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weclassybouquetfun · 3 years

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It’s here! It’s here! The SnyderCut is here!

Now can people stop talking about it?

Minor thoughts on ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE.

*Spoilers*.

I had forgotten nearly everything about JUSTICE LEAGUE so I watched key parts to see how it differs from Snyder’s realized vision. Remember, Snyder was largely finished with the film so reportedly only 15 to 20% of what ended up in the initial release was directed by Whedon, then he took the hatchet to a lot of Snyder’s footage. The SnyderCut is a mix of piecing back discarded footage and a few new scenes.

I am curious how long Snyder’s theatrical release would have been because there is no way WB would have let him leave it at 4 hours and 2 minutes film (with 3 hours and 53 minutes of it actually being film and the rest end credits - no tag at the end.). The new footage - or what I discern to be new - only amounts to perhaps 10 minutes.

What changes did I notice?

- Thank Rao they fixed (for the most part) Henry Cavill’s face due to mustache-gate.

Then

Now

- The Wonder Woman rescue scene in the beginning was much longer in the SnyderCut. Whedon cut out her talk with the little girl (which granted is a bit too on the nose), and instead added a scene at the end with Diana and kids showing how inspirational she is. Whedon’s version also left out Snyder Cut’s implication that Diana killed the bad guy.

- In the Whedon version Diana is wearing a red dress as she, Bruce and Alfred tours the eventual Hall of Justice (but felt more like the Justice Society headquarters). In the SnyderCut they changed her dress to black or a deep, dark purple.

- The re-institution of Barry’s rescue of Iris. It’s a nice introduction to Barry and Iris as Kiersey Clemons reprises her role in The Flash standalone.

-Gone is Whedon’s comic-y bit where Barry draws on an agro dude’s face when he goes to visit his father. I don’t miss the scene, but I appreciated it because the Clerk who handles sign ins is Marc McClure who played Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeves Superman films. Though, on re-watch it appears McClure was brought back as the cop who pulls his gun out when Superman returns.

-The SnyderCut Bruce and Arthur scene is a smidge longer. Whedon’s version tried to cut to the chase about the Mother Boxes so there’s a mural that Bruce wants Arthur to explain, whereas the SnyderCut it’s just Bruce slyly letting Arthur know he knows his secret and recruit him.

Also - gone is the, “I heard you talk to fishes.” line.

- I feel we get more of Connie Nielsen’s Queen Hippolyta in this than in “Wonder Woman” and “Wonder Woman 1984″ combined.

I’d bow before her anytime.

-Extended scene between Barry and his dad when Barry tells him about getting a gig at a crime lab. It’s abbreviated in Whedon’s cut so I’m glad Snyder restored it because it is a sweet scene and really displays why Barry is fighting so hard for his dad. It makes it even more of a shame that Billy Crudup will not be in The Flash standalone as there’s a filming conflict. I would really like to see more of them together.

- Maybe I missed it in the original release, but the introduction of Ryan Choi!!

- Much more Cyborg! I really loved the scenes focused on he and his mother and his relationship with Cyrus, as well as Cyborg’s wall of exposition that creatively places him in the locations he’s talking about.

-Explanation of this tagline.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER! I wasn’t surprised because Harry Lennix has discussed his MAN OF STEEL character General Swanwick being Martin Manhunter, but seeing how it was executed was really nice. Especially the scene with Martian Manhunter as Martha Kent. It touched me because my favorite Martian Manhunter story is a short set in the Golden Age about MM, in his human form, watching over Superboy. He introduces himself to the Kents and they quickly deduce he’s an alien and asks him if he’s come to take Clark from them. It was a story about the care Kal-El had on two fronts. So I really responded to this scene where MM is still caring for Clark by way of making sure Lois deals with her grief.

- Knocked up Lois. I wasn’t even sure if she was actually pregnant or not but at the end when Bruce and Clark are walking to the Kent Farm Bruce tells him “Congratulations” whereas in the Whedon release they’re jabbering about something else.

-Additional scenes of the dystopic future in the aftermath of Superman going rogue. Jared Leto’s brief scene makes up for how much he was cut out of THE SUCIDE SQUAD. And it’s a continuance of the dance Batman and The Joker has done in the comics and in THE DARK KNIGHT. Two people who just can’t quit each other.

- Snyder showing actors what directors think of their ideas. Jared Leto conviced Sndyer to let him improvise the “We live in a society” line that every went mad over on Twitter, but it’s not in the final cut.

- I loved Snyder’s Nolan-esque end montage. Gone is the Lois Lane narration, replaced by Joe Morton’s Cyrus Stone in a message to Victor. This works better because five of six of our heroes have parental issues : Victor and his dad, Clark and Jor-El and an overprotective Jonathan, Bruce’s dead parents, Aquaman’s absent mother and Barry’s dead mom and jailed father. So ending it with some peace for Victor and Arthur leaving Mera and Vulko but at least now he has a connection to the Atlantean world and new beginnings for the rest was a better choice.

#the justice league #zack snyder #the snyder cut #Ezra Miller #kiersey clemons #ben affleck #henry cavill #Gal Gadot #dceu #dceu films #dcu #jla #justice league #zack snyder's justice league #Jason Momoa #comic book films

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valkerymillenia · 5 years

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"Aquaman" (2018)

I didn't expect to get to watch this in theaters because of financial issues but I got invited to a theater with circumstances that allowed me to use my free ticket coupon so... Yay.

Bear in mind that is just my personal impression. Also- SPOILERS.

Honestly, I went in expecting nothing. Here's why.

Firstly, because I never liked classic comic book Aquaman: straight, white, upper-middle class, cliché blond male with time and resources to get a law degree, upgrades to superpowered King that is mildly useless outside of water and still manages to be one-dimensional (who's story is only interesting and validated by the characters around him and not himself), goes from mild-mannered Superman-copycat personality to the most boring played out viking/pirate-esque personality that tries to hard to be more than it is, all of this with a splash of arrogance, a truckload of tacky outfits and a touch of toxic masculinity to wrap it all up. Sorry but it's just not my jam.

Granted I haven't read the last, what, ten years of the Aquaman comics? Or watched any adaptations others than the Jason Momoa's since... 2010 or 2012, I think?

But yeah, I was never very much into classic Arthur Curry (but I can appreciate the Aquaman worldbuilding though! That part is pretty cool).

