Edge of Tomorrow

The story line is reasonably complex and it strikes me as one of those movies that need to be watched more than once to catch nuances that may have been missed on the first viewing. The red speckled plentiful robotic nemeses are fighting machines called Mimics which are lead by more developed less numerous blue speckled machines called Alphas. It’s possible to tell that Like X-men the objective of the movie is not the machines rather it’s the conundrum of having the hero’s life reset each time he gets skilled. Unlike the X-men, however, the machines have discernible faces which give them an additional brushstroke of character. One cannot help but think they have seen similar machines. Where? In the Matrix, duh. Those iconic octopus like limbs and the sporadically poised movement of the alien machines in EOT was superb, except, for the whole time during the movie these alien machines did not feel original. They felt like a reworked model of the machines in the Matrix. This leads me to believe that they were created in a hurry, based on a borrowed idea as a result of insufficient time being spent by the concept artists to evolve something raw and new specially for EOT, which is a shame. Why? The story is original, therefore it deserved more effort being spent in developing the “lore” of the machines, greater uniqueness, where in the universe they are from or could be from, how they looked and moved, what they intended to do with the earth once they had conquered it, their features, how they thought, what was of value to them should have been worked on with greater depth. For instance why exactly are they on earth (not just some plausible random reason);  not enough depth and not enough was explained about them.  

The mechanical suites worn by the soldiers did not feel original either. Where did it feel like they had been seen before? Avatar, duh. Clearly not enough time was spent on the creative side of this movie. Innumerable methods could have been used during the concept art stage to make those motorized exo-skeletons look and feel original. When the human troops jumped off the ships they were lowered to the ground from a considerable height using cables. Cables? At those heights? The audience couldn’t help but feel that the moment they dropped from those ships it would become a complex tangle of wires with a few amputations and decapitations caused by entanglement. This aspect was not well thought out. Once again it seems borrowed, from where? Star Trek, duh, Into the Darkness. When the Klingons dropped from their ships, indeed, they were lowered using wires. However, it made sense as the drop ships came in very low to the ground. This same method cut and pasted in EOT didn’t work as the impression given is that the earth troopers were being dropped from the clouds. This was very clumsy and poorly developed. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. I think not, in a big budget sci-fi like this one. There are innumerable ways the director of art could have used to show how heavy suites like that could reach the ground from high up. For instance, they could have had limited flight capabilities provided by powerful retro rockets and a guidance system  which steadied troops in free fall, prevented collisions,  reduced their rate of decent as they fell from high up; then brought them gently to the ground with a quick burst of thrust.  These could also have been used to allow them to cover ground quickly by taking flight over short distances. One well executed aspect of the exo-skeleton, though,  were the heavy guns that deployed over the shoulder – that looked really cool. 

The time reset or repeat concept is not altogether unique, but the way it is applied is stellar, and the story itself is well written. It is an intriguing tale. Imagine you could reset time to do something over and over again until it was perfected. Not new, granted. But, now imagine that this was a tool of war or combat in the hands of your enemy? It would become a war you could never win. Scary genius. This concept can also be applied to a martial arts movie. Who would ever want to go up against a Nemesis with the ability to reset time at will like this; that is impossible to defeat? No one; now that’s powerful stuff. This concept has not been exhausted and can be used in other movie story lines in innumerable ways. The adaptation from a book to script to screenplay and the directing was excellent and deserves recognition. What let everyone else down is whoever was in charge of the art, concepts and the science underlying this fantasy.  Not enough creativity, too much blatant imitation, not enough imagination and not enough translation into reality. Could it be that the budget for creativity was too low or that their heart wasn’t in it? Who knows why this side of things failed, however, if there is a sequel and there should be; there is enough time and raw material to make up for all of this.

Had the exo-skeletons been equipped with limited flight capabilities it would have been loads of fun to see Cage’s team of misfits fight their way to the final confrontation with that giant circular hive brain. This would have been ridiculously more interesting and dynamic than resetting or repeating the landing over and over again. More of this reset drama could have been moved to the stage where the team has to get to the hive mind  using the damaged v-tol craft, except they would have used the limited flight capability of their exo-skeletons to cover the distance and fight their way through. Also Cage should have been more in control of where the reset timeline began. It should have been made so that he could to some extent control how far back he desired to go. This way he would opt not to relive stages he had already repeated successfully and mastered; instead he would reset only sections of his past which required a more perfect outcome. A mastered reset does not want to be relived; you don't want to have to relive it because its perfect. This perfection would have removed the need for him to lose the ability to reset through a blood transfusion in order to make the action more intense. The edge goes away if all it takes to correct a mistake is a reset, however, this is remedied by a perfect or mastered reset, the edge is transferred to avoidance, that is, don't make the mistake of resetting again since the perfection gained could be lost. He would then want to reset shorter and shorter intervals of his past until the final approach or battle faced by his team, which he would now dramatically reset over and over in a frantic attempt to once again reach perfection and save every member of his troop, getting better and better at it in a crescendo of action until he was able to ensure everyone was saved before he came face to face with the final Alpha.  Maybe the ending with the residue from the hive mind mixing with his blood will allow him greater control of the time reset in the sequel.

 What was the best thing about this movie? Hands down; Tom Cruise.  Like atlas holding up the earth, he made this movie work as he has done for so many movies in the past; a feat that often takes an individual of exceptional ability. We have watched Tom act objectively as far back as movies like Cocktail, Top Gun and so on. Every now and again there come about people who become so good at something they enter the “one percent” skill group. They do it so well it appears deceptively easy and people erroneously think anyone can pull off what they do. They become part of that sample that is one in a million. The “one percent” of a craft or profession are in a class of their own. Tom is that good an actor; I actually feel sorry for him. Why? Tom is one of those rare people who tend to become a victim of their own success. He is like the employee who other staff secretly want to see fail, who everyone tries to find some fault in, who everyone mistakenly believes they are better than, who struggles with a career, sees workmates less capable promoted over him or her, never gets recognition, gets reprimanded and sometimes fired, not as a result of shoddy work, but the exact opposite;  he or she knows and understands the job and craft better than the board, boss or manager  they report to. He knows how to deliver a story to the screen and hold it together remarkably well - uncannily, regardless of the genre, that I am of the opinion even his peers are not quite knowledgeable about how exceptional an actor he is. Instead they fit the M.O. by spending too much time secretly hoping for something in his life to fail, despising him or looking for reasons to do so; for instance Tom’s association with Scientology has nothing to do with his ability to act as it is with any other actor’s sane beliefs or religion yet why is he often judged , not on his acting ability, but on his choice of faith? This is somewhat unfair, immoral, immature and distasteful. This is a general problem prodigies face, even those that are not obvious to the naked eye.  To be noticed or given awards by their peers people like this often have to draw attention away from themselves and their exceptional ability either by having something they immerse themselves in outside their craft such as charity work, philanthropy and so on or they have to take on an acting role that belittles and denigrates them on the screen or a role that is of an unglamorous character. This is sad, really. In Tom’s profession it says more about the lack of inner honesty in the acting fraternity and its award structures than it says about him. He deserves an Oscar because he is an unsung prodigy and has been one for a long time now. His skill is the kind that it takes more than just a trained eye to observe. It’s a shame that sometimes we want to wait until an actor is aged, needs a walking stick to climb the stairs to the podium before we gain the urge to award them the prize and accolades that are their due, the reason being that their frailty is what it takes to belittle them sufficiently that our pity rather than their talent is what is required for them to be finally adorned and honored with the industry’s highest awards.

