Serenity Now

Having tarred all modern sci-fi films (except Moon) with the same brush of unimaginative crappiness in my last post, I'd like to qualify that slightly by looking at some good modern sci-fi. For a start, Joss Whedon. Need I say more? I started watching Buffy during its second season, mostly because there was nothing else on on a Thursday night! I had no expectations of it actually being good. I mean, it was called Buffy The Vampire Slayer, how could you not have expected it to be rubbish? But then I got into it, and it turned out to be a clever, funny, and quite brilliant show. The spin-off Angel lost its way somewhere during seasons 3 and 4, but came back fighting with season 5, which was easily its best...and made its cancellation all the more disappointing. Then came Firefly (and movie spin-off Serenity). Which is, in my opinion, by far Joss Whedon's finest work. Again, 'cowboys in space' seems a premise unlikely to work, but it did. Brilliantly. And its main strength was the characters, whom you cared for and cheered for, and occasionally cried for, so well written (and acted!) were they. And that's where the key to success for any show (or film) lies...in creating characters whose lives you can really get involved in, and who you really care about. And that has always been something that Joss has done well. One of the most distressing things I've seen in any TV show was the poking out of Xander's eye in season 7 of Buffy. That was just shocking. I still have to look away during that scene, it's very hard to watch!

Not to be a broken record, but depth of character was something that made Moon brilliant as well. And of course also the new Batman films. Which are so much better than any other comic book movie yet made as to be in a completely different league. And the writing makes all the difference. They are gritty and realistic (well, as realistic as any comic book film can get!), and they have characters whose motives you understand (mostly - the Joker is the obvious exception, but that's the whole point: he's a deranged sociopath, and his lack of fathomable motive is what makes him such a challenging opponent) and who you care for. You have to care about Bruce to root for Batman, especially when he is up against someone as charismatic as the Joker. Can't have the audience on the baddy's side! Christopher Nolan really has done an excellent job of making Batman respectable again (let's face it, the old Adam West TV series was AMAZING, but it was also amazingly camp!), and he is at the forefront of a group of film-makers now creating intelligent, gripping sci-fi.

There are some other comic book adaptations that are worthy of note: Iron Man was awesome (due to its excellent mixing of big action and Robert Downey Jr!), The X-Men films were very good (although obviously Wolverine/Hugh Jackman was the main reason for this!), Spiderman was a mixed bag (the first film was good (althougth some of the CGI was dreadful!), but the sequels didn't work as well), The Hulk was pretty terrible (both films. Unfortunately even the usually brilliant Ed Norton couldn't save it!), and The Punisher was just out-and-out shite. There are obviously many more comic book films out there, but this little selection covers most areas of the Spectrum of Comic Book Movie Adaptation Succes.

Oh, crap. I forgot another good comic book adaptation: Hellboy. Well, Hellboy II mostly. The first film was a little confused and confusing, but the second film was great. Well written, well directed (by Guillermo del Toro. Genius), and with amazing effects (by the same people who brought you the wonderful Pan's Labyrinth), it was a triumph of a movie. Even taking into account the fact that it starred a former member of Bros. Especially taking into account the fact that it starred a former member of Bros! Who knew he could actually act?!

Hmm, I appear to have gotten a little side-tracked from sci-fi and lost in comic book movies! But that's because I ran out of good straight SF to talk about! Well, that's still not entirely accurate. I forgot Event Horizon - not only a great sci-fi, but also an incredibly chilling horror. And also District 9, which is very strange and very funny!