Secondly, I got my hopes up for Jason Momoa's Aquaman because even though the JL movie disappoints (as does the overall DCEU movieverse in general), Jason's new rendition of the character seemed promising and a lot more interesting, but given how only Wonder Woman impressed in the new DCEU and everything else has been somewhat disappointing as a whole, I didn't want to get my hopes up again.

However, considering that I tried not to have expectations (other than "please don't oversexualize Mera or shove her exclusively into the romantic interest role") I actually ended up being impressed by the movie!

My first and most simple impression is:

Aquaman feels like Indiana Jones and Fifth Element meet The Little Mermaid and 20,000 Leagues.

It's also a very Arthurian tale, heavily dependant on family drama.

Regarding Jason's acting, the way he chose to play the character is so much better than anything I could have asked for. He makes for a well rounded imperfectly perfect character, he's not Marty-Stu'ed like other renditions, he manages to effortlessly ooze "tough guy" vibes while still being a giant teddy bear dork. Thehe new look is pretty damn impressive even though the movie returns a bit to more recent comic redesigns rather than the new style of JL, and the way Jason acts makes Arthur feel human, exciting and with realistic emotional development.

Plus, a POC Aquaman, specially a Polynesian one since that's how the movie codes him, with strong connections both his heritages, just fits so much better than the Arian cliché, specially since the Atlanteans always displayed a lot of racism/specism in the comics (and even more outright in this movie).

Mera was shockingly not as sexualized or romanticized as I expected. Yes, she still is on both accounts to a certain degree, with her tight overly-cleavaged suit and her role as princess-promised-to-the-king (which in a fight for legacy story like this will always shove her a bit into the trophy role), BUT somehow Amber Heard manages to balance this out with the badassery of a woman who actively takes charge and though she places duty above all else, she doesn't let her role take away from her individuality or shadow her power, strength and intelligence.

So Mera actually turned out pretty incredible but I still want to see her more on equal footing with Arthur, plot-wise. Could also live without the usual mid-battle pause to talk and kiss though.

Tom and Atlanna were a pleasant surprise! Their romance sub-plot actually sets a good tone for the movie and ties everything together very well in a way that makes the story flow and connect convincingly and full-circle. It's also interesting to see how the relationship defies a lot of stereotypes and metaphors of discrimination- it is, after all, an interracial couple where the woman is the strong powerful one and the man is the gentle heart that does not at all feel his masculinity threatened by his queen wife. Very wholesome.

The chronology and editing were pretty damn good too. Again, I haven't seen editing and story flow this well in DC other than with WW.

The CGI was... Well, for DC standards it was pretty epic but still not up to par to the bar the MCU has set. However, entirely aquatic world/sets are something new and ambitious so we have to cut them some slack.

Then again, the biggest problem wasn't so much the CGI but the leaps in logic.

Sure, the movie is spent 85% under water (aka working around visual distortion, air bubbles, low visibly, pollution/blurriness, unknown landscapes, a very big variety of ecosystems between the different bodies of water depicted, etc) in a universe with fish people, crab people, underwater volcanoes, prehistoric sea monsters, wrecks and decay, millions of aquatic creatures, underwater cities of advanced tech and an alien-quality, completely new mind-blowing architecture... It's all very ambitious and you'd think some of these would be a bit much to swallow or look subpar but that's not it at all.

Yes, some of the more fantastical creatures are still less than perfect (not talking about Uncanny Abyss here but literal CGI stiffness) but that can be absolutely overlooked in favor of their creativity and how well in works with the story.

No, the real problem is some obvious flaws in well established physics, used for dramatic effect. I guess many people might not notice them but to me some were a I little more jarring than others and tended to distract from the actual story. I guess I'll post some of these moments in a separate post.

HOWEVER, the one thing I really have to point out in this movie is the wardrobe!

The females had skintight outfits or flowy pearly things, obviously meant to be sexy but the irony is they actually come off as more practical, simple, realistic and appealing! (The jellyfish dress is an exception for obvious reasons, it's supposed to be over the top). And the ladies accessorize very well too! Meanwhile, the male outfits are straight out of the comics- loudly colorful, nerdy, unnecessary, clunky, heavy and in some cases (looking at you, Orm) just plain tacky.

I mean, Arthur has an excuse- he wears pretty normal clothes unless forced to change and when he finally takes up the legacy suit there's actually a good excuse for the brightness and flourish since it's supposed to be an ancient King's ceremonial armor (taking a corpse's suit and putting it on right away is a little morbid though) and, like the female outfits, it's skintight like a wetsuit so it does have less drag and manages to be practical despite the flourish. And Black Manta has A BIT of an excuse too- he has to reshape and work with tech that is beyond his own and just tries to keep it sustainable so I can totally accept it. No other male outfits can be excused or unseen (*Edna Mode voice* capes? Underwater? Really?).

All in all, it's a good movie and I'm impressed. Now if only DC stopped trying to force dark grunginess and cheap-looking CGI (*cough*JL*cough*SS*cough*) on everything and actually took real risks and raised the bar instead of trying to be edgy, super serious and "sexy"...

Though... What does it tell DC that so far the best DCEU movies have been the ones staring and directed women and POC?

#rach rambles #rach reviews #aquaman #arthur curry #mera

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popwasabi · 5 years

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“Aquaman” Review: DCEU finds life as Seaman Rises (Heh)

Directed by James Wan

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman

Throughout the two and a half hour run time of James Wan’s “Aquaman” you get the feeling you’re not watching your typical super hero flick.

I don’t mean this in the critic buzz-wordy sense of “It changes everything you know about super heroes!” but rather it’s distinctively its own thing in the tonally all over the place DC Cinematic Universe.

It’s bright, loud, cheesy and very strange but for a film that’s as long as it is there sure isn’t a dull moment within it and if this film says anything about the DCEU it has its first real pulse since “Wonder Woman.”

(My thoughts after “Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League”...)

“Aquaman” takes place sometime after the events of “Justice League” as Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, continues to reap his own vigilante justice upon the evil-doers of the seven seas. When an Atlantian named Meera warns him of an impending war that’s about to be waged on the surface from his half brother King Orm, Arthur reluctantly sets off to retrieve a legendary trident to stop him all while contemplating his complicated roots to the under water kingdom.

