THE BIG FAT DISAPPOINTMENT
Even before the Sin City movie premiered, Robert Rodriguez told us what to expect from the dvd release: a slew of bonus material, another Film School segment, the option to play the movie’s three storylines independently, and my favorite, Cooking School.
If my Circuit City is any indication, Sin City will have huge sales numbers this week. At my store, the display case was near empty and had already been re-stocked three times before I arrived.
But, as happy as I was to finally enjoy the film in the privacy of my home with my wife sitting beside me, I was disappointed that none of the options Rodriguez spoke of were included.
Like Marv so eloquently pus it: “It hit me like a kick in the nuts.”
Usually, after I see a movie in the theater and buy the dvd, my opinions change for the better. But, Sin City was as mediocre at home as it was in the theater.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but I don’t see it as the crowning achievement so many held it to be. Its problem is, like some new comic publishers, it cannibalized itself. I never knew what this was until Merlyn explained it to me: Comic book consumers only have so much money and most of it goes to the primary publishers like DC and Marvel. What’s left is spent on one-shots and books from smaller publishers. (In the case of Crossgen) Premiering with two or three books, allowed people the opportunity to try them out. Once they liked them, they would continue to buy those two or three books. But, if the publisher expands too quickly, they lessen the possibility of those consumers’ ability to buy their books. If the consumer can only afford purchasing two or three titles, and the publisher comes out with four of five books, it forces the comics buyer to choose which books they will buy. While the publisher assumes the best, thinking if people like the first three, they’ll continue to buy the additional one or two. Soon, you have customers choosing which three books to buy in a line-up of twenty.
What later happened to Crossgen was they became repetitious. They began with one book covering one genre. But then they came out with two or three books dealing with one genre or it’s sub-genre. Sigil and Negation both dealt with science fiction. Scion, Mystic, and Sojourn dealt with fantasy from different perspectives. Scion was a mixture of fantasy and technology. Mystic was all magic. And, Sojourn was more like Tolkien. There are fans of all three, but at 2.99 an issue, if you only have ten dollars and you also like their other titles, you have to make a choice.
Sin City suffered from the same thing, sort of. Rodriguez took three stories and meshed them into one movie. But, each story was published years apart. The first story, now entitled The Hard Goodbye, was serialized in 1991, ending in 1992. A Dame to Kill For, Miller’s second Sin City story introducing Dwight was published in 1993. The Big Fat Kill was a year later. And, That Yellow Bastard was in 1996. Each of them were six-issue miniseries. Taking three of Miller’s stories originally published separately at yearly intervals and meshing them together allowed for visible repetitions of style and dialogue that weren’t so easily detectable before.
Another problem was the well-intentioned effort to adapt the books panel by panel from the comic. In the Behind the Scenes featurette from the dvd, Rodriguez said he didn’t want to take the comic and turn it into a movie. He wanted to turn the movie into a comic. But, in doing so, he failed to properly interpret the actions in real time. The consequences were scenes that looked frozen and ridiculous, breaking the audience out of their suspension.
Example: In The Big Fat Kill, after getting rid of Shelly’s cop boyfriend, Rafferty, by drowning him in urine, Dwight watches him and his crew leaving in a drunken rage. Standing on a ledge outside Shelly’s window, Dwight jumps to the street below to his car. In the comic, a narrative accompanies Dwight’s action –jumping to the street. One aspect of comics separating them from film is the ability to freeze time. A series of actions can last for pages so we can get into the heads of the people involved. In comics, it works. In film, it doesn’t. The same scene on film looks ridiculous, as Clive Owen hovers on unseen wires, floating in mid-air before hitting the ground.
The same goes for dialogue. Lines like: “My warrior woman; my Valkyrie…” got more laughs than anything else.
I won’t say Rodriguez’s and Miller’s film is how not to do a comic movie. Instead, I see them going from one extreme to the other, from those who re-interpret too greatly, to others who are way too faithful.
The saving grace of Sin City the movie is the same as the comics. It’s violent and unapologetic homage to the hard-hitting noir novels and films of yesteryear. From a technical point of view, the movie is gorgeous, as are the comics. The bright reds and gold against a stark black & white are mesmerizing. And, capturing the textures from the inked pages on film was powerful.
Watching Sin City just reminded me how perfect Batman Begins was, and why. Like Sin City, Batman Begins was a mixture of several chapters from the character’s life or lives, but instead of having only one creator to draw from, they had several. A large chunk was taken from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, but a little Dennis O’Neil was in there to.