This is Emily Bunt’s first attempt at an action movie, and a good first attempt it was. She was believable in the role. Playing one of the lead roles for the first time in an action piece such as this one is not easy. She does it very well and the audience will definitely want to see more of her in similar movies. The part where she is in the combat simulator, Cage meets her for the first time and she lifts herself up off the ground in a yoga pose is very attractive, shows off that she worked out quite a bit without being cheesy and demonstrates good athletic form. A word of advice is that when playing a hardened action lead such as this the actor needs to add more depth by finding ways of nuancing the character’s personality with kindness, vulnerability, a longing of some kind that generates empathy from the audience. Every character who plays a role like this may have the audience buy into the fact that you are tough, but by adding this kind of depth you make the audience like you more.

Once gain very little racial diversity in the leading acting roles of these movies which makes them dull to an international audience. That really cute chick from Tomorrow People meets Cage when he disembarks, it’s a pity we didn’t see more of her in the movie. 

Peace.

X-Men Days of Future Past

X-men : Days of Future Past

A decent movie, not quite as entertaining as Winter Soldier, but definitely worth watching.

Nearly every sci-fi or fantasy contemplates one important line: Who will the heroes go up against this time? Since the audience will already tend to know and be familiar with the heroes, to see what sets the tone of the movie it will turn to the antagonist. A writer may choose a machine or robot to be the antagonist for several reasons. However, in my opinion, a robot or machine is the most deceptively difficult antagonist to portray.  Why use the word deceptively? The choice of a machine as a nemesis seems easy. If there is no character or insufficient time is spent on the development of personality the excuse will be – well, it’s a machine. A machine is easy to duplicate, when the writer needs an army he or she need only copy and paste until there are enough of them; too much effort does not have to be expended to develop each individual character, history, personality, mannerisms and so on. Also when it comes to the ethos concerning the portrayal of death it’s easy to use a machine. When a machine is being ripped apart or dies the audience will tend to be less affected and view this death as an acceptable loss, after all a machine is not really a living creature – so what if it dies or conks out.  The most illustrious undertaking which demonstrates the difficulty with portraying machines on the big screen is the Star Wars prequel trilogy; another is the movie I Robot. One of the few movies where the use of a machine is successfully and exceptionally portrayed is the Terminator. When I saw that the writers had chosen machines as the nemesis in the most recent installment of X-men the immediate concern was execution. How effectively was this machine nemesis going to be portrayed? Would the same mistakes be made? The fact that the machines in X-men were the nemesis, yet absolutely no time was spent by the writer and producers developing a personality and character for them is an absolute no, no – a taboo. Instead the writers spend way too much time redeveloping personalities the audience, by now, should already be familiar with that of the Professor and Magneto. 

My analysis is that X-men Days of Future Past (DFP) is that it is not fundamentally about a huge battle to save the lives of mutants and humans from rampaging machines as is portrayed, rather its about how to transition the characters of Professor Xavier and Magneto played by Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen; older actors (who understandably may not be able to realistically play the action roles in the franchise much longer) to more youthful actors James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. The movie therefore, at times,  becomes an elaborate self indulgence of these  two characters.  The transition from the senior actors to the more youthful actors could and should have been handled without interfering with what could have been a truly brilliant screenplay. For example, it would be easier to simply have had scientists at Xavier’s school synthesize an age altering drug from Wolverine’s blood that allowed Magneto and Xavier to permanently regress their physical age and appearance from the more senior actors to their younger selves.  Though the senior actors would be seen to transform into their more youthful selves the psychological conflict that could have been portrayed is the new temperance of the youthful mind and the senior mind attempting to coexist in the rejuvenated youthful bodies of Magneto and Xavier in the present day. These two minds would then be seen at conflict, learning from one another, youth versus experience with each winning in the appropriate situation. There would have been no need for the "back to the future stint". The audience would then accept that the new ad hoc present day actors are the younger construct of themselves. This approach would be more useful to the franchise as it means the presence of all four actors could be stretched as long as is useful. For instance, even though Xavier would be in his youthful body in the present day as McVoy there could be times he wakes up and thinks he is still Stewart and portrayed as such on the screen until he looks into a mirror and is startled to see his physical form is actually that of McVoy. For instance, McVoy in youthful anger is about to destroy an enemy without thinking then suddenly finds himself exercising restraint to instead extend a helping hand only to find he is doing so as Xavier. Only then does he realize the importance of restraint but now in his younger form played by McVoy. This is good story telling.

For the X-men to have really rocked, more time should have been spent developing the persona of the machines. What makes the Terminator the most successful portrayal of a machine or robot nemesis is the personality developed that becomes the machine. In this case Arnold’s. Without a fully developed personality the machine becomes a weak, forgettable nemesis, which is what becomes of the machines sent to destroy mutants in X-men.  Trask, played well by Dinklage, should have designed the machines around himself in the sense that when they went after the X-men Trask’s personality, thoughts and feelings should have been inside the machines and portrayed at important moments during battle. Like a master puppeteer Trask should have been able to control the movement and action sequences of the machines and his strength should have been the ability to simultaneously control an entire army of them through a mind link he, as a cutting edge scientist has invented.  He could have done this the way a conductor conducts an orchestra with all the passion, vigor, sweat and exertion. CGI would be used to overlay his interaction with the machines. When a machine is struck or injured Trask would react through movement and be in pain. As the machine drove a stake through Storm for instance the expression of deadly intent and rage would be on Trask’s face but also expressed through the machine’s features and actions. He would be the machines and the machines would be him. Having destroyed the mutants the decision to target humans would be Trask’s personal decision rather than an autonomous decision by the robots. Consequently, why Trask decides to begin targeting humans, his own kind, becomes part of the ethos of the story. What a fantastic portrayal this would be on the big screen. Dinklage is a master of the acting craft and would have played a conflicted man, an intellectual, a genius much like Xavier becoming increasingly maniacal in trying to justify to himself and to anyone (the audience) who will listen why not just mutants but part of humanity itself, that is the source of mutants, should be destroyed. To have an asset like Dinklage and not put his talent on exhibition in this way was a wasted opportunity. This storyline is not spent though, having failed to destroy the X-men using autonomous robots Trask could then use this to justify why he improves the machines so that he directly controls them so that they become an extension of his persona in a future installment of X-men, maybe even a sequel to DFP. This would indeed. be entertaining.