As mentioned, “Aquaman” is not a normal super hero flick. If anything it bares more resemblance to Indiana Jones with a splash (heh) of Lord of the Rings (not to mention some fanciful tech elements borrowed from the Kingdom of Wakanda). This isn’t a bad thing though as a character as strange and cheesy as Aquaman might not have worked with your standard super hero script of good guy donning his or her cape to combat billionaire psychopaths, mad titans, or poorly rendered CGI demigods.

“Aquaman’s” strength IS that its bonkers though. Atlantis is a strange setting, even in the world of men who dress as bats and super-powered aliens named Clark but James Wan was right to lean into this weirdness. It’s sincere and cheesy at the same time, perhaps sincerely cheesy, and unapologetic about the fact there are humans with futuristic technology living in the depths of the ocean riding sharks (that roar??) and settle disputes in Klingon-esque trial by combat. It’s a credit to the film’s script that you recognize all this weirdness and yet you buy into it anyways. It’s absurd in the best way and it’s impossible to look away while grinning (sometimes laughing) ear to ear.

(Seriously, weird shit like this actually happens in the film and no one is bothered by it.)

The action is solid with some superb fight choreography to go along with even better cinematography and editing and the variety of adversaries Arthur and Meera face throughout the film between high tech pirates, Atlantean commandos and deep sea monsters are all pure visual treats for the eye. The pacing is superb because of this and makes the film’s lengthy run-time feel like 90 minutes. It’ll be hard to feel bored watching Arthur kick ass, while Meera waterbends enemies around her and it’s a credit to James Wan’s directing that allows this to be way more fun that it deserves.

Jason Momoa does a fine job here, though, as this film’s fish man lead. Though he at times can remind you of that high school football captain who pantsed you in your teenage years with his often jocky line delivery he is nonetheless charismatic and a joy to watch as this character. Traditional Aquaman is just a little too vanilla ice cream (not to be confused with Boy Scout types like Captain America and Superman) for this era of super heroes and Momoa was the right man for this more rugged take on the character. Sure, Momoa can be a bit of a bro but he’s sincere at least and carries each scene he is in perfectly well and will likely be a treat in the sequel.

(Not to be confused with “Being a treat” not that I a straight man would ever say about such a fine hunk of meat...hey wait a minute...)

Amber Heard’s Meera plays off him well, barely tolerating Arthur’s “too cool for this shit” demeanor, but more importantly she is a rare example of a love interest who is helpful to the plot (if anything she does most of the heavy lifting of the story). It helps that Meera is a super powered character herself but too often female characters in these super hero flicks offer little beyond being a prize for the main character at the end and it’s good to see a character like her actually written to be truly strong in more ways than one for a change.

If you liked villains like Lee Pace’s Ronan from “Guardians of the Galaxy” you’ll love Patrick Wilson’s King Orm aka Ocean Master. The script doesn’t lend much depth to Orm beyond “Half brother impure! Surface bad!” but Wilson hams it up to 11 spending most of the film yelling and giving broad dictator speeches on conquest and victory. But this is fine once again cause the movie doesn’t need him to be anything beyond an adversary for Arthur. They probably could’ve played up the brother plot line a little more (somewhat like what “Black Panther” did for T’Challa and Killmonger) but the film gets all it’s points in about power, humility and love that’s it’s not 100 percent necessary.

(Black Manta is a bit wasted here though but perhaps will offer more in the sequel.)

The only real negatives I can say about the film is it could’ve expanded a bit more on the half breed plotline, where Momoa (a hapa himself) is more than capable to play up and Nicole Kidman is wasted as Arthur’s mom as she seemed have a strict line limit set in her contract. But these are pretty minor issues and again it’s impossible to not enjoy the strangeness, cheesiness and crazy shit that happens in this movie.

It’s pretty safe to say at this point that the DCEU is finally starting to find its groove as the “grittiness” and long-winded shit of the Synder-verse appears to be waaay in the rear-view mirror now. Warner Brothers is probably going to play the rest of the franchise as if everything pre-“Justice League” other than “Wonder Woman,” never happened and if this film is any indication the franchise has found its sea legs after enduring some pretty harsh waves. It still has a ways to go before it even sniffs MCU success but at the very least the future is bright.

Hopefully Warner Brothers rides this sea of good fortune and makes a splash with “Shazam” next year.

Sorry.

VERDICT:

4 out of 5

So what do the dbags have to say about Rotten Tomatoes “DC bias” now? #getoverit

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oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch · 5 years

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“Aquaman” Movie Review

Aquaman is DC’s sixth and latest entry into their cinematic universe, and the first since the severely underwhelming box office results of Justice League made us all question whether or not this attempt at replicating Marvel Studios’ success was ever actually going to succeed post-Wonder Woman. This film finds Insidious and Conjuring director James Wan helming the story of Arthur Curry, the son of a lighthouse keeper from Amnesty Bay and the Queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. After the events of Justice League, as well as a submarine rescue in which he encounters the man who will become Black Manta, Arthur returns home to his father. It isn’t long, however, before Princess Mera finds him, and warns him of a coming threat: Arthur’s brother, King Orm, means to declare war on the surface world, and everyone in it. If he is to be stopped, Arthur must put off the grudge he has against his people (whom he has denied because they supposedly killed his mother), and become the hero he is meant to be.

If there were a single word to describe what I felt sitting in the theater watching Aquaman for the first time, I wouldn’t know what it would be. I’ll say ahead of time that Wonder Woman is absolutely still DC’s strongest film to date, but the sheer level of commitment this movie has to its mid-2000’s levels of cheese and pulp give it an affecting charm not too many superhero films find themselves openly sporting in the modern day. Many superhero films, especially when it comes to those put out by either Marvel Studios or Warner Bros, have a particular dispensation towards either hard-hitting emotional drama or outright action comedy, so to see something so bizarre as Aquaman’s singular commitment to its premise that sounds like something a 10-year-old playing with action figures would have written significant portions of is really something quite special to witness.

This is all thanks to the visionary direction of James Wan, a man so adept at building worlds and creating wholly unique atmospheres for actors to play in that he might as well have actually gone underwater to the kingdom of Atlantis just to get some primary location photography. Seriously, the underwater worlds in this thing are genuine stunners with easily the best bioluminescent environments and effects on screen since James Cameron’s Avatar (not that anyone’s really tried all that hard since anyhow). Traveling through the kingdoms of Atlantis, the Brine, etc, is wonderous and somewhat frustrating, but only because you’re taken through it so quickly you never stay long enough to drink in every bit of visual beauty this movie has to offer. But if you thought the visuals and central premise of an Atlantian superhero having to find a trident and fight a war against his brother underwater for the safety of the world is the most absurd thing in Aquaman, you are not prepared for the hurricane that’s about to hit.

