With the resounding box office success of The Avengers, the summer blockbuster season has gotten off to the perfect start. To date, the Joss Whedon-helmed superhero movie spectacular has already grossed over US$800 million worldwide and there appears no reason to suppose that it will not surpass the billion dollar mark.
With science-fiction and fantasy themed movies capturing the imagination of the movie-going public, let’s take stock of what is the come in the months ahead and let’s speculate upon how well (or poorly – remember John Carter?) they will be received.
Men in Black 3 – 24th May
The general consensus about the MIB series was that the sequel never quite replicated the sheer fun of the first movie (despite the excellent performances of its two lead actors Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones). But here we are with a third film. Granted, the premise is a bit hackneyed – Agent J goes back in time to prevent Agent K’s death and he was 24 hours to do so – but based on the above trailer, at least it looks like fans are in for a rollicking good time. One thing is sure – Josh Brolin’s Tommy Lee impersonation is going to be worth the price of admission alone! Recommended viewing.
Prometheus – 7 June
The one many geeks have been waiting for. Originally talked about as an Alien prequel but now recognized as a new story set in the Alien universe, Prometheus – director Ridley Scott’s (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) return to sci-fi – contains an ambitious plot about the origin of man, insidious alien plots and scary monsters. Assembling a solid cast (Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba and Noomi Rapice, amongst others) around him, it appears that Scott is deadly serious about presenting Prometheus as a movie dealing with social and philosophical issues as well as being an awe-inspiring sci-fi epic. From what has been revealed in trailers and featurettes, Prometheus is shaping up to be a hard scifi classic.
The Amazing Spider-Man – 3 July
The upcoming film that probably has divided geekdom most. It has only been ten years since the first Toby Maguire Spider-Man movie was released but SONY has deemed it fit to present us with a reboot this soon into the franchise? Smacks of desperation and a transparent attempt to tap into the tween market which has brought the likes of Twilight and Hunger Games massive success. Witness the casting of heart-throb Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker – can you imagine someone looking like that being a geek outsider? Director Marc Webb’s claim to fame thus far is helming that indie hipster hit 500 Days of Summer so we can probably guess where SONY is going with this adaptation (focus being on Peter Parker-Gwen Stacy romance). SONY really needs The Amazing Spider-Man to be a winner but I think it may just about fall short. Maybe then, SONY will give the character back to Marvel and hopefully we can see Spidey in Avengers 2! So it’s wait and see, I guess…
The Dark Knight Rises – 20 July
Has The Avengers supplanted The Dark Knight as the best superhero film ever made? I don’t believe so – they’re different kinds of films to begin with. In any case, I have faith in director Christopher Nolan to give us something thought-provoking, dramatic and exciting and to present depths of superhero realism that The Avengers would have little hope of attaining. For me, this is the movie of 2012 and somewhat lowered expectations after the whirlwind of The Avengers should help Nolan to catch moviegoers by surprise like he did with both The Dark Knight and Inception. Ending a trilogy is never easy to execute so it will be educational (and downright entertaining) to watch how Nolan pulls it off…
There are more geek movies on the horizon including Looper, Total Recall and Gravity (not to mention The Hobbit) but we’ll get to them soon enough in future editions of GEEK OUT!
* COMING SOON in Malay