The development of mystique in this installment of X-men is excellent. She is not an appendage of the lead characters or male supers. She investigates. This quality also appeared to work for Gwen in Spiderman 2. This is important and it seems to explain why it is so difficult to portray credible female super-heroes who can play the lead role, as was seen in the epic failure of 2004’s Catwoman; it's all in the writing and directing. For female super-heroes the credibility of the character is not in her origin story, neither is it in how great her super powers are, how pretty she is, that she has an hour-glass figure  or who she can beat down. Rather it is in her ability to look for something difficult to find,  her ability to search for the truth, to want to gain answers, to place herself in danger if it will aid in unraveling what it is she wants explained – a “Nancy Drew” of sorts. A female superhero character may listen to instructions for example from Shield, even agree to them, but will be seen at some point not follow through on instructions as a result of stumbling upon something that does not tally with what she has been told. She is an investigator first, a super hero second. She needs to know more about what is going on around her. It’s important for producers and directors to remember this formula. A female super hero gains credibility by being written as a thriller, the action can be jaw dropping but must be secondary to how her story written. Whereas a male super hero gains credibility through action, while the thriller aspect, though secondary, needs to remain pertinent to his story to maintain cinematic momentum. No matter how sexy, beautiful,  powerful wonder woman is, she can even be seen to take on the entire Justice League and defeat them but she will still not be a credible super hero in the audience’s mind, for some unexplained reason, unless her role is that of a thriller. If she is shown first as an investigator of sorts and portrayed in situations of life threatening suspense using cinematic timing of a thriller then she is Wonder Woman.   A female super hero if portrayed fundamentally as a thriller can play the lead in a big budget movie. This is very important for directors, producers and script writers to understand. 

Wolverine played by Jackman is a triple threat super hero, however, my view is that Wolverine is one character that for me has not been translated well from the comic to the big screen. The mystery is why? This can be easily explained. Imagine that before you went to bed you put on your pajamas. Then the next day you woke up in the morning and went to work in your pajamas. Then you went on family vacation in your pajamas. How would this work for you? It would create many social problems for you wouldn’t it? Well this is the problem that the Wolverine character in Marvel Comics faces. Wolverine in X-men DFP was more believable strangely enough not because he was unsheathing his blades and angry, rather it was due to the fact that he was calm and reasonable most of the time. Go figure. Wow, he finally took off his pajamas. Maybe super heroes are just regular everyday people with powers. If this true then the persistent tension in Wolverine’s form, muscles, facial expression even when he is casual is fundamentally wrong. He has too much swag all the time and is therefore in pajamas all day long, all night long throughout the movie. The only character with perpetual sideburns, showing off muscles at every pointless opportunity that comes to mind is Johnny Bravo; except that he is the star of comedy not action. A hero should ideally occupy two states, his or her natural form and the transformed state. If a hero or mutant cannot transform but remains constantly in the “hero”, mutant state or Johnny Bravo state, that is,  is always in their pajamas, then technically they cannot blend in with normal society and are not a hero but an aberration or nuisance. This is the problem with Wolverine – he always seems to be Wolverine; there is no significant transformation from human to super-human and this on the big screen makes him a boring anomaly audiences fail to process. When Jackman is not Wolverine he should not look like Wolverine. He should take off his pajamas. Even the way his hair is always curled up in the sides like a wolverine should be stopped, slick his hair down a little, anything! Give him an afro if necessary, shave off his beard and sideburns or trim them down to almost nothing but make him take off his pajamas – make him different for different scenes i.e. hero or natural.  If he takes off his shirt when he is normal make sure his veins are not popping and muscles are not ripped. Make his personality more subdued, edgy but amiable like a normal person. There must be a distinct change when he enters the Wolverine state; even if he is bald, his hair is slicked back or disheveled it should begin to grow and move into the Wolverine “hairstyle”, if he is clean shaven his facial hair should start to grow until it forms the sideburns and beard, this is when his eyes should become intense and have that glint, his muscles and veins should then go from being relaxed to being amplified and pumped, and importantly this is when his temperament should change from easy going with an edge to having an extremely  short fuse. How can Jackman lying in bed half asleep, woken up by an alarm clock still have veins popping and muscles ripped like he’s been doing extended reps all night at the gym in his sleep? That’s just plain stupid, its over-kill – why can’t he take his pajamas off like every sane person? When he goes back to his normal form (take off his pajamas for crying out loud) all these should recede; even his facial hair, (especially those iconic sideburns - let him only have those when he is transformed). The side-burns need to disappear when he is not Wolverine, instead give Jackman a fresh, attractive modern look for his face and hair that looks nothing like when he powers up into Wolverine. Remember side-burns like that are not a modern look, its a 1960s Elvis-like look that interferes with the ability of the audience to relate to him today. Model the everyday appearance to how a normal person would look in 2014. When he begins to transform those who recognize what’s happening to him should begin to react apprehensively and if its at an inappropriate time ask him to calm down; which he can be seen to do with tremendous effort to rein in the testosterone. Also the transformation can be deployed as an animalistic sixth sense which Wolverine can use to warn everyone that something is about to happen; when they ask him what; he replies he doesn’t know but goes into full transformation just before a stealthy nemesis strikes. His ability to heal should also be factored into the transformation; yes he can heal when in the natural state only it takes longer, but if he is injured and transforms he can heal almost instantly. As a result if he gets shot or mortally wounded while normal the director then puts him through phases of transformation into Wolverine as an opportunity to demonstrate this process. For instance in DFP when the gangsters bust into his room and begin shooting, the bullets should first have hit him while in his normal form. He should have gone down. Then in rage transformed as he leaped back to his feet with the bullets popping out with the transformation. To heal rapidly he has to transform or he could go into a coma or near death state it takes time to recover from. Therefore, if he is mortally injured but doesn’t have the will to transform due to emotional turmoil it becomes life threatening not just for him but for those around depending on him to save them. This makes for good story telling. Make him take off his pajamas and the Wolverine character will be restored to its full glory.