About one third of the way through the second act, there are a number of montages that occur all within about ten minutes of each other and feature the only three songs in the entire movie whilst the rest of its runtime is filled with a mostly workable but never-quite-finds-its-footing score from Harry Gregson-Williams. These montages begin with a sort of half-committed Baywatch tribute that features a cover of Africa by Toto (sung by musical artist Rhea), which is mixed in with a rap by Mr. Worldwide himself (Pitbull). Not even half an hour later, the film sports another fantasy tribute by setting a Tangled-esque scene between Arthur and Mera in a shoreside town near the same beach. It really is quite something to witness this movie simply take a break from itself in the middle of the second act just to play three music video montages in a row and then get right back to the action that brought the characters there.

Speaking of action, this is some of the most unique and kinetic the DC Extended Universe has ever had. Given the premise that most of the fighting in Aquaman is based around one-on-one trident warfare and hand-to-hand combat, what of the action isn’t grandiose superpower grandstanding has to be very up close and personal bow staff style fight choreography, and the way it plays out is a beautiful thing to see. It’s wonderfully edited during the up close and personal stuff, and some of the tracking shots during the larger battles between civilizations are truly some of the best in DC’s pantheon. I suppose if there were any negatives to the action sequences, it would likely be that most of them start the same way, with the characters getting quiet and then an explosion rocking them back to preparedness, which wouldn’t be a problem except that it occurs four or five times throughout the film, thus costing each subsequent surprise attack its effectiveness by making it too much of a habit.

But enough about the action and visually stimulating underwater worlds; how are the characters? A film can have all the spectacle in the world, but without proper character, it’s going to flounder. The characters in Aquaman? They’re…fine. Truth be told, anyone who wasn’t already on board with Jason Momoa’s bro culture rendition of the title character isn’t necessarily going to be won over by his mostly stilted but badass-in-action-scenes performance here, but they do tone down a lot of his more annoying quirks he was introduced with in Justice League, and that should count for something. Momoa is a physically dominant force as Arthur Curry, but whether it was some of the line he was given or because maybe he’s just not been with the right directors yet, his performance here really only reaches dynamic screen presence levels; there’s not a lot of room for nuance in his acting, and while that may be for the best given the kind of performer he is, it does hurt the film a bit overall.

Showing up again as well for round two is Amber Heard as Princess Mera, who more than fits the part as the woman trying to get the reluctant hero to do the hero’s arc because it’s important for him to know he can do it on his own (and she easily has the best costume design in the entire thing), but part of her arc has to do with her relationship to Arthur, and it gets a little confusing because this had supposedly already been covered in Justice League. She does really well for what she’s given to work with, but unfortunately Momoa just doesn’t give off a lot. Also here is veteran Wan-man Patrick Wilson, turning yet another leaf in the journey of acting circles around everyone even with a somewhat messy script to work with. As King Orm, he’s act once fiercely commanding and brilliantly emotive, but he never takes his performance so far as to overshadow Arthur’s main narrative. Willem Dafoe is in…something, but it’s not Aquaman. Seeing him show up as Valko is a real treat to watch, but largely because he’s such an interesting performer, it’s almost like he’s brought back his Norman Osbourne character to teach Jason Momoa how to swim. I’m sure the character probably matters more in the comics, but here, he just feels unnecessary, despite the joy just seeing Willem Dafoe on screen brings.

The unsung hero of this movie, though, at least in terms of performance, is unquestionably Nicole Kidman, who runs the emotional gambit from motherly chiding/affection to kick-ass warrior queen to awestruck-but-terrified literal fish-out-of-water in just her first fifteen minutes of screen time so smoothly and so expertly you’d think she might actually pull an Oscar nomination out of this. She really is having a great year performance-wise between this, Big Little Lies, Boy Erased, and the upcoming Destroyer, and it’s really been quite something to see her come back mid-50’s and show up everyone on any screen she shares by her sheer level of talents and commitment to character. In fact, her part in this movie might not just be the most compelling of the character turns, but also of the plot threads – it actually moved me, and cut right to the heart.

Some negatives about the film (besides what I’ve mentioned already) would include fairly subpar editing and lack of narrative focus; it’s not exactly bad most of the time right up until the second act where the music video montages come in and feel incredibly out of place in this already two and a half hour long movie (that you absolutely do feel the length of during the transition to act three), but it is somewhat off-putting, especially when certain scenes seem to either just start right in the middle of what was probably a longer take, or they’re just strangely placed as if they’re out of order and the editor just forgot about it. It kind of seems like part of the time, it doesn’t know what it wants to be about, and this is particularly felt during the scenes with Black Manta, who (while cool) doesn’t seem like he really was necessary to include this time around. The sound design also sometimes makes things difficult to hear since a lot of it takes place underwater, and while I certainly understand the need to communicate that, it might have been better left to the visuals to communicate, as the effects sometimes blurs certain lines and entire character monologues get lost. In addition, some of the visual effects (while there are a lot that are incredible to see) are actually pretty subpar, particularly wherein green screen is used to give location background to actors that are clearly acting against nothing during a beach training scene where most of the close up shots are straight on rather than from the side or done with two people in frame.

Still, despite its somewhat obvious flaws, Aquaman is the sort of rock and roll good-time superhero movie 10-year-old me would have eaten up. It’s cheesier than a white man’s casserole and pulpier than Tarantino’s back catalogue, but its sheer commitment to the dumb fun of it all really makes it a charming wave to ride. The visuals and costume design are all (mostly) immaculate, and the overlong runtime, while noticeable, doesn’t overshadow the film’s fair share of crowd-cheer moments so cool you wanna jump out of your seat. It may be quite bizarre even for DC, but their innate faith in James Wan’s filmmaking prowess and risk-taking shows they’re taking a few steps (or swims) in the right direction.

