Here are two guys about to be reinterpreted for the big screen, and I hope that the filmmakers will have learned from previous attempts. While I can't fault Michael Chiklis' performance, the bodysuit that he wore in the previous Fantastic Four films never worked for me. It's time for a fully realized CGI Thing. And Christian Bale did Batman proud, but I am ready for a more detective-based caped crusader with a somewhat less distracting voice, so I hope the Ben Affleck version moves in that direction.
4 comments:
Both my sentiments exactly. From Micheal Keaton to Christian Bale, I felt the studios simply did not want a detective as Batman. This is why the Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes movies have been such a favorite of mine, especially the sequel Game of Shadows. Those films are the epitome of the "superhero detective". If only if was Batman tracking down Prof. Moriarty. As for The Thing, Rise of the Planet of The Apes proved you could have a cgi creation with personality and character. Heck, Chiklis could still be Thing, only under cgi imagery.
The funny thing of it is that for the first FF film the producers were ready to do a CGI Thing, and Chiklis insisted on doing it in a suit. He thought that it would give the performance a greater sense of immediacy. Honestly, I have to agree; as impressive as the characters were in "Avatar," they didn't quite have the "connection," if you will, that the live-human characters did. (I haven't yet seen "Rise of the Planet of the Apes.") A CGI Thing with that level of motion capture plus the more recent developments might work now, but I think I'd still prefer a live actor in a suit.
(And for much the same reason I prefer practical special effects over CGI. Props that "work as advertised," as it were -- that actually do what they look like they're doing -- are ideal.)
I'm also looking forward to seeing what's done with Ben Affleck as Batman. Keaton got lots of grief over being cast until people actually saw his performance, which surprised even his fans.
As to the cover, I think you've hit another home run here. These two characters are the seminal pairing (almost literally) for STF:LI, and this makes for quite an exciting-looking story.
I would hope that a CGI Thing would not be as massive as The Hulk. I see Ben Grimm as big and bulky, but not as tall. He's still a man, but a man made of rocks.
I think what Nolan did with Harvey Dent was a HUGE mistake. The Dark Knight Rises was like Batman & Robin for me. It was a franchise killer. As many things that were good in it, there were huge things that were wrong and out of character. Hopefully, Ben Affleck can turn that around.
What do you want to bet that's a SHIELD LMD of Batman being telepathically remote controlled by Steve Dayton's Mento-helmet?*
*Probably as a result of Batman being temporarily side-lined by some near-critical injury.
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