X-men, like many other such franchises, struggles with a major problem, namely how to handle death. If a hero or nemesis can’t die then the action loses some of its edge. However, if a hero or nemesis dies then it is the loss of an asset, an extremely valuable character and their abilities. Very elaborate and complex stories are created (often involving time travel as we see in X-men DFP)  to bring back fallen heroes and nemeses. Most of this is unnecessary. The solution to this is for every individual manga, franchise or comic book universe  to have a third character adding a third point to the hero and anti-hero duality but who is independent of their contentions. This third section of the triangle is a "resurrector" or “resuscitator”. He or she has the ability to bring anyone and anything back from decrepancy, from the dead or to temporarily pull a super-hero from the future into the present. The "Resurrector" is introspectively the author or team that creates the comic inserted in the comic itself in order to remain fully in control of where the story can go.  In the Marvel Universe or X-men for example, the Resuscitator can be a mutant that has gained the ability to reach beyond the shadow of death where past and future have no meaning to retrieve anything organic or inorganic, be it flesh or machine and bring it back to life brand new with all its memories, with nothing lost,  in all its former glory. The Resuscitator has the power to temporarily or permanently restore anything that has been used (spent, decayed, destroyed be it towns, people, buildings, technology) to the way they were in their most glorious form. He or she is able to heal any wound or sickness and re-energize or re-invigorate any creature organic or inorganic that has become exhausted as a result of expending all its energy. There is no limit to the number of times the Resuscitator can bring anything back and it does not matter how long it has been dead for. The Resuscitator can be harmed, injured, even die, but is always able to revive himself or herself. His or her apprentices have similar powers but are much weaker or have much greater limitations. Depending on his or her disposition the Resuscitator is never permanently on any side, but often chooses to stand by and watch, support the heroes or support the anti-heroes if need be.  In a battle if a fighter is killed then mysteriously reappears in battle, is destroyed then shockingly or woefully appears fully healed to continue fighting during the same brawl; then the contender whether nemesis or hero should be able to stop, take a breath and discern they are living their worst nightmare:  a foe who somehow has managed to get the Resuscitator on their side in a battle. Developing the mystery, persona, intrigue, back-story,  visage of a “Resuscitator ” as a character is the pure delicious fun of every individual franchise, but most importantly it is a cinematic and story telling tool that removes the problem of how to bring back fallen heroes, how to insert interesting heroes from the future into the present or how to utterly destroy places and explain how and why they were completely restored. This allows authors to write to the very edges of their craft, cracking open suspense, thrill and mayhem they may not have been able to before since there is now in place a tool for restoration. The “resuscitator” character's role is to change the course of a story and take it logically in any direction the author or writer chooses, with impunity. This enigmatic character existing in its diverse universes is essential to every franchise as it is an indispensable tool in the literary craft of manga and comic books. To have a franchise without it is like having a vehicle with no mechanism for steering. In changing the course and direction of a story the Resuscitator could also at times seem to act with a personal cause; for instance being intrigued with “balance” bring back infamous anti-heroes in a time of peace or renowned heroes in time of anarchy simply because of his or her belief that, at times, there is a need for equilibrium. In resuscitator "lore" it is almost impossible to find the “resuscitator” and his or her apprentices unless they want to be found. With all the heroes defeated by a nemesis; a new hero can appear resuscitated from the past or pulled in from the future to help the fallen heroes. This enigmatic resuscitator character removes the tricky, but necessary problem writers face of allowing heroes and villains to die, bringing members of the anti-hero and super hero universe back as many times as is useful or is necessary thus allowing interesting stories and confrontations to be told. A great deal of destruction takes place during altercations between super heroes and their nemeses, many innocent bystanders may perish; the Resuscitator is a decent way of restoring these lives and the destruction as he or she generally holds the belief that innocent people should not suffer as collateral damage when those in the super hero universe bring about chaos. Though this pertinent character has not been fully developed into an enigmatic super hero in any franchise thus far an example of this kind of indispensable writing tool, is the collection of dragnonballs in DBZ by which the summoned dragon, Shenron, is able to completely restore destroyed lives and infrastructure by granting wishes. It allows super heroes and villains in DBZ to go all out since the writer knows, no matter how much destruction there is in the story the counter to it is that there is a mechanism by which this negative portrayal of death and destruction can be and will be reversed. For the resuscitator story and role to be accepted and understood the audience should be groomed to the point were when they see a person,  machine, object, hero or nemesis from the past or future or that died is restored and living again  they expect that the Resuscitator or an apprentice had a hand in it. Therefore, it is not an anomaly. An example is the return of Jean Grey in X-men DFP, the audience upon seeing her would have gripped their seats in excitement knowing that her appearance would mean that the resuscitator was nearby and could soon appear on the big screen. 

The other problem with X-men in general is clearly Xavier’s confinement to a wheel chair. There are simple ways around this. A special motorized leg-suit can be worn by Xavier that looks like spandex or rubberized leggings such as those scuba divers wear with circuit-like glowing print on it. These allow him to walk, run, even perform above average feats and go on some missions. The catch is that it does not restore feeling to his legs. Consequently Xavier, despite having these on prefers to remain in the wheel chair. He can be seen to say on screen something like; Interestingly, it is not on my feet, but on my wheel chair that I feel the most powerful. Xavier can be heard to say; Even though I can walk, I know that these are not my legs that are propelling me, there is no feeling, I still long dearly for my old true legs. This means that he can walk, but in reality it’s not him walking it’s the specially designed lower hero-like body suite under his trousers. The franchise is able to maintain the iconic wheelchair look, but should he be knocked off the chair or physically attacked it explains why he will be able to get up and walk, even run and jump with remarkable agility. Xavier can even be shown standing at a function; meeting and greeting dignitaries, but when the function is done ask for his  wheeled or floating wheel chair to be brought to him. When the audience sees this they understand why despite being able to walk he asks for his chair.

The fight choreography in X-men DFP is not bad. The opening sequence is well delivered with super heroes that have complementary powers gathered into one team. This allows them to work together. Speed is portrayed decently by a young fellow, but why is his hair turning grey? Already? He's just introduced his powers to the audience for goodness sake and they already have a serious weakness like that? The greying hair side effect prematurely introduced like that is like having a bad after taste before you've even had chance to swallow your drink. In an earlier analysis of Spiderman 2 I alluded to the need for producers and directors to study Kishimoto's work. DFP portrays speed well in Quicksilver's movement, but the portrayal is too commercial, lacks finesse and can still be improved on. By commercial I mean whacking the tennis balls back and forth, comically making the guards punch themselves.This is meaningless speed. It lacks finesse in the sense that it lacks a sincere objective; there is no dramatic delivery like the magician yanking the table cloth and the audience gasping in surprise, expecting the cutlery to come crashing down, only to find it is standing perfectly still on the uncovered table. This is finesse. There is speed but it ends with a slomo or dramatic stillness that sizzles.