I’m giving “Aquaman” a 7.8/10

#Aquaman #Movie Review #The Friendly Film Fan #Jason Momoa #Amber Heard #Willem Dafoe #Patrick Wilson #Dolph Lundgren #DC #DC Comic #Warner Bros #Warner Brothers #Film #Movie #Review #DCEU #DC Extended Universe

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ravel-puzzlewell · 6 years

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Okay guys, how about “Shape of water” as a romcom? Listen, I adore Shape of water as it is, the neon-colored fairytale-esque story about oppressive systems and othering and empathy through recognition of pain, BUT. But what if we also had the alternative version where everything about Russian spies and main villain was cut and the second part of the movie was about actual romance and the Fishman(TM) had personality and agency and was an intelligent being, instead of being just a symbol in a metaphor?

Imagine, she puts a plate with ten boiled eggs in front of him and he looks at them hesitantly and scowls a little, because sure, he ate the eggs she gave him in the laboratory because it was the only gesture with good intent that he received in this shithole of society, but it’s not like he’s really into them. He wasn’t eating boiled eggs in his river, he was eating raw fish and meat, and that’s what he wants to get back to. But he doesn’t want to offend her. So he takes one egg from the plate to show that he appreciates the sentiment, but puts the rest of the eggs away. She’s surprised and is like “But what do you want then?”

And he points at a cat.

And she’s all “No! No eating the cat!” and he deflates and gets to eating the eggs sulkily, so she’s like “well, shit,” because she realizes she needs to give him the alternative, but she doesn’t know what. So she dresses him up in a classic vampire-hiding-from-the-sun get-up: trenchcoat, hat, sunglasses, scarf, gloves, - and they go to the grocery store so he can choose what he wants. It’s the alien-goes-shopping shenanigans and they get him meat and fish he chooses, and when they get home he’s excited and wants to share it with her, just like she shared with him the eggs, but she’s like “No, can’t eat the raw fish, sorry” and he’s like “Oh :(”

Then the next day turns out she underestimated the amount of meat he needs, and he’s alone in the apartment and hungry, and he can’t eat the goddamn cats because humans will be upset. So he dresses up in the trenchcoat get-up and goes outside and follows the smell of seaweed into a little family-run japanese place, where he manages to communicate that he’s starving to the old grandpa chef, who’s like 90 and almost doesn’t speak English anyway and thinks whatever, these gurgly sounds are probably one of their weird english accents. Turns out the aquaman *loves* sushi, and when Elisa finds him by following the trail of algae he sheds, he’s already best friends with the old chef and is cooing over different flavors, and the old chef is excited because sure, this guy is really weird, but he’s so enthusiastic about sushi, and he has the most incredible palette for seafood and can tell apart the most subtle nuances, and is generally a joy to cook for. And the fishdude is absolutely *psyched* to give Elisa sushi, because it’s what he loves, but in a form that humans can eat too, so he gets to share it with her. And it’s like continuing the theme of sharing food as a form of showing you care?? But also recognition that they are different and he and Elisa have to learn how to communicate and recognize each other’s real needs and wants, because just accepting each other is not enough for a relationship, you need to also understand and *listen*???

I want them hanging out together, watching TV, listening to the music, learning basics of sign language, just… having fun and getting to know each other beside sex? She doesn’t want to call him “the creature,” but when she asks him his name, he’s like “idk??” And she sneaks in at work to read his secret files and finds out the name that the people in his native lands called him, and he’s absolutely floored she knows it.

She notices he’s uncomfortable in the bathroom and gets plants to hover over the bath to imitate Amazonian forests over his river and also gives him 2 frogs, whom he adores and calls “Egg” and “You,” because he can’t pronounce Elisa’s name.

He sees a couple on a date on TV and when she gets back from work, he’s wearing one of her dresses, because he thinks that’s what humans find attractive bc camera ogled the woman in a dress.

She tries to teach him dancing, and it’s nothing like what she daydreamed about, instead of being confident and elegant, he’s very enthusiastic and awkward, and it’s the most hilarious thing she’s ever seen, so she can’t help but laugh and he laughs too, and she’s startled by the sound - it’s like bubbly snorts and it’s weird and ridiculous, but adorable in the sincerity of it. At first, she doesn’t understand why his movements are so weird, full of swirls and little jumps and bending, until she realizes he’s used to moving in the water. She puts the music on the loudest she can and floods the bathroom, so they can dance in the water, a meeting of two worlds. And it’s so different from her dreams and so much better, nothing like she could’ve imagined, because the other person is always, always a world that is bigger than our fantasy of them, even if it takes patience, bravery, kindness and lots, lots of effort to reach out to each other.

from the beginning he’s utterly offended by the concept of tea and coffee, because it’s ruining the perfectly good pure water with something that doesn’t belong, like humans when they threw garbage into the water and spilled oil and eventually ruined his river. Elisa tries to explain what it’s for, but he hates the taste of both tea and coffee, until she brings miso soup from his favorite sushi place and then he gets it? Because that soup has both egg and seaweed, but is more than the sum of it’s parts and it’s new, *complete* thing and the water holds it together, unites it, makes it whole. It’s a way bring together things that are different, but they are combined with the intent of making the other person happier and they find a way to make it work. Because the difference between throwing trash into water and making soup to feed someone is, ultimately, love. No matter what shape it takes.

#shape of water #shape of water spoilers #its not enough to just not care about what society deems as your flaws #love is also about learning all the nuances and differences and horizons of each other #the beastly and divine of our natures combined with the small and goofy #long post

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antialiasis · 6 years

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Justice League

So we saw the Justice League movie.

I loved Wonder Woman, but this one is more or less back to the previous DC fare (i.e. not very good), in my opinion. The main difference was that while the movie was Deep and Dark and Serious in the vein of the others, it added some comical quippy Avengers-esque dialogue on top that felt bizarrely jarring and out of place, creating a huge tonal problem.

There's a scene where the dead-boring giant villain, Steppenwolf, is cruelly threatening to murder a group of hostages, reducing them to begging one by one - one of the hostages being the hero Cyborg's father. The heroes sneak up towards the door as this is happening and witness it. Cut to The Flash, DC's quippy nerdy teenager, explaining lengthily to Batman right outside where these people are being threatened with murder that actually he's never been in battle and doesn't like fighting or murder or obnoxiously tall people. Batman patiently explains to him that he should just save one person. "And then what?" "You'll know."

