The superhero movie genre originated in comic books at the tail end of the 1930s and flourished during one of mankind’s darkest epochs viz. World War II. Since the conclusion of that war, superhero comics have been struggling for acceptance as an art form in its own right.
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Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the literal revenge of the nerds. Fandom’s fanatical insistence that Warner Bros release the Snyder Cut over the years led to this unlikely movie becoming a reality in the surreal circumstances of 2021. Sure, it’s a gimmick to sell HBO Max and might not have happened otherwise. Who cares?
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I believe in story analysis. As a pop culture commentator writing about film and TV, it is important to discuss story using rules of story analysis. Without story, films and TV shows would merely be a collection of loosely connected events and action sequences. With regards to Wonder Woman 1984, I had previously posted a non-spoilers review. Perhaps it is time for a story analysis of Wonder Woman 1984 to illustrate my point.
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MAKE MINE MARVEL is an opinion piece.
A decade ago, Marvel Studios released its maiden production – Iron Man – and the world of movies have never been the same.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, and on the heels of the mega-success of Wonder Woman, DC Entertainment president Geoff Johns declared – in reference to future movies – that DC would, “get to the essence of the character and make the movies fun”.
A wonder to behold.
Synopsis
A secret government agency led by Amanda Waller recruits imprisoned supervillains (as Task Force X) to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a powerful threat, in exchange for leaner sentences. Directed by David Ayer and starring Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jared Leto (Joker), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Viola Davis (Waller) and many others.
If you have been paying attention, you will be aware that we loved Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice whereas most critics reviled Zack Snyder’s magnum opus to such an extent that it scored only 27% at Rotten Tomatoes. Mind you, the totally awful Independence Day: Resurgence managed to score 33%, so that gives you an indication of how much critics hated BVS.
Background
Not the sequel to Man of Steel (2013) but according to director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), the outright launch of the DC Cinematic Universe (DCU) with the first appearance of Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) together in the same movie. Key question is whether the movie itself can justify the slew of DCU films coming up in the pipeline, and in particular, Justice League (2017).
Once upon a time, movies based on DC Comics characters were the most high profile and successful comic book adaptations, viz. Batman and Superman. Then, Marvel got their act together and a billion-dollar franchise (without the X-Men, Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, mind you) was developed!
