Most people have consistently criticized DC Films for their dependency on darker, more serious themes compared to their rivals at Marvel Studios. While there can certainly be some hindrance to the identity of a franchise by gearing the films encompassing it in a dark overtone, I had never found that to personally be the issue with DC Films. Man of Steel was certainly not the happy-go-lucky Superman story many people are familiar with, but it succeeded in analyzing what a Superman in the real world might look like: how he might impact the lives of others, what his fears and doubts about his affect on the world might be. For all of the criticisms of Man of Steel and director Zack Snyder (and it's got it's fair share of criticism to have), it most certainly isn't the fault of the tone that the film fails in areas.
The same can be said for Zack Snyder's follow-up, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Folks might have been burned out with the dark and edgy DC Films tone (again, another fair critique since that's what we were exposed to in all DC films after The Dark Knight), but it's my opinion that the tone is not the primary problem of the versus film. The ultimate issue of BvS was its muddled plot, mixed with tons of exposition in the effort to set up the several films that would follow it. Not only that, but the disconnect in messaging from the film to the audience, in terms of expectations for the film's overall goal, was completely mishandled. Batman V Superman can certainly be described as a mess, but the tone definitely isn't the primary issue.
Enter Suicide Squad, a DC Film that arrived just 6 months after Batman V Superman, and give it to a studio so desperate to seem appealing to its audience that the retroactively edit what most likely would've been a dark, devious film featuring B-level DC Comics villains teaming up to go on a live-or-death mission mandated by a shady government organization, and change the tone of the film to be somewhat of a dark action-comedy featuring great musical hits every 7 minutes. The issues with Suicide Squad are actually more easily identifiable, in the splintered story, weak antagonist, and mismatched direction. And while I personally love Suicide Squad, I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend not to see it's problems. But the tone is not one of them.
Wonder Woman thus gave audiences what they were clamoring for: a hero to support, to get behind, because Wonder Woman herself saw the best humanity could offer, and fought for it. Not dissimilar to a classical Superman or the modern Captain America, Wonder Woman restored the idea that the world is worth saving not because it happens to be the place where we live, but because the beings that live on it are capable of great things. And unlike the modern Superman, Wonder Woman was able to see that from the beginning, despite her own tribulations with them. Nevertheless, Wonder Woman was the DC Film audiences responded to the best, and DC executives most likely attributed that to the tone of hope.
So, we now see a Justice League film advertising both stakes and lighthearted fun: a Batman that is more charismatic, a Flash that cracks wise, a rock-star Aquaman. The color palette is of a brighter, more vibrant choice. The camera seems to be shooting sharper, clearer imagery. The CGI seems to be the best DC has had thus far. Justice League offers a culmination of a story started since 2013's Man of Steel, with both a change in identity of the franchise and attitude to filmmaking.Now, this could also be because previous director Zack Snyder had to step down due to a family tragedy, and director Joss Whedom (The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron) has since made his mark on the film. Both are comic book fans, both grew up reading comics like The Justice League of America, but it's clear that Joss likes to stick more in the realm of comic books when creating his superhero projects, while Zack takes after Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy) and tries to ground his films as much as he can, while remaining true to the comic book aesthetic. Clearly, DC Films, tired of losing to their competitor in the critics' favor, have taken it upon themselves to borrow more elements that make Marvel films fan favorites than they originally planned.
I'll say this much: Justice League looks fun. It looks like high-octance, action-packed, superhero fun. The cast looks great, I'm interested in seeing how the humor turns out, and I'm engaged in seeing where this franchise goes as a result of the new direction, both in the overall tone and the narrative results of the film. I only hope that DC doesn't become "Marvel 2" as a result of them reading the wrong signals from the audience. Dark is okay. Dark can even be good! Look at the Marvel-Netflix TV series like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, it can be done well. DC Films doesn't have to sacrifice it's entire identity as a film series just because people are misconstruing the problems with their films. Again, Justice League looks like it's gonna be a good time at the movies, but I just wish it wasn't so obviously a change in trying to steal some of the Marvel glory.
Then again, the entire idea of a DC Film franchise was stolen from Marvel, so maybe this was the natural turn of events.
No comments:
Post a Comment