This is done so strangely I was kind of shocked nobody took issue with this in editing. You've got a serious scene meant to establish how threatening this villain is - one with shots of the hostages' terrified faces, a person crying that they have a family as the villain coldly dismisses them - and interrupt it right in the middle with a deliberately drawn-out comic dialogue, just as people are being threatened with murder and one would expect these so-called heroes to think that might be a smidge more important. Why is Batman standing there while The Flash babbles and then trying to psych him up instead of, you know, going “Not now, Barry” and getting in there to save the hostages? Because we're a cool funny superhero movie like The Avengers now, that's why! This is the opposite of comic timing. You can make horrific murder funny, of course - I adore black comedy. But the people filming or starring in the hostage scene obviously believed they were filming a serious scene about how sadistic and twisted the villain is, not a comic scene punctuated by calling him obnoxiously tall. There is not a trace of humour in that half of the scene, and the result is baffling.

The movie sort of makes token attempts to develop the characters, but it just doesn't have any real time for that what with introducing several new heroes, and it's too busy either trying to get the plot across or trying to be quippy to really make the characters land. Everyone's nominally got issues to deal with - Cyborg's sudden acquisition of powers and resentment of his dad, Flash wanting to prove his convicted murderer father innocent, Aquaman something something his mother responsibility, Batman feeling that he got Superman killed, Wonder Woman having apparently been dormant for a hundred years after losing Steve Trevor and realizing she must open herself up again, and also leadership something - and I guess that's better than nothing, but these things are pretty much just stated in one or two scenes - we don't see these issues explored on any real emotional level, or subtly coloring the way they act in the rest of the movie in any noticeable way.

There's a bit where the heroes resurrect the dead Superman (because of course they do), but Superman apparently comes back wrong and attacks them after Cyborg's cybernetic body detects him as a threat and attacks without his input. There's a big cool fight scene where all the heroes fight an almost beastly Superman, right on top of what I think is a monument to all the innocents who died in Man of Steel or Batman vs. Superman or something like that, and then Lois Lane arrives and Superman seems to recognize her somehow and holds her and then flies off with her to his parents' farm. We get a quip or two from the heroes left behind, then we cut to the farm where Superman and Lois have an unmemorable conversation, where he tells her that coming back from the dead was itchy, hugs his mother and then goes back to help the heroes kick some Steppenwolf ass. Did he not remember anything when he woke up? Was he completely confused and just mindlessly attacking these people who attacked him without realizing what he was doing, or did they seem like genuine threats? Did his mind simply register Batman as an enemy before he came to his senses, or was he genuinely pissed off at him for bringing him back? How does he feel about the fact they just destroyed a monument to the deaths from some of his previous battles? Is he shaken to think of how much more destruction he could have caused if Lois hadn't been there - of what he might even have done to Lois if she hadn't happened to stir his memory and bring him back? Eh. Apparently Clark doesn't care, and Lois doesn't care, and the movie most certainly doesn't care. Who wants characters to care about the things that happen to them, the things they do, when Lois can have her hand glued to his abs while telling him how good he smells? (I mean, that's relatable and good on her. You don't see that kind of female sexuality in movies a lot. On the other hand, I'm not actually convinced they realized how that came across; it sounded more like they thought it was just tenderly romantic.) Superman coming back wrong was only a plot point for this one scene so that they'd have an excuse to make a big cool action scene where all the other heroes fight Superman; it's not like it was an event that might mean something to somebody or anything.

It had its actually funny moments, and I liked The Flash enough that if he gets a solo movie I'll probably see it (this movie didn't do anything real with his dad thing, but given more room to breathe I imagine it could be interesting, and I think he could carry a movie with an actually consistent lighthearted Spider-Man-esque tone, and I just adore cute awkward nerds), but overall I still don't think they're quite getting why everyone likes the Marvel movies so much more than the DC ones. Making a funny-serious movie is more than just making a bleak serious grimdark movie and then shooting some extra scenes of the characters making fun of each other for talking to fish or dressing like a bat. Wonder Woman succeeded because it had heart and real character struggle and the humour arose naturally from actual comedic situations instead of being pasted into the scenes of war and horror. I wish they'd take those lessons away from it.

(Also: there is a scene that takes place in Iceland, with a cameo by an actual Icelandic actor, who says a line in Icelandic. That line is followed by Jason Momoa hilariously attempting to say a line in Icelandic. You Tried, thanks for a nice laugh.)

#justice league #dc film universe #review #writing

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sadhikamalladi-blog · 6 years

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The Latest Superhero Movies

Introduction

So we've had two big blockbusters, one from Marvel and the other from DC, released recently. Thanks to MIT, I got to go watch them as advanced screenings, and I avoided the temptation of reading reviews/analyses/predictions/etc. To be honest, I had some issues with both of the movies, so of course I had to take to my (sparsely updated) blog to talk about them. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor is a pretty cool character who's gotten two movies and now a third. He's a Norse god, which is always a refreshing change of pace from the modern society oriented heroes. Because of his ancient god status, Thor is supposed to be a bastion of ethicality and moralism. He's like Captain America, but before the nobility of war infected WWII-era comics.

Starlord, is that you?

So, imagine my surprise when Thor morphed into some kind of Starlord in this movie. From the establishing sequence itself, Thor is some kind of glib hero, taunting villains to do more and destroy more. Okay, so you might think this is just Thor modernizing. First of all, Thor shouldn't modernize, that's the point of Thor (see above). But, also, it just doesn't make sense. There is nothing that Thor values above Asgard. He loves its people, its land, its philosophy, and so on. For him to risk damage to that land by taunting villains seems rather unnecessary.

Every superhero film has an element of entertainment that comes from beyond their powers. For example, we like Iron Man because his technology is cool and he's kind of an asshole. We like Captain America because his idealism is refreshing when we're all so jaded. With Thor, the humor comes from his lack of understanding of modern society. He's confused by Earth and people and their priorities.

I get that they couldn't really do that in this movie. It was supposed to take place on Asgard, primarily, so Thor was going to be completely in his element. But, they really didn't have to make him into Starlord/Spider-Man (in Civil War/Amazing) or whatever else they based this on. It was so jarring.

Where was Asgard?

The majority of the movie took place on some random planet that was not Asgard. Okay, sure, Asgard is kind of boring with not much to do there. But I really didn't like this random planet and the way that they introduced it. Things felt a lot more plausible when they did it in the comic books.

Cool Cameos

This movie did have some cool cameos, which I thought saved it. Doctor Strange and the Hulk strengthened the bond of the Marvel Universe (the key element that makes DCU have worse movies), and they added some awesome entertainment value. It wasn't really clear how the Hulk ended up on some alien planet though. And he was a complete mess.

