Frank Miller, �Sin City: Hell and Back�
I saw Elektra on Friday. No, I wasn�t one of the slobbering fanboys waiting eagerly in line on opening day, even though it is Daredevil related, and it was opening day. I just happened to be visiting my mother, and we decided to go to a film. Since she knew about the recent hijacking of all my money, she offered to pay.
Seeing it for free seemed like a fine idea, even though I was fairly certain that the film would suck. The character, created by Frank Miller, only works as an antithesis for the Daredevil character. She only appeared for about twenty issues of the original comic before Miller killed her off, in what was undoubtedly the high point of the series.
Apparently, fan outcry was enormous and Marvel Enterprises, having Miller under contract, forced him to work out a plot line to bring back the character. He did so, and it was also an amazing story arc.
It�s these two arcs that gave Elektra the popularity she has. In the smallish realm of Daredevil related useless trinkets, the easiest to find is Elektra related. But on her own, she really comes off as rather shallow, hence Marvel has tried unsuccessfully several times to give her a title of her own. All were canceled quickly and without fanfare.
That�s how I looked at this movie. In the slew of comic book adaptations that occurred after X-Men, most of them bad, it stood to reason that this would come sooner rather than later. She has the recognition factor. But if they can�t make the character interesting in the comics, I don�t know why they felt they could make a good movie.
My mom looked around at the crowd, fair-sized for a matinee of a B-level comic character, and leaned over. �Well,� she whispered, �There certainly seem to be a lot of people interested in Greek tragedy.�
�Actually, they�re not interested in Greek tragedy,� I whispered back. �They�re just a bunch of dorks. Of course, seeing as I�m here with my mom, I should probably shut up.�
The film wasn�t horrible or anything � it definately wasn�t the painful, infuriating experience that was A Series of Unfortunate Events. But when the end credits started rolling, all I could think was, �Well, you made a movie. That�s nice. I hope you had fun doing it.�
One of the selling points that 20th Century Fox is using to try and pack the theaters is having an exclusive trailer for the upcoming Fantastic Four film. It looks like it�s going to be terrible but I never cared about that series, so I don�t mind. But there are films coming soon made from books that I did and do like, and I�m very frightened.
There�s Constantine, where they�ve taken a character who is supposed to be blond and an Englishman, and changed him into Keanu Reeves.
Also forthcoming is the adaptation of one of my favorite books, A Confederacy of Dunces, where Ignatius J. Reilly is portrayed by Will Farrell. I shudder every time I think of that.
Hell, there�s a movie version of Sin City � this very series � that should be out very soon. Frankly, I can�t see how they�ll make anything good come from this, even though this series is good.
But most frightening of all is the big-screen version of The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the Galaxy. They�ve cast rapper Mos Def as Ford Prefect.
And it�s being made by Disney.
If I learn one thing from Elektra, I pray that it�s the strength to avoid things that I know are going to suck.
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[UPDATE]
And now, as I fix the chronological order of entries, I can safely say that I haven�t learned that particular strength. But Sin City didn�t suck. No, it most certainly did not. Hitchhiker didn�t totally suck, but wasn�t particularly great either. Consantine sucked, but just in a totally dull kinda way. Now it all lies on Will Farrell.
Jesus. I don�t think I�ve ever written a more depressing sentence.