Nolan and Goyer took the source material and built on it, removing or slightly altering anything that wouldn’t translate properly. Since 1989’s Batman, many fans feel strongly about not having characters in black leather or rubber suits instead of spandex. But, in Begins, Nolan makes it work by minimizing style and emphasizing function. And, through that, creating it’s a style all it’s own. It’s “funky”, but it worked. Looking at the suit independently, it’s pretty boring. But, within the context of the film, it has a power that’s overwhelming.
With Sin City 2 and 3 on the way, I’m left wondering how fans will respond this time. Will they love it or hate it? But, I think both Miller and Rodriguez may have already learned from their mistakes because rumor reports say Miller is completely re-writing segments and writing an original story for the sequel.
But, I have one major question. With the source material being drained, will Frank or Rodriguez bring the last Sin City story, Hell and Back, to the screen? It’s the only one of Frank’s series to star a black hero and heroine.
Will they be ignored?
UPDATE
Lazarus is moving slow, but it is moving.
The last pages are approved and moving from detailed layouts to finishes. The lettering suffered a major set back during the convention season, but should pick up this week. And, the same goes for the coloring. Glasshouse is putting two people on the job and the boss himself is looking over things.
I’m prepping my Image proposal and while the synopsis will be a synch, thanks to Merlyn, but the cover letter is a bitch.
I hate writing cover letters. I never know what I should write and everyone expects something different. If they want to know about me, I go into too much detail. If they want my experience, it just reads like a resume. And, if they want to know about the project, it comes off like a sales pitch.
I’m to the point of seriously considering just hiring someone to do it for me.
I’m thinking a lot about LAZARUS: The Video Game and having some great ideas, if I can only get a chance to pitch them. I’ve been trying to meet with a designer for months now, and I’m hoping I’ll finally get my chance soon.
The way I’d describe is Devil May Cry in a Grand Theft Auto type world. Lazarus is free-roaming through a Gehenna City full of citizens. The cool part is finding your targets. You’d switch to first person POV to spot a demon. Then, your strategy is to confront the target openly, or try to lure them away from a populated area. In private, it’s a one on one fight. In public, you could attract other demons or their agents and be outnumbered.
Then, my favorite, the flashback sequences would be levels integrated into the gameplay and left separate as bonuses to be won.
You can change clothes and get new tattoos. There are hand-to-hand combat, cool weapons, the whole nine.
But, the idea I would really like to see is damage control. Having Lazarus get fucked up and showing damage and the healing process in real-time. And, the boss battles would be like Final Fantasy with gorgeous cinematic scenes accompanying actual gameplay, like God of War.
If I get to do that… Damn, would that be something!
JPG.
If my Circuit City is any indication, Sin City will have huge sales numbers this week. At my store, the display case was near empty and had already been re-stocked three times before I arrived.
But, as happy as I was to finally enjoy the film in the privacy of my home with my wife sitting beside me, I was disappointed that none of the options Rodriguez spoke of were included.
Like Marv so eloquently pus it: “It hit me like a kick in the nuts.”
Usually, after I see a movie in the theater and buy the dvd, my opinions change for the better. But, Sin City was as mediocre at home as it was in the theater.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but I don’t see it as the crowning achievement so many held it to be. Its problem is, like some new comic publishers, it cannibalized itself. I never knew what this was until Merlyn explained it to me: Comic book consumers only have so much money and most of it goes to the primary publishers like DC and Marvel. What’s left is spent on one-shots and books from smaller publishers. (In the case of Crossgen) Premiering with two or three books, allowed people the opportunity to try them out. Once they liked them, they would continue to buy those two or three books. But, if the publisher expands too quickly, they lessen the possibility of those consumers’ ability to buy their books. If the consumer can only afford purchasing two or three titles, and the publisher comes out with four of five books, it forces the comics buyer to choose which books they will buy. While the publisher assumes the best, thinking if people like the first three, they’ll continue to buy the additional one or two. Soon, you have customers choosing which three books to buy in a line-up of twenty.
What later happened to Crossgen was they became repetitious. They began with one book covering one genre. But then they came out with two or three books dealing with one genre or it’s sub-genre. Sigil and Negation both dealt with science fiction. Scion, Mystic, and Sojourn dealt with fantasy from different perspectives. Scion was a mixture of fantasy and technology. Mystic was all magic. And, Sojourn was more like Tolkien. There are fans of all three, but at 2.99 an issue, if you only have ten dollars and you also like their other titles, you have to make a choice.
Sin City suffered from the same thing, sort of. Rodriguez took three stories and meshed them into one movie. But, each story was published years apart. The first story, now entitled The Hard Goodbye, was serialized in 1991, ending in 1992. A Dame to Kill For, Miller’s second Sin City story introducing Dwight was published in 1993. The Big Fat Kill was a year later. And, That Yellow Bastard was in 1996. Each of them were six-issue miniseries. Taking three of Miller’s stories originally published separately at yearly intervals and meshing them together allowed for visible repetitions of style and dialogue that weren’t so easily detectable before.