Mjolnir

Okay so Mjolnir was basically MIA this movie. Which really sucked. Thor is not much without Mjolnir…supposedly he's an upstanding moral god but they took that away from him too. It did enable some major character growth as Thor discovered his powers without the hammer. (Side note: this prompts me to wonder if there will be a fourth Thor movie given the fact that the key enemy strategy — take away his hammer and pray — has been reduced to shreds)

Heimdall

It was cool to see Idris Elba back…it really strengthened the Thor movie. He also made it even more clear that Thor's morality had diminished so much in this movie. You know it's bad when the gatekeeper seems to be more of a leader than the king.

Overall Feelings

It was a real Guardians of the Galaxy reboot, honestly. They just went to a different planet and messed around for a bit. Most of that planet was nauseating and boring. They could've done a lot more with a huge event like Ragnarok. The ending was awesome though and broke from the Marvel-esque tradition of "destroy as much as possible but never change tactics."

Justice League

We all had high hopes, even if we pretended that we had low hopes. The movie was better than I thought it would be, but it still had a lot of problems.

Superman

We all knew Superman wasn't going to stay dead. But, we didn't know that Superman was so overpowered. He took out the rest of the Justice League like they were babies. I get that they wanted to justify the revival (and the effort it took to get to the revival) of Superman, but there's no way he's that good. He's definitely not comparably fast to the Flash...

The Flash

Spider-Man? Is that you? From the Civil War movie? They really outfitted the Flash with the same personality as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. He was inexperienced, scared, funny, and lost most of the time. It was enjoyable…when Marvel did it the first time. Now it just felt kind of forced and obviously copied.

Aquaman

Oh, Aquaman. He really did not contribute much to this film. He was angry (at Cyborg) for the most part, but he didn't really have any skills. At some point, Bruce Wayne entreats him to speak to the fish and he's just kind of rude about it. Also, speaking to fish and moving water is kind of dumb when most of the movie was on land. I really think they would've been fine without Aquaman. Though, his introduction provided some awesome visuals.

One-Liners

What in the world were the writers thinking when they made these one-liners? Almost all of them were pointless and added no cool factor or information to the scene. Even when Superman shows up in the last fight scene, he says some trash that just made me look around and see if anyone actually listened to the words in these things.

Wrapping Up

Well, they tried. And they're going in the right direction. If they'd just make individual films for each of the characters before making team-ups, then we'd all be a lot more interested. It's hard to fit an origin and a plot into a single movie without displeasing anyone.

Conclusion

Superhero movies are fun, but we want more.

#thor: ragnarok #justice league

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aion-rsa · 7 years

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The 20 Greatest DC Comics By Geoff Johns

For well over a decade now, Geoff Johns has been one of the most important creative voices at DC Comics, not just in the world of comics, but in television and film. This was made evident last year when he was named the President of DC Entertainment (as well as retaining his previous title of Chief Creative Officer). Of course, that doesn’t mean he has stopped writing, as Johns also recently hinted that he might be writing a “Watchmen”-related comic book in the future.

RELATED: DC Comics: The 15 Biggest Moments of 2016

With the news of Johns returning to comics creation in the near future, we thought we’d spotlight the greatest DC Comics stories that he has done over the years. We were going to do 15, but there are just too many good ones! NOTE: With so many to choose from, we decided to eliminate “52,” since he co-wrote it with three other guys (Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and Greg Rucka), so we thought it best to spotlight only comics Johns wrote by himself (or with a single co-writer).

A KID’S GAME

In 2003, Geoff Johns rebooted “Teen Titans” with artists Mike McKone and Marlo Alquiza. The set-up was an attempt to embrace the history of the “New Teen Titans” while staying true to the general idea behind the Teen Titans, which is that it is a team made up of the main teen heroes in the DC Universe. That had not been the case in well over a decade before Johns relaunched the team with Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash (Impulse is revamped as Kid Flash in this series). Classic Wolfman/Perez Titans Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy are along as mentors to the younger generation.

They first face off against Deathstroke, who does not want to see the Titans reform. As it turns out, Deathstroke was being possessed by his son, former Titan Jericho, so it was Jericho who did not want to see any more teenagers get killed (a recurring theme throughout this arc is everyone still trying to come to terms with the then-recent death of Donna Troy). Superboy gets a new secret identity as Conner Kent in this story, which worked particularly well with fans.

FOREVER EVIL

The first major companywide crossover following the New 52 reboot of the DC Universe, “Forever Evil” saw the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3 arrive on Earth and quickly conquer the planet by more or less eliminating the Justice League (save for Batman). Geoff Johns and artists David finch and Richard Friend then showed that the Crime Syndicate planned to offer a deal to the supervillains of Earth to work with them.

It therefore falls to the villains to win their planet back, and Lex Luthor, Catwoman, Black Adam, Sinestro and Captain Cold play the biggest role in doing just that, working alongside Batman to overcome the occupying force of the Crime Syndicate. Along the way, Nightwing is unmasked to the world and almost killed, changing his status quo dramatically. Eventually, the rest of the heroes fight their way back against the Crime Syndicate and team-up with the villains to save the day. A few of the villains — most notably Lex Luthor — remained as members of the Justice League following the event!

KIDS

“Kids,” from “JSA” #29 by Geoff Johns and Peter Snejbjerg, is sort of Johns’ answer to John Byrne, Chris Claremont and Terry Austin’s classic “Uncanny X-Men” #143, where Kitty Pryde was left alone on Christmas and had to fight a powerful demon. Here, the two teenage members of the Justice Society, Star Spangled Kid and Jakeem Thunder, are left alone on Halloween while the rest of the team goes out to find their missing fellow members.

This was a crossover with the “Last Laugh” event, where Joker used a variation of his Joker Venom on all of the villains of the DC Universe, making them all Joker-esque bad guys. Star Spangled Kid and Jakeem have to take on a Joker-ized Solomon Grundy, while knowing that Grundy killed the previous Star Spangled Kid (back in the Infinity Inc. days). Johns does a wonderful job with the character work between Star Spangled Kid and Jakeem.

VIRTUE AND VICE

This graphic novel by Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino continued the classic tradition of the Justice League and the Justice Society teaming up every year, only done in a brand-new way, as the Justice League and the Justice Society were now both on the same planet (and the Justice Society had just recently received their own ongoing series). They met up in this issue to spend Thanksgiving together.

