I decided to rewatch a number of superhero films to check whether they held up. The results were somewhat surprising.
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Spawn (1997)
Spawn is always a superhero I've really wanted to like, but the story isn't the most impressive. (To be frank, I don't think it's handled all that well in the original comic either.)
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The thing about "Spawn" has always been the 'look' of him. An assassin awakes to discover that he is a kind of zombie having made a deal with a demon. Part of the deal is that he has a suit with special powers. The intention being that he will come to lead hell's army in the apocalypse.
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John Leguizamo is practically unrecognisable as the Violator, a blue comic-relief demon who mocks Spawn while he comes to terms with his new role. Leguizamo is also practically inaudible with the croaky voice he puts on and the fast-paced, badly written lines he is expected to deliver. (The bit where his demon-character reveals its name is particularly daft.)
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The effects are mostly pretty good, particularly for the time. Though it has to be noted that most of the work has gone into Spawn's cape. The cape constantly moves in all sorts of directions (and they've sensibly made it so that Spawn's cape generally only comes out when he has something important to do with it).
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Michael Jai White is pretty damn cool as the central superhero Spawn. He ensures that even while the story is plodding along and the villains are failing to be terribly compelling, we still care about him as a protagonist. When he's running away we want him to get away. When he's in a fight we want him to win. He's an interesting character with very little to actually do, but I cannot fault the central performance.
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The most ridiculous thing in the film is Martin Sheen's character. Sheen plays Jason Wynn, the boss of Al Simmons who double-crossed him, causing him to die and become Spawn. He is somehow convinced that he should get a device attached to his heart so that if he is ever killed it will activate a weapon of mass destruction. The idea being that no one would ever want to kill him if he does this. (The possibility of accidental death is not mentioned.) It's such an enormously contrived and stupid decision and it becomes so important at the end of the film that it becomes quite unforgiveable.
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I enjoyed some of the action sequences and some of the effects work. There's clear indications that with a bit of inspiration someone could make a really good "Spawn" movie. It'd be nice if they could still use Michael Jai White in the role because he proves he can really pull off the character well. But this particular film is little more than a curiosity.
D+
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Blade II (2002)
Guillermo Del Toro's sequel to the original Wesley Snipes half-vampire superhero movie contains some fantastic monster effects ideas. The big feature being the brand new albino vampires who feed on normal vampires. The really interesting feature is the way their lower jaw splits in half and their tongues latch on to their victims. It's a very cool visual, reminiscent of Giger's Alien.
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While I'd always known this film wasn't perfect I was quite surprised this time around to discover that I was actually getting bored half way through.
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There are some very good elements here. Ron Perlman is very cool as one of the team originally trained to kill the half-vampire Blade. He has a bit of a complex when he finds he has to team up with Blade instead in order to take down the new breed of vampire. Kris Kristoffersen is pretty good fun as Blade's side-kick. Still, as great as Norman Reedus might be in "The Walking Dead" taking down zombies with his bow and arrow, he's really annoying in "Blade II".
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I think the big problem here is that no amount of pretty visuals or well-presented action scenes can really make up for David S. Goyer's appalling script. The characters are flat and the twists and turns of the plot are lazy. Particularly sad is the way Leonor Varela's role as the female vampire Nyssa is written in such a one-note fashion even when the actress puts so much effort into her performance.
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"Blade II" had some good ideas and some nice visuals. The monster-design of the new breed of vampires is excellent. However, in the end this is all just practice for Guillermo Del Toro's far superior "Hellboy" films (where interestingly Guillermo Del Toro wrote the screenplay himself).
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I knew that "Blade II" had a disappointing ending, but I'd forgotten that it had a boring middle, along with a pretty underwhelming beginning. This is the kind of lame superhero movie that we have, thankfully, long since left behind.
D+
Spawn (1997)
Spawn is always a superhero I've really wanted to like, but the story isn't the most impressive. (To be frank, I don't think it's handled all that well in the original comic either.)
The thing about "Spawn" has always been the 'look' of him. An assassin awakes to discover that he is a kind of zombie having made a deal with a demon. Part of the deal is that he has a suit with special powers. The intention being that he will come to lead hell's army in the apocalypse.
John Leguizamo is practically unrecognisable as the Violator, a blue comic-relief demon who mocks Spawn while he comes to terms with his new role. Leguizamo is also practically inaudible with the croaky voice he puts on and the fast-paced, badly written lines he is expected to deliver. (The bit where his demon-character reveals its name is particularly daft.)
The effects are mostly pretty good, particularly for the time. Though it has to be noted that most of the work has gone into Spawn's cape. The cape constantly moves in all sorts of directions (and they've sensibly made it so that Spawn's cape generally only comes out when he has something important to do with it).
Michael Jai White is pretty damn cool as the central superhero Spawn. He ensures that even while the story is plodding along and the villains are failing to be terribly compelling, we still care about him as a protagonist. When he's running away we want him to get away. When he's in a fight we want him to win. He's an interesting character with very little to actually do, but I cannot fault the central performance.
The most ridiculous thing in the film is Martin Sheen's character. Sheen plays Jason Wynn, the boss of Al Simmons who double-crossed him, causing him to die and become Spawn. He is somehow convinced that he should get a device attached to his heart so that if he is ever killed it will activate a weapon of mass destruction. The idea being that no one would ever want to kill him if he does this. (The possibility of accidental death is not mentioned.) It's such an enormously contrived and stupid decision and it becomes so important at the end of the film that it becomes quite unforgiveable.
I enjoyed some of the action sequences and some of the effects work. There's clear indications that with a bit of inspiration someone could make a really good "Spawn" movie. It'd be nice if they could still use Michael Jai White in the role because he proves he can really pull off the character well. But this particular film is little more than a curiosity.
D+
Blade II (2002)
Guillermo Del Toro's sequel to the original Wesley Snipes half-vampire superhero movie contains some fantastic monster effects ideas. The big feature being the brand new albino vampires who feed on normal vampires. The really interesting feature is the way their lower jaw splits in half and their tongues latch on to their victims. It's a very cool visual, reminiscent of Giger's Alien.
While I'd always known this film wasn't perfect I was quite surprised this time around to discover that I was actually getting bored half way through.
There are some very good elements here. Ron Perlman is very cool as one of the team originally trained to kill the half-vampire Blade. He has a bit of a complex when he finds he has to team up with Blade instead in order to take down the new breed of vampire. Kris Kristoffersen is pretty good fun as Blade's side-kick. Still, as great as Norman Reedus might be in "The Walking Dead" taking down zombies with his bow and arrow, he's really annoying in "Blade II".
I think the big problem here is that no amount of pretty visuals or well-presented action scenes can really make up for David S. Goyer's appalling script. The characters are flat and the twists and turns of the plot are lazy. Particularly sad is the way Leonor Varela's role as the female vampire Nyssa is written in such a one-note fashion even when the actress puts so much effort into her performance.
"Blade II" had some good ideas and some nice visuals. The monster-design of the new breed of vampires is excellent. However, in the end this is all just practice for Guillermo Del Toro's far superior "Hellboy" films (where interestingly Guillermo Del Toro wrote the screenplay himself).
I knew that "Blade II" had a disappointing ending, but I'd forgotten that it had a boring middle, along with a pretty underwhelming beginning. This is the kind of lame superhero movie that we have, thankfully, long since left behind.
D+