Trilogies....

The trilogy is inarguably one of the more difficult things to pull off in the cinematic world.  Not even including comic movies we have seen some of the biggest franchises fall flat on their face when attempting a third and final chapter.

Think about how great "Godfather I" & "Godfather II" are in juxtaposition to the third chapter.  George Lucas brought us one of the grandest epics we have ever seen but it is hard to argue that "Return of the Jedi" was really the best way to finish that series.

Recently we watched our favorite armored hero Tony Stark go out with a whimper in "Iron Man 3" and we have third chapters of "Kick-Ass", "Thor", and "Captain America" coming down the pipe.  I would argue that the "Iron Man" franchise went off the rails during the second chapter, but I digress. 

Narrow focusing on comic movies one could say that "Spider-man 3" and "The Dark Knight Rises" were not the ideal note to end a series on.  I think the two of these series exemplify why it is so hard to succeed in a final chapter.

If we look comparatively the first film in both series "Spider-man" & "Batman Begins" respectively Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan had a very clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish.  They took a "Who am I?" and "How did I come to be?" approach.  This is very basic for the origin story, and is not much different from any other first chapter.  The first chapter of both films concluded with a neophyte hero at the end of the very beginning of their journey.

The second chapter is a little bit harder to nail down a summary theme; however, I would generally refer to it as "Where am I going?" and "Why do I continue?"  In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that "Spider-man 2" and "The Dark Knight" are my two favorite superhero movies of all-time so I am a little biased.  A common theme between these two movies is that both heroes have felt the overwhelming burden of the sacrifices that they have had to make to be a hero.

Parker and Wayne are both desperately searching for a way out.  Parker has begun to lose his powers and sees it as a sign to walk away, whereas Wayne sees DA Harvey Dent as a man that can do what Batman does without the mask.  Their paths diverge a bit toward the end though and Parker finds that he can make responsible choices, but MJ can also make choices.  Wayne makes an end-times sacrifice to try to cement his legacy through a straw man Harvey Dent.

Raimi and Nolan had different approaches to the third chapter of their film series.  Raimi had every intention of continuing on with the "Spider-man" franchise while it was widely regarded that Nolan intended to bring his Dark Knight epic to a close.  This influenced the choices that they made and makes it very hard to find a common theme between the two films other than they were a disappointing end to a film trilogy.

In all honesty it's hard to say what Raimi's motivation was when directing "Spider-man 3".  The film is over saturated with villains, plot twists, and character changes.  Venom was probably one villain too many in retrospect, but Raimi felt the need to add him out of fan service.  He also tried to end Harry's arch, add the Stacys, tell the Sandman's story, give story service to Peter & MJ's relationship, portray Peter's turn to the dark side, and throw in the Raimi humor with J. Jonah Jameson and the rest.  It was just too much for a 2 1/2 hour movie.  Character development is always a good thing in storytelling, but the character development in "Spider-man 3" made Peter look like a person with bipolar disorder.

"The Dark Knight Rises" was a fun movie overall, but it was plagued with several problems and logical inconsistencies.  The most troubling for me, was that Bruce Wayne used his parents death to fashion himself into a living weapon in the last two features only to QUIT BEING BATMAN because his "kind of" girlfriend died.  It would've been much easier to accept that he had been working in the shadows for 8 years under the radar.  Bane was a fantastic villain, and it was acceptable that the film came full circle with the addition of an Al Ghul but there were a lot more failures than wins on the whole.  After two mostly grounded and realistic-ish movies Nolan took the opportunity of the third film to have some really BOMBASTIC stuff that was completely unnecessary.  I know I'm dogging on the movie but I would have to rank The Dark Knight trilogy in my top five for sure.

Other Great Moments in Third Chapter History....

-Emo Parker dance routine (Spider-man 3)

-Clark Kent vs. Evil Cigarette Smoking Superman (Superman III)

-Bat-Nipples (Batman Forever & Batman & Robin)

-The Mandarin Twist (Iron Man 3)

-ThunderLips "the ultimate male" (Rocky III)

-Not Peter Weller Robo-cop (Robo-cop III)

-Robot Ninjas (Robo-cop III)

-"NOOOOOOOOOOOO"  (Star Wars ep. III)

- JAWS 3-D (Jaws 3-D) 

-Ratner (X-3: The Last Stand)

-Axel Fox (Beverly Hills Cop III)

-"Talk to Da Hand" (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

-Turtles in TIME (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III)


That's another column in the books.....just a few news items worth note...mostly rumors so take them with a grain of salt for now.....

- Word is that Lauren Shuler Donner over at Fox has her eyes set on Channing Tatum to take on the role of Gambit that was so inadequately filled by Taylor Kitsch in "X-men Origins: Wolverine".  Tatum is still not great casting for this specific role in my eyes, but as I have said before it is more important in this stage of the game to amass star-level talent.  Tatum could sell a shit sandwich on the side of the road he's so hot right now.

- ALLEGEDLY.....Marvel's long-range planning for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe involves centering "Avengers" movies around Paul Rudd's Ant-man, the as-yet-uncast Dr. Strange, and other heroes not currently involved with the Avengers.  This is in response to Robert Downey Jr.'s desire to walk away, and the likelihood that the ensemble cast is going to want another raise if "Avengers: Age of Ultron" succeeds comparably to the first film entry.  My suggestion to Disney/Marvel would be that if you are going to shell out the big bucks and rake in the profits do it right and get Spider-man, X-men, and the Fantastic Four back under the Disney/Marvel umbrella.  Please for the love of god stop Fox from finger-banging the X-men franchise.  I will say "Amazing Spider-man 2" looks pretty damn cool though.

- The new look Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made their first public appearance, and I have to say that I really like the look of the bros. and the Shredder.  Each turtle has their own unique style that makes them more individualized than different color bandanas.  I think that a lot of people are not giving this a chance because Michael Baysplosion is involved, but I think a lot of what has been coming out about this film looks promising.

-Finally....."Empire Magazine" has released 25 covers celebrating "X-men: Days of Future Past"  I hope that I'm wrong but to me it looks like Singer has chosen to Twighlight-ize the X-men franchise.  The look of Quicksilver alone is enough to turn this blogger's stomach.

That's all for today!  Happy reading and see you next time at The Comic Shop!