In the area of music the franchise has not invested sufficiently in developing other genres. Or is it that it has not invested enough in how to properly integrate them into this movie genre. There is general orchestral music for the score without distinct elements of R&B, Hip Hop, Country, Rock etc to jazz up the score and make it more appealing to the current generation that has been nurtured on this type of music. More work needs to be done collaborating with up and coming artists or bands to improve this underperforming side of this genre of movies. The approach to the score of a comic book portrayed on the big screen should, in my opinion, not resemble conventional methods of creating scores for other movies. Comics are essentially a moral universe that attempts to teach the reader, who may be any age, something important. Therefore, it is not enough to just have an instrumental score. The score should speak to the audience conveying the unfolding drama and its, message and tone. An example to use is probably Lord of Rings, when the Steward of Gondor asks Pippin to sing him a song. When Pippin sings, his tone which can be viewed as representing the instrumental conveys the mood and his words convey the message of what is unfolding on the screen. Personally this duality is what I would expect predominantly from the director of the score of a comic book based movie. The words and voice should take precedence over the instrumentals throughout the score. This voice and what it is saying and ensuring the audience hears it in a way that flows with what is happening on screen is what the director of music should be focusing on for this genre of movies, not just the staccatos, tempo, violins and wind instruments used to define the score of other movie genres.  For instance a voice can be heard beginning to rap or sing a-capella, without instruments as a brawl starts to unfold. The audience is expected to hear the meaning in the words as they relate either to why the battle is being fought or how its going to go down. Then the instrumental joins the voice.This methodology is part of the comic book lore, but its currently not really being adequately applied by any studio engaged in this genre of movies.

Once again as is expected of these super hero franchises there is very little real diversity. An effort is made to have diversity in the secondary mutants observed in the battle at the beginning of the movie, but these are secondary characters that will have no strong bearing on the unfolding story. In this sense Winter Soldier thoroughly trumps X-men by introducing Falcon. International audiences are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the momentous arrival of Black Panther in the Avenger franchise. Yet they continue to watch him standing by the bleachers kept out of the game. This is an unused ace Marvel Comics  has up its sleeves. The apparent fear of the Avenger franchise to bring in Black Panther, apprehensive that it will heighten racial or some other tensions or is inappropriate because of his back-story is bogus hoopla. Keeping Black Panther out of the Avengers and out of the big screen Marvel Comics super hero playing field seems to resemble a re-enactment of keeping Jackie Robinson off the baseball pitch. Like Jackie Robinson everyone who it's not important to has a good reason why Black Panther should not be allowed on the pitch and Marvel Comics seems to be buying into the nonsense. This is like being on your way to the Fast and Furious set and somebody is telling you to park your Bugatti because its too fast and makes too much noise. What?!! Are you crazy? Let’s hope the Black Panther delivers an almighty smack down,  turns the Avengers heroes inside out like an earthquake and is given a resounding introduction by the director, producers and writers of this story who are being hoodwinked into delaying his arrival. Let Jackie Robinson play, dammit. Be smart – don’t be fooled, into further delaying the big screen debut of this long overdue mega hero. What a fantastic opportunity to blow the box office through the roof and generate serious revenues for Marvel Comics, lets hope it won’t be wasted or mishandled as they did with Falcon.  

On the cupid front, X-men DFP handles romance with the same clumsiness it was portrayed in Winter Soldier. Since there is a kiss in Winter Soldier, albeit a forced one between Cap and Black Widow, Winter Soldier trumps X-men DFP in the romance department. Writing  romance into an action/thriller without subtracting from the rapid pace of a thriller is very skillful and requires a writer who knows his or her craft or else they will leave It out altogether in the movie or fumble through it. For top marks all the boxes have to be checked and if the romance does not add to the cinematic tension in the story being told, then not all the boxes are ticked and it’s not a job well done. 

On the whole despite its shortcomings X-men DFP is fun to watch, I would definitely recommend you go see it.

The Amazing Spiderman - 2

Great actors, nice directing, amazing CGI, brilliant 3D effects , superb action sequences amazing, amazing, amazing……so why was I bored to death one hour into the movie?  I was upset with myself for dozing off four times during the screening.  What the heck, was I just tired? The words of teenage Spiderman fans I had asked a while back about the movie came back to haunt me as I sat in the theatre, twisted into that creepy voice they used in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, “ Its o.k, but not as good as Winter Soldier.” It dawned on me that moment that I hadn’t taken them seriously and I was now living a “movie nightmare”. Like a deer caught in a bush trap, I was confined in the movie theatre. Should I get up and leave, no -watch it until the end.

What went awry? Many people will enjoy this rendition of the Amazing Spider Man -2 because it’s big budget, flashy, has romance, it delivers a certain kind of cockiness and has loyal fans; it will do well at the box office, but be careful movie producers; you can only be forgiven for making this kind of mistake with the delivery of a story once or twice before you lose your audience. Imagine you are in love with this really beautiful chick, she tells you babe – I am free this evening. You get really excited, wow – she’s invited me over! You get to her place, are sitting on the couch and you’re on cloud nine. You start to make out, when suddenly the land-line rings – she tells you, hold on babe, let me take this call. It’s her aunt May asking about the recipe for cheese cake. For ten minutes you’re staring at her talking on the phone uneasily thinking damnit, she is so hot, am I really here? Finally she hangs up looks at you and says seductively – now, where were we? So you’re making out again then just as you’re about to caress her cheek  her mobile’s ringer starts playing Katy Perry’s dark horse, she peers at the screen and she pushes you away saying – its my friend Harry babe, I gotta take this, he’s going through a rough time right now. For ten minutes you listen like a parakeet to her giving Harry a pep talk. Finally she hangs up and looks back at you with her piercing eyes, and says – now, come here tiger. So you’re making out again. As she runs her fingers through your hair the door bell rings and she quickly pulls away. You stop motionless like an unplugged appliance. By now you’re thinking – what the frick? She says, babe, that must be the postman with my letter of admission to Oxford in England, I applied last year. She goes to the door and the radio starts playing elevator music. As she talks on and on to the postman in your head you see an image of a rigid flower stem slowly wilting and going limp. By now you’re looking at the curtains hanging over the window by the fire escape swaying in the breeze thinking uggh..what am I doing here? Maybe…maybe this is my chance to make a run for it…through that open window…
 

By now the gist of what’s being told must be setting in. The action sequences in the Amazing Spiderman are good, but they do not tie in well to the “intermissions” or “fillers” where Parker has to deal with personal issues going on in his life. These interruptions also last too long. There is nothing wrong with these scenes independently but sewn together they didn’t make cinematic sense because they dropped the rhythm and pace of action in the screenplay. It should never be forgotten that a comic book based movie is first and foremost an action movie, the romance and thriller aspects are there to tweak the action, not interrupt it. If the action stops then it has to be filled in with the intrigue of a thriller storyline. This is done brilliantly when Gwen does a search and finds Max has been removed from Oscorp’s list of employees, placing herself in mortal danger. That was a stroke of mastery. Now this is how a love interest adds to rather than subtracts from the quality of an action movie.  She can either get herself out of this self created problem or the hero can play a part in getting her to safety, which is what happened – good execution.

Now for the characters in a movie of this genre it is important to remember to create characters, not caricatures. For instance Spidy’s cockiness is nice, but do you know anyone who behaves like that all the time as Spidy does thoughout the flick? Max’s semi-retarded persona, know anyone like that? If not, it’s likely a shallow caricature rather than a character. In the early adaptation of comic books to the big screen the successful method was the use of caricature to portray the bad guys. However, the audience today is more sophisticated – a caricature has become too shallow to keep peddling as a nemesis. The audience wants a tougher, prettier, handsomer, smarter nemesis who will challenge the hero at every level. Max is the right guy, a triple threat, but why is he portrayed as a dorky halfwit with a creepy hair-piece…that Spidy has him lick to slick down… ? What happened guys? Really? 

