If you want a perfect example of how public perception can change one’s mind about a movie, look no farther than the Transformers franchise. Yes, the second one, Revenge of the Fallen, didn’t make sense. But the Third one made up for it and the first one was a lot of fun. Yet for some reason when I think of Transformers my first thoughts are usually negative, which is weird because I like them.
But what does this matter because the series is over, right? Wrong. Michael Bay is returning to do a partial reboot of the franchise without Shia Labeouf. And now for the exciting part. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Bay has confirmed that Mark Wahlberg will star in the upcoming Transformers 4. I imagine the movie will receive a subtitle at some point. Something like Transformers: Say Hi to Your Mother for Me. But no matter what the title, this is exciting news. It reveals that the story won’t follow teenagers again, which has been done before. Instead we get an actor who has done action and done it in both critically acclaimed settings (The Departed, The Fighter) and in blockbusters (Planet of the Apes, The Italian Job).
I’d like to see the franchise go back to the “robots in disguise” theme from the first movie instead of trying to outdo the scale of the sequels. It’s clear that less is more when it comes to the number of combatants in a rock ‘em sock ‘em robots kind of franchise like this. As you can see from the accompanying photo, a new logo for the film has also been released, which combines the 4 and the mark of the Deceptions, the film’s villains for those non-fans who are reading.
It looks pretty cool, but I don’t think we’ve been shown enough to get too excited about the movie yet. The Happening tells us that Wahlberg can’t save a stupid movie from being stupid. So I send this message to any surviving Transformers writers taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting. Get it? That’s what Optimus Prime says at the end of the first one, but directed to other Transformers… Boy, I’m clever.
It seems like any entertainment rumors or news items this week just don’t seem that important compared to the mammoth announcement of new Star Wars films coming our way, but the Marvel machine, which spans multiple studios, keeps chugging along regaining our attention. Three new items have come to light that brought me out of my Star Wars coma.
The Iron Trailer
Marvel Studios have begun phase two of their genre defining Avengers Initiative that was pulled off so perfectly during the last few years. We now have the first trailer for Iron Man 3. I must admit that while I’ve enjoyed the first two installments, plus the character’s involvement in The Avengers, I’m always less excited for Tony Stark than I am other Marvel commodities. This probably stems from my indifference toward the character in the comics. But this trailer has bucked that trend.
The fact that all three Iron Man films feature Academy Award winning actors as the lead villain, Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke and now Ben Kingsley, has me realizing how important these films are to the comic book film genre. Kingsley plays The Mandarin in the new one, a character long overdue to make his big screen debut. Apparently his origins have changed for the film, but count me intrigued. Watch the trailer for yourself. It looks pretty intense.
Sing-Along
The year was 2003 and the comic book world was raving about X2 and the further possibilities for the X-Men world. But director Bryan Singer decided to try his hand at Superman Returns rather than return for the third film in the trilogy. The subsequent film X3: X-Men United was successful, but it brought the saga to a standstill. Now we have Wolverine spin-off films and the smaller scale reboot X-Men First Class. Well guess what folks, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that Singer will direct the First Class sequel Days of the Future Past.
Comic book fans will know the possibilities for such a title. It presents a chaotic future and the possibility to unite characters from the original trilogy and First Class. The fact that Fox has decided to bring in a director who has a report with the likes of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen is very interesting. My guess is that McKellen and Halle Berry wouldn’t return since Berry almost opted out of X3 and McKellen needed some big convincing to return to his other franchise, The Hobbit. But Stewart has expressed interest in the past and Jackman has always been vocal with his love of playing Wolverine. It would be great to see the X-Men timelines interact.
It’s Electric
Variety is reporting that Jamie Foxx is in early talks to play Electro in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. Wow. The rumor regarding Electro being the film’s primary villain has been around for a little while, but the Academy Award winner’s involvement is new, fueled by a tweet this week claiming he was Electro for Halloween. Many eagle eyed fans have pointed out that the scene at the end of TASM has Dr. Connors speaking to a shadowy figure accompanied by lightning. Was that Electro? Maybe. Or maybe the lightning was just for dramatic effect to accompany Norman Osborne, Mysterio, The Shocker, or a number of other characters.
Foxx fits really well in this franchise. He’s a good actor who will have no problem making the long living character his own. Plus it’s a smart move to keep digging into the rogues gallery rather than rebooting villains. But I imagine Osborne/ The Green Goblin will show up pretty soon.
So there you have it. Marvel on all cylinders. It looks like X-Men is trying to bridge gaps to make Avengers-like continuity and Spider-Man just gets cooler with every rumor. We’ll keep an eye for more Marvel news.
In terms of movie news, it doesn’t get much bigger than Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the rights to Star Wars. As for a reaction from the purchase, I don’t really know what mine is. My initial concern was that George Lucas was forced out of the brand he built. Not so. He was in on the deal and will stay on as a consultant. Then I figured that this wouldn’t make a difference since the Star Wars world mainly consists of cartoons, books and merchandise these days. Wrong again! A treatment has been completed for Episode VII, which will apparently take place after the events of Return of the Jedi. This will lead to Episodes VIII and IX all without Lucas directing.
While I usually love making hypothetical lists in situations like this, I currently have no idea which way this trilogy will head. It’s already been said that the next movie won’t be based on a book, comic book or video game that’s already been written. So while the buzz on the internet questions this new series’ ability to fit into the packed timeline of the books, I think that the super “fans” will likely be disappointed.
The prequels were able to take characters the audience had already seen or heard about and put them into a storyline that was relatively well known. Obviously Anakin was going to become Darth Vader, the Jedi would be killed off and the Republic would become the Empire. I anticipate the new trilogy doing something like that. So, familiar characters should appear. Obviously C-3PO and R2-D2 will be there, but some Rebels or even some combination of the big three (Luke, Leia and Han) would be great. It never made sense to me that people complained that the prequels were inaccurate to the timeline. Since Star Wars was first a movie, that medium is the infallible one in my mind. Just like how a Spider-Man story-arc in comic book form is the real story holding more weight than the movies.
But no matter how this plays out there will be masses who bash the films for not being a shot for shot remake of The Empire Strikes Back. But fans like me will cling to this news because it means more midnight premieres, cryptic trailers for deciphering, and cross-over promotions at the grocery store. Okay maybe we don’t need the Star Wars pop-tarts, but I’ll buy them anyway.
**Update** George Lucas has confirmed that the new film will feature Jar Jar Binks as the main character.
**2nd Update** I completely made up the last update.