Another problem was the well-intentioned effort to adapt the books panel by panel from the comic. In the Behind the Scenes featurette from the dvd, Rodriguez said he didn’t want to take the comic and turn it into a movie. He wanted to turn the movie into a comic. But, in doing so, he failed to properly interpret the actions in real time. The consequences were scenes that looked frozen and ridiculous, breaking the audience out of their suspension.
Example: In The Big Fat Kill, after getting rid of Shelly’s cop boyfriend, Rafferty, by drowning him in urine, Dwight watches him and his crew leaving in a drunken rage. Standing on a ledge outside Shelly’s window, Dwight jumps to the street below to his car. In the comic, a narrative accompanies Dwight’s action –jumping to the street. One aspect of comics separating them from film is the ability to freeze time. A series of actions can last for pages so we can get into the heads of the people involved. In comics, it works. In film, it doesn’t. The same scene on film looks ridiculous, as Clive Owen hovers on unseen wires, floating in mid-air before hitting the ground.
The same goes for dialogue. Lines like: “My warrior woman; my Valkyrie…” got more laughs than anything else.
I won’t say Rodriguez’s and Miller’s film is how not to do a comic movie. Instead, I see them going from one extreme to the other, from those who re-interpret too greatly, to others who are way too faithful.
The saving grace of Sin City the movie is the same as the comics. It’s violent and unapologetic homage to the hard-hitting noir novels and films of yesteryear. From a technical point of view, the movie is gorgeous, as are the comics. The bright reds and gold against a stark black & white are mesmerizing. And, capturing the textures from the inked pages on film was powerful.
Watching Sin City just reminded me how perfect Batman Begins was, and why. Like Sin City, Batman Begins was a mixture of several chapters from the character’s life or lives, but instead of having only one creator to draw from, they had several. A large chunk was taken from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, but a little Dennis O’Neil was in there to.
Nolan and Goyer took the source material and built on it, removing or slightly altering anything that wouldn’t translate properly. Since 1989’s Batman, many fans feel strongly about not having characters in black leather or rubber suits instead of spandex. But, in Begins, Nolan makes it work by minimizing style and emphasizing function. And, through that, creating it’s a style all it’s own. It’s “funky”, but it worked. Looking at the suit independently, it’s pretty boring. But, within the context of the film, it has a power that’s overwhelming.
With Sin City 2 and 3 on the way, I’m left wondering how fans will respond this time. Will they love it or hate it? But, I think both Miller and Rodriguez may have already learned from their mistakes because rumor reports say Miller is completely re-writing segments and writing an original story for the sequel.
But, I have one major question. With the source material being drained, will Frank or Rodriguez bring the last Sin City story, Hell and Back, to the screen? It’s the only one of Frank’s series to star a black hero and heroine.
Will they be ignored?
UPDATE
Lazarus is moving slow, but it is moving.
The last pages are approved and moving from detailed layouts to finishes. The lettering suffered a major set back during the convention season, but should pick up this week. And, the same goes for the coloring. Glasshouse is putting two people on the job and the boss himself is looking over things.
I’m prepping my Image proposal and while the synopsis will be a synch, thanks to Merlyn, but the cover letter is a bitch.
I hate writing cover letters. I never know what I should write and everyone expects something different. If they want to know about me, I go into too much detail. If they want my experience, it just reads like a resume. And, if they want to know about the project, it comes off like a sales pitch.
I’m to the point of seriously considering just hiring someone to do it for me.
I’m thinking a lot about LAZARUS: The Video Game and having some great ideas, if I can only get a chance to pitch them. I’ve been trying to meet with a designer for months now, and I’m hoping I’ll finally get my chance soon.
The way I’d describe is Devil May Cry in a Grand Theft Auto type world. Lazarus is free-roaming through a Gehenna City full of citizens. The cool part is finding your targets. You’d switch to first person POV to spot a demon. Then, your strategy is to confront the target openly, or try to lure them away from a populated area. In private, it’s a one on one fight. In public, you could attract other demons or their agents and be outnumbered.
Then, my favorite, the flashback sequences would be levels integrated into the gameplay and left separate as bonuses to be won.
You can change clothes and get new tattoos. There are hand-to-hand combat, cool weapons, the whole nine.
But, the idea I would really like to see is damage control. Having Lazarus get fucked up and showing damage and the healing process in real-time. And, the boss battles would be like Final Fantasy with gorgeous cinematic scenes accompanying actual gameplay, like God of War.
If I get to do that… Damn, would that be something!
JPG.
posted by QABBAL at 10:21 AM
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