The ugly in nemesis has to be refined or redefined so as not to be simplistically revolting or off-putting.  An example of this in Star Trek: into the Darkness is that guy, you know, the one who grittily says “You should have let me sleep!” – now that’s a bad ass, triple threat anti-hero. Also, when the Clingons agree to meet Uhura, their chief steps forward and begins to remove his helmet. Traditionally the audience is leaning back in their seats reaching for barf bags thinking o.k. bring out the gross Alien with mandibles dripping with saliva, but that didn’t happen – instead we see this bald, bright eyed, Clingon looking like a handsome crocodile. Wow, that was a stroke of genius, unexpected – awesome. He’s ugly, but he’s not ugly – you know what I mean? The same way a lion is a predator, but is beautiful in its own way or a crocodile is dangerous reptile but there is a kind of beauty in the way nature has designed this creature. Similarly, there is a need for the director of art to redefine the Goblin in Spiderman, and Spidy’s other future nemeses; the aesthetics of pure ugly and plain friggin dumb are changing. The genuinely ugly Goblin covered in warts, sores, thinning hair and decaying teeth is old school and outdated. It’s easy to make ugly, ugly, but how do you make ugly pretty or handsome? The audience should expect to look away, but find it wants to stare back. The mastery of how to make a creature that traditionally looked ugly look beautiful in a surreal sort of way on the big screen will test the skill of a movie’s art director and determine his or her level of ability. This means producers and directors have to spend as much time and effort on the nemesis as they do on developing the hero.  In Akira Toriyama's Dragonball-z, especially from the Freeza Saga onward, the cartoon (not that recent lame, low budget and disrespectful real life adaptation) San Goku and his team never face a weak anti-hero. DBZ in the right hands and taken seriously enough could create a Sci-fi franchise to rival Star Wars, in the same way that Naruto if made a live action movie and handled with depth and lore  has the ingredients to create a franchise that would rival and possibly outperform Harry Potter at the box office. The hero is only as great as the nemesis is bad ass;  a weak poorly developed nemesis can mean a weak uninspiring hero.

When it is said that movie audiences are becoming more sophisticated this is not a complex problem. Sophistication evolves from experience. The first time you watch Star Wars and see those ships in deep space gliding like eels through crude oil, the thrill is incredible and the audience’s jaw drops. In Empire Strike Back they’re still lapping this up, but by the time they get to Return of the Jedi its now matter of fact; then bang those floating bikes whipping through the forest make you grip your seat. The audience is now more sophisticated. So if you’re going to make a new Star Wars saga the producers have to go back to the drawing board because showing the same kind of flight and movement of ships in the new Saga that you were showing in the first Star Wars is not going to cut it. It’s the same with how Superman flies, light sabers, how Spiderman slings his web and so on. Re-invention, reinvention…reinvention is necessary because the thrill is gone; Elvis has left the building – there will be no encore, the customer in the candy store knows what raspberry ice-cream tastes like, he or she has had it three times and is now  looking for new flavor, like pineapple. If the director and his team dish out raspberry again they’ve lost the plot.

I stayed watching Spiderman-2 out of respect for the franchise. I wish I liked it more coz I’m a fan and I wanted it to fly, I was routing for it. My guess is that chicks liked it, coz chicks seem to be able to handle those romantic “interruptions”  better than guys, they have that incredible patience that can sometimes drive blokes up the wall.  That unexpected ending was a decent tear jerker. I liked Gwen in this installment, her role had more substance especially when it tied into the plot with an ample degree of independence on her part – for a brief moment she wasn’t just Spidy’s appendage; she was Gwen the bad ass investigator scrolling through Oscorp's data to find the dirt.  

Another stroke of genius was the kid in the movie. Isn’t that the age when our imaginations were  first captivated by the modern folklore we see in comics? Spidy taking a moment from saving the world to solve the kids bully problem and using his webs to fix the toy, that was good story telling. There should however have been an unobtrusive build up to that moment when Spidy stepped in. There could have been brief, successive,  believable heart-string pulling bullying scenes in the background, with Spidy in the distance being observed helplessly by the child, to the extent that the audience is thinking there’s Spidy saving the world, but look he can’t even see this kid’s problems. Then just when you think its happening to the kid all over again Spidy drops from his pursuit of the nemesis and helps out the boy. Isn’t that kid what it’s all about – where it all begins for fans? Good job factoring this in. This is a major improvement from just having the mindlessly adoring him from the sidewalk. Another stroke of genius is the kid putting on his Spidy outfit and walking out onto the street to meet that dumb Rhino guy, yeah we know who he is.  The cinematography was intuitive. Very nice y’all. Now that’s what movie makings about. In that brief moment of heorism the kid is Spiderman - in his own mind. He doesn’t know the grave danger he is in, but the audience does. When he stops and stares at dumb Rhino guy, then pulls the mask over his head - pure genius. It’s portrayed in a way that it doesn’t seem cheesy or contrived. It’s a real showdown, but only we, the audience are grinding our teeth coz we know this shouldn’t be happening . The audience is genuinely afraid for the youngster – pure genius. More of this out of control kind of feeling  in future please.  Since the kid’s suit has the exact same hues as Spidy, next time with another kid, let the confrontation actually take place where the audience sees the battle in such a way that it looks like the kid is battling the nemesis but the audience is thinking – but how? Nah this can’t be.  At times it cannot distinguish whether its Spidy or the kid brawling. Then show Spidy shadowing the youngster, when the boy flicks out his hands to shoot his web, Spidy is doing this in exactly the same pose behind him and its actually Spidy’s webs that stream out. When the kid blocks an attack, its actually Spidy’s arm that’s stopping the blow, when the kid jumps over the foe it looks incredulous, but as he lands we see Spidy’s arm holding and steadying him. Then the kid turns to Spidy and says, “You o.k?” like he’s the boss, “I handled things for you while you were gone.” and Spidy being the stand-up guy we all like says “Yeah, thanks little Spiderman.” The kid says something like, “I think you can take it from here.” And they give each other a high five or bump fists. The kid walks back to his Mom or whatever like a gladiator and Spidy turns dramatically to face the nemesis , with a fun and games are over intensity, to continue the battle – yeah!  Remember as a kid when your Dad put you on his lap in the car and you took the steering by the hands, he moved the car and all the while you thought it was you who was driving? That’s what this aspect of story telling is all about.

