Relating to Characters: Part I
The premiere of The Rise of Skywalker (2019) nears. Scuttlebutt around plot leaks are discouraging. One of the scariest is that test audiences laughed at how easily Rey disposed of the Emperor. Sigh. Even if that’s not true, or it is true but has been corrected, I’m not expecting much. Disney’s Star Wars movies have featured an array of unrelatable one-dimensional characters. They have no depth and take no real journey (unless, like Rey, it’s to discover who they are). They’re flash and style with little substance. Just because these characters belong to an extraordinary sci-fantasy premise doesn’t mean they have to be unrelatable. You can create relatability in characters…
Superman II vs Man of Steel
Man of Steel (2013) covers the two original Superman movies – Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). We’re introduced to Krypton, we learn why baby Kal-El is sent to Earth, we watch the sentencing of the Krypton villain Zod and his cronies, we explore the origin story of Clark Kent/Superman, we see Smallville, we go to Metropolis, and, finally, we have the battle against the antagonist, Zod. I respect Christopher Nolan, who decided when rebooting Batman with Batman Begins (2005) to stay away initially from the Joker – Batman’s greatest villain, and already renowned in cinema due to Jack Nicholson‘s portrayal in Tim Burton‘s Batman (1989). It allowed Nolan to…