) I felt that Nolan, of all people, fell prey to the third movie pitfall of trying to cram too much in, stealing from a myriad of Batman stories - Knightfall, No Man's Land, The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, introducing the character of Selina Kyle / Catwoman, and bringing back the League of Shadows (forgotten, but not gone). (2) Nolan's first two Batman films were set early in Batman's career. In the first movie he was just starting out and in the second, he was still rebuilding Wayne Manor and the Batcave while hanging out in temporary digs not so long after his debut. Then Nolan has him disappear completely for eight years, re-appear for this story then disappears him for good. My hope had been that the third film would have given a satisfying resolution to the plot lines left dangling in The Dark Knight and leave us with a Batman ready for the rest of his career. Instead, Nolan revives the character in a damaged state after a long self-imposed exile for one last harrowing campaign and then basically destroys him. (3) True fans of Batman - and they are legion - know a few basic things about the character. He would never just abandon the fight and Alfred would never leave him.
I hope we will be able to have Batman films again one day, but Nolan's ending forces yet another reboot. However, the movie was quite the spectacle and it made a fortune. It's hard to argue with such success and it definitely gives even more credibility to the superhero genre.
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The Amazing Spiderman brought us the reboot of Spiderman, which a lot of people (including me) thought was a trifle premature, since the often-criticized, overblown, but vastly profitable Spiderman 3 was only released in 2007.
Some people complained about having to sit through Spiderman's origin again, but it was handled quickly and folded into the mystery aspect of the story. If anything, it may have been a bit too quick. The use of the Lizard character was no big surprise. He was one of the next big contenders from Spiderman's sizable rogues gallery who had yet to see big screen treatment. That they depicted him as a scaled-down in size intelligent T-Rex who could regenerate insanely fast was a bit of a surprise, but he made for an interesting challenge for our young superhero.
After seeing the movie, I wasn't thrilled with it, but it was entertaining. It's just Spiderman. It's not about global threats or even that iconic of a character. The whole mythos of Spiderman is "what if a teen-ager suddenly possessed enough power to be a superhero, though he's not powerful enough to be truly invincible?" You have a character who may be clever, but who isn't wise. He will have strong emotions about the situations around him. He will have abilities to save the day that no one else has, but he is vulnerable enough that you don't know how or if he is going to make it. So, the potential for years of Spiderman stories is there, though they don't all need to be epic. And that's fine.
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I would just like to add a few comments about a couple of animated superhero movies released directly to video in 2012. Superman vs. the Elite, based on a Superman story from 2001 - "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" - resonated with me. In this story Superman is confronted with a powerful quartet of superhumans who don't subscribe to troublesome ethical beliefs like the sanctity of life or letting people decide how to govern themselves. It leads to an inevitable confrontation that elaborates why might doesn't make right. Corny? I don't think so. Idealism gets a bad rap these days, but it's worth defending. The world will only be as good as we make it. Young people need to hear these things and the older ones need to be reminded.
On another note, DC animation also released Justice League: Doom, an intriguing story borrowed from the comics where the members of the Justice League are incapacitated, one by one, using strategies created by Batman. It isn't as socially-relevant as the story above, but it is a fairly intelligent and suspenseful superhero story. My main reason for mentioning it, however, is because it was the last project of Dwayne McDuffie, a very gifted writer whose work in comics and on the Justice League TV show I greatly admired. He died just weeks before the release of this video. He was only 49. About Dwayne