 On the romance front the movie did well, the problem as explained earlier was execution .i.e. how the romance was strung together with the action. Jamie as Max, the nemesis, was a good move to diversity that will support an international audience, Jamie is a triple threat but as explained earlier the nemesis ethos needs to be researched well to create and execute a nemesis that is a credible triple threat; a character not Max the caricature. Once again as expected there was no diversity on the romantic front.  American big screen actors, to the detriment of the acting craft, seem to portray themselves as averse to inter-racial romantic mash-ups on the big screen. A problem, bias or chip on the shoulder British or European actors don’t seem to have. It’s just as well Garfield is British then. The audience is international. This genre of movies will probably make more money internationally than they will in the United States, so good story telling and diversity are important for the ethos of these franchises. The audience wants to feel like it’s a participant rather than just a spectator of a novel kind of biased super hero elitism. Actors who can’t mash-up on the screen in this genre maybe don’t have what it takes to stay in such roles.

On the music front, this was also handled well. We see Parker put on headphones to listen to a track,  also the closing track was nice, killer. The trumpeting music when Electro fires up those pylons was cool, but where is the vocal track, hip-hop or R&B etc. .that this was or became the music to? More needs to be done in choreographing the musical score with the screenplay. The method that can be used to do this is to synthesize  tracks into an orchestral form so that they can play as an orchestra as well as a conventional rhythm and beats compilation with vocals.  That way they can be used as a score where appropriate. The musical score of the movie then plays an appropriate version of tracks but the beat and rhythm are recognizable regardless of the genre of music since its the same track. Later the sound track can be sold as music for the billboards or performed in orchestras to generate greater revenues.

For the future? More creativity needs to be developed in terms of how Spidy moves, what has the audience not seen before? Also how he uses his webs, don’t keep repeating the same old jumping, acrobatic and web slinging styles. This is the challenge that cannot be avoided. His repertoire in this area has to be developed. There is no such thing as running out of ideas here, lacking creativity  or being comfortable with what he’s already doing, or just tweaking what he can already do. He always needs to do something he’s never done before or in the previous installments, the Spidy in Spiderman 3 cannot be the Spidy in Spiderman 1– he needs to grow, evolve. Stagnation is probably why by the third installment the movie has burnt out; its exhausted its novelty. O.k. he uses soft web, what about a web that can transform from being soft to become as hard as steel  but rigid and transparent as glass, that will bend slightly like steel but shatter like glass when it breaks depending on how he means to use it. Spidy pulls his hands apart, web appears between them but instead of the soft elastic web the audience expects to see it instead hardens and becomes rigid, he breaks it off and it’s a spear which he hurls at an enemy that has gotten away beyond the range of his normal web.  A rigid super-strong  web with glasslike,  almost invisible meshing sounds simple, but it opens up a whole host of new action moves  Spidy can use that the audience will not have ever seen before.  For instance he could create a shield with it, if the nemesis was strong enough he or she could smash through, shattering it into  a thousand pieces, but he could just as easily and quickly sling it up again. This is a good visual. He could also use rigid web to break into or out of structures. If the ceiling of a building is collapsing on people he could sling rigid web to support the ceiling. He can use rigid web to sling a cage should he need to trap an animal or enemy instead of tying them up with webbing. If he slings rigid web between two buildings he can create a rigid glass like platform people he has rescued can walk on like a deck or run across to safety. With rigid web he can fashion make-shift tools or weapons on the fly or by the seat of his pants that will be new to the audience. He could sling icicles that make different sounds when struck.  His growth in skill could show him combining rigid web with soft web to execute a complex battle move showing he’s no ordinary Spidy anymore, he’s advanced a step. He could even fashion a make-shift bow when in a bind and shoot a rigid web arrow to devastating effect. In one movie he could only sling soft-web, but by the next he's in a situation where he realises its not enough so he develops rigid web, then later by the next movie finds he's in a situation where both soft and rigid webbing is not enough and is forced to develop the next level of webbing. If he develops a strange new ability or technique just before the credits role the audience will be dying to see him fulfil its use in the next movie keeping them hooked.

In terms of movement, it may seem more difficult to see how to make him bad-er. However, instead of just executing acrobatic moves as we have seen, his maturity in execution can grow. He can be shown to deliberately hold poses, slow down executions then speed them up just before impact, like a matador so to speak. He can watch a desperate event unfold but instead of acting immediately as he usually does observe until the scene is sizzling with anticipation and the audience is thinking what’s wrong with Spidy why doesn’t he get a move on. Then with shocking speed he intervenes and just as quickly leaves the scene not bothering to soak in the applause. This kind of movement indicates a growth in confidence and prowess. For example, the ability of his super senses to appear to freeze time in the movie in order to craft a strategic move is a sign of growth. In my assessment of the cinematography and fight choreography of the comic book to movie adaptations thus far, to be frank, the directors of the action sequences are under-performing, not just in Spiderman, but in nearly all the super hero movie releases observed in Marvel and DC Comics (don't get upset, I am trying to help you). They are not honing the required skills to enhance their craft. Very little effort is made to define the qualities of speed, power, control, unique talent, technique especially in movement and battle. You need to study your craft in order to bring audiences what they have not seen. I would urge you to study Masashi Kishimoto's work in Manga and  animation to begin to understand what I'm talking about; to comprehend the delivery of these qualities. His work hasn't even reached the big budget levels of Marvel and DC comics but his craft is superior to yours. To demonstrate just one cinematography and choreography "quality" that is superior to yours, for example - speed, I would urge you as producers and directors to study Naruto Shippuuden Episode 1, when Naruto, Sakura and Sai are running through hallways looking for Sasuske and eventually catch up with him after an explosion. Watch the delivery of this segment in order learn this craft. Observe how speed is expressed and delivered when Sasuke moves from the top of the ridge down to where Naruto is standing, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Note the timing of Sakura's gasp. Note that he is able to do this even before Sakura is able to turn her head to track his movement, yet it ends with that slomo settling of Sasuke's tunic. You who are producing comic book block busters are not yet at this level of mastery. There is a need for you to go back to your craft. Granted a lot of what is in Naruto is childish and many "fillers" are dreary, but in the core of his craft this man is way ahead of you. To Kishimoto in the Naruto franchise an ability that is unique to a hero is called a "Blood Limit". In other words Peter Parker's "Blood Limit" is what makes him Spiderman, with the slight difference being that a Blood Limit is hereditary. Note how both heroes and nemeses never stay at the same level, their abilities must always evolve to the extent that super hero and anti-hero talent or ability resembles an arms race where any hero who doesn't keep working to improve him or herself often by seeking out "masters" to teach them a new way will not survive. This evolution keeps the audience captivated. Don't be afraid to switch things up and end a movie with the utter and absolute defeat of the lead character super-hero by a better skilled relentless foe; despite all his or her best moves that the audience thought were all he or she needed that in the past made them applaud. Let the move they applauded before fail; its no longer enough, new skills and abilities need to be found, but from where, from whom? Hero's are at the top of their league especially in the hero and audience's mind until thoroughly beaten after underestimating a nemesis or over-estimating their own ability. It always seems there's no one better than they are, but this is why there are those illusive, strange, sometimes reclusive and obscure "masters" who have skills and abilities gained through insight. This in itself is another persuasive story line and journey in the growth of their hero the audience will appreciate. A thorough and convincing defeat of the hero by a triple threat builds the infamy of a nemesis but this inevitably builds the hero. Let the audience leave with angry tears that their hero, though putting up a fantastic moral fight was trashed by his or her anti-hero. This allows the next movie to demand that the hero train harder, look within, soul search, even fear his or her nemesis and work to find ways to improve skills and abilities so that in the next movie the audience watches him or her evolve and grow. This is great story telling. I would urge you once again to study Kishimoto this time in the first years of the younger Naruto where his team fights Gaara after a chase through the Hidden Leaf forest. Note how at one point in the fight his team of heroes, now thoroughly petrified, makes a panicked decision to flee just before Sakura is trapped while Sasuke is incapacitated. Observe how the fear is orchestrated and how Naruto's decision to remain in the fight is not made because he is suddenly courageous but due to a higher sense of need to protect his friends and the sheer distaste for the nemesis Gaara. Study the delivery, psychological and emotional build up to Naruto Season 2 episode 76. Remember Star Wars, the Empire Strikes back ends with the triumph of the Emperor and the scattered disgrace of the rebels. Yes its sad, the audience leaves hurting thinking they were going to see the glory they saw in Star Wars I, they leave shocked by defeat. But this is how a certain awe, fear and respect is gained for Vadar whose eventual take down will now later magnify the hero. When the audiences come back to Return of the Jedi they are treated to the evolution of Luke Skywalker and the ultimate nail biting showdown between him and that scary nemesis they now fear - Vadar. In Kishimoto's style notice how each hero is given an opportunity to attack; after which the the nemesis verbally or mentally assesses and grades the attack identifying its weakness or flaws before proceeding with a counter attack and sometimes even during the attack itself. This process of analysis changes the battle from a senseless brawl to an interesting chess game where each fighter must understand and unravel the powers and skills of his or her opponent on the fly as failing to properly analyze an a opponent can lead to injury or outright defeat. The heroes in the world of DC and Marvel that are now on the big screen have to evolve as they are presently are too stagnant, they are not under pressure to advance, their fights are too mundane with no obvious mental exertion exhibited in the very process of battle itself, they seldom express raw palatable fear they have to fight through and this can make them stale. Wouldn't it be interesting and character developing to see the Hulk afraid for instance? What could possibly make the Hulk doubt his own strength? A good principal super hero craft is that no matter how fast you are, there is somebody faster than you, no matter how strong - there's someone stronger, no matter how gifted and agile there is some who can do what you do better than you; no matter how beautiful there is someone more attractive. The inner core of a hero must periodically be shaken and challenged allowing him or her to work and come back bigger and badder. What is speed and how is it expressed, what is power, what is dexterity or agility, what is the role of emotion and intellect in the midst of battle and confrontation? You need to improve your craft, it has become too rudimentary and conventional.


What the audience may need to see is a Spidy who has honed is craft so well that when a nemesis appears he is not just plunging into a battle – he is instead stopped in his tracks; he turns around slowly thinking is this it, is this the challenge that’s gonna test me that I've been waiting for? It can start well, Peter’s Spidy pics are selling, money is coming in, all his problems are taken care of, he’s saving people in the city with uncanny prowess, he has a new love interest, Peter is genuinely happy but the audience see’s something is off. Gwen's incident has changed him, given him a harder edge, a darker side, a less forgiving persona and a more ruthless poise. Spidy has become more powerful, more skilled but he’s become more arrogant – leaving some save to the last minute, he’s itching for a real challenge. At the beginning when he takes on his nemesis in the next installment he is out to prove a point to himself…..and he does this by meting out a brutal take down of a powerful opponent. Just when his confidence has peaked by this self affirmation let the nemesis he thought he has destroyed and gotten rid off suddenly sit down at his table opposite him at a restaurant. Parker is surprised but masks it quickly. They stare at each other for a long while expressionlessly, then his triple threat nemesis says to him – is that all you’ve got Parker? I thought…you were the..amazing..Spiderman.”  Let it sizzle. Then the new love interest suddenly appears.

The opening sequence with Spidy doing his thing in the city is nice, but like, what is it for? What does it have to do with the plot? Nothing. Then it’s a waste of valuable time. When you begin with a big display of Spidy skill like that then the rest of the movie becomes anti-climactic. That’s what the audience is drooling for, so don’t serve it up first or too quickly, especially when there’s nothing new or novel about it, its better to build toward it. If you start a five course meal with the main course the diners may not want to eat the entree. Just when the audience is impatiently asking when are we gonna see Spiderman? That’s when he should appear - don't stretch the waiting too far.

Side track, Why can't I get Spidy leaving a mess of cobwebs around the city out of my head? Something producers can  explore is a black market for Spidy’s spent  webs which would otherwise be left dangling all over the city becoming a public nuisance and an eyesore. Hands can be shown collecting the webs without showing faces or identities until the audience is asking who is that collecting Spidy's spent web and why are they doing this? Scavengers going around the city collecting the left over webs he uses to get around are trading it like contraband or bounty . They are using them as a raw material, turning them into something valuable e.g. the soft web into bullet proof kevlar, fashion items and the rigid web into diamonds or some expensive sought after gems for jewelry. (Spiderman jewelery and clothing line spinoff from this for serious adults maybe? Ka-chiung$$$!). Spidy is shocked to discover big money is being made behind his back from his spent webbing while he scrimps and saves. While he is often broke these web "collectors" or scavengers are making s-e-r-i-o-u-s dough off him. He confronts one of these blokes who isn’t doing very well as a scavenger and befriends him. They become fast buddies. To raise money Peter has his new business buddy sidekick hatch a plan to collect his spent webs – after all their his, why should someone else make money off them. But it’s a highly competitive trade because its become lucrative so Spidy has to quickly inform his buddy about where he has been to get the left over soft and rigid web before other scavengers some of whom are cut-throat and gangster-like move in. Parker and his business friend start making a tidy sum and Peter is in the money, but it’s a constant game of cat and mouse as different ruthless scavengers sometimes clash over a find especially the aftermath of a battle scene where a lot of webbing gets spent. This would make for some nice comedy because Parker despite repeatedly being begged by his business partner on principal flatly refuses to produce soft and rigid webbing just to sell as he can only produce a limited amount and needs it for his battles, life saving activities in the city and general web slinging. With the recession fading away its worth beginning to give Peter a better financial profile or persona. This trade in spent web can become an ongoing part of Spiderman’s life that improves his finances and it creates an interesting and intriguing aspect to being Spiderman from which many side-stories can be spun into the franchise. How much money he has and how wealthy he is at any one point can be controlled by the on going conflicts between his business buddy and other web scavengers.  

Well, not much more to blah-blah-blah about.......

Peace.