Things go poorly when the Seven Deadly Sins end up possessing seven members of the teams — Batman, Shazam, Plastic Man, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Doctor Fate and Power Girl. The Justice League and the Justice Society now have to hunt down and stop their own friends by finding a way of getting the sin out of each of them (you try to get Batman to stop feeling anger!). This was a dynamic and widescreen updating of a classic comics tradition.

THE TRENCH

For many comic book fans, there was never any need for anyone to “make” Aquaman cool, as he was always cool. Still, it’s safe to say that there are still many people out there who, due to Aquaman’s broad exposure on “Super Friends,” know him more than they know most other superheroes… even if it is mostly as a joke. It’s sad that was still a stigma attached to the character nearly 40 years after “Super Friends” debuted, but that was what Geoff Johns was working with when he rebooted Aquaman following the New 52.

The character was now given an ongoing series with top artistic talent in Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, and Johns addressed the elephant in the room right away, by having the public treat Aquaman as a bit of a joke. Of course, Johns made sure to portray him as a total badass. He even tied in the whole “talks to fish” stuff, which remains oddly contentious. Johns handled the (pardon the pun) “fish out of water” aspect of Aquaman and Mera extremely well and the evil Trench were great villains.

THE RETURN OF HAWKMAN

It was with this 2001 story from “JSA” #22-25 that Geoff Johns first began to get a name for himself in comic fandom as the guy you would go to if you wanted a property “fixed.” In this storyline (drawn by Stephen Sadowski and Michael Bair), the Justice Society reunited with their old friend, Hawkman, as Johns and co-writer David Goyer came up with a way to simplify the overly-complicated backstory of Hawkman, which was so bad that at the end of his last series, he was literally thrown into Limbo just to get rid of him.

Their take was that Hawkman and Hawkwoman are lovers from ancient Egypt who are tied to each other through reincarnation. So they have been together in many different incarnations over the centuries. Johns would later take this clever hook and launch a “Hawkman” ongoing series based on it that he co-wrote with James Robinson.

BLITZ

Hunter Zolomon was an acclaimed criminal profiler who had suffered a great deal of tragedy in his life, with a mother who was killed by his serial killer father. He ended up in Central City where he became a police profiler. He became good friends with Wally West, the Flash, but in a fight with Gorilla Grodd, was paralyzed. He asked Wally to go back in time and change things to help him avoid being paralyzed. Wally explained that he couldn’t do that, so Hunter tried to use the cosmic treadmill himself and it exploded, making him “out of sync” with time. It would look like he was running fast, but really he was doing a series of small feats of time travel.

Zoloman then determined that Wally wasn’t a good enough hero because he didn’t have enough tragedy in his life to spur him on, so he devoted himself to “helping” Wally by becoming the villainous Zoom and murdering Wally’s wife, Linda Park. This was the final story arc of the acclaimed “Flash” creative team of Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, as Kolins left the title with the final issue of this arc, “Flash” #200.

FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF 3 WORLDS

Over the years, the Legion of Super-Heroes had become extremely complicated. The original Legion, who we saw grow old over the decades, had been seemingly wiped out of continuity due to their close ties to the “Superboy” mythos. DC then introduced a new blank slate Legion following “Zero Hour.” Years later, Mark Waid and Barry Kitson were allowed to create a third brand-new blank slate Legion of Super-Heroes. During a Justice League/Justice Society crossover in Brad Meltzer’s “Justice League of America” and Johns’ “Justice Society of America,” they had brought back the original Legion (the ones who had aged). In this mini-series (that was ostensibly tied in to the “Final Crisis” crossover series), Superboy Prime (from Johns’ “Infinite Crisis” series) traveled to the future, where he took on the Legion.

We then learned that the other Legions of Super-Heroes were each the Legion of different Earths! They all teamed-up together (along with a time-traveling Superman) to take on Superboy Prime. During the event (which was drawn by George Perez and Scott Koblish), both Superboy and Kid Flash were brought back to life!

GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH

One of Geoff Johns’ first major events that he wrote for DC was early in his career at DC. It was the crossover “Day of Judgement,” dealing with the effects of a Spectre running loose on the DC Universe without a host (as its original host, James Corrigan, had been allowed to go to Heaven). Hal Jordan, who had died in an earlier crossover, took over as the Spectre.

A few years later, Johns was given the chance to bring Hal Jordan back as a Green Lantern. In this mini-series (drawn by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentiss Rollins), Johns revealed that Hal Jordan had never become evil in the first place, but had been possessed by a fear entity known as Parallax (the name Hal used as a villain). During this series, the Green Lantern Corps was reborn along with Hal, as well as former Green Lanterns John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kilowog, who joined up with then-current Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner to restart the Corps. Also returned to life was Sinestro, who Johns would have big plans for in the relaunched “Greeen Lantern” Series that followed this miniseries.

BATMAN: EARTH ONE

The “Earth One” series of graphic novels were sort of like the Ultimate Universe for Marvel Comics, only they went a step further than that. The Ultimate Universe was essentially about doing the same basic superheroes, but without years of continuity dragging them down (they quickly moved on from that, but that was the basic original approach). The “Earth One” graphic novels, though, gave their creators a good deal more freedom. They could do pretty much any take on the basic idea of Superman or Batman that they chose.

In his “Batman: Earth One” graphic novel, Geoff Johns (working with artists Gary Frank and Jonathan Sibal) completely re-imagined the Bruce Wayne/Alfred Pennyworth dynamic, as now even after Bruce had become a vigilante, it was Alfred who did much of the dirty work. Bruce did not just automatically become “the” Batman when he started dressing as a bat to investigate his parents’ murder at the hands of crooked Gotham City mayor, Oswald Cobblepot. By the end of the first book, though, the proverbial switch had been turned in Bruce Wayne going forward.

INFINITE CRISIS

DC spent a lot of time leading up to “Infinite Crisis,” with a powerful one-shot (co-written by Johns) that ended up with the death of Blue Beetle at the hands of Maxwell Lord. That then led into a series of miniseries that finally culminated with “Infinite Crisis” by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning. The basic idea is that there were a group of survivors at the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” They were the Earth-1 Superman, the Earth-1 Lois Lane, Superboy Prime and Alexander Luthor. While they started in a little pocket universe, they saw the DC Universe continue and grew very critical of what had happened. Over time, Luthor and Superboy Prime went crazy, feeling that their sacrifice had been wasted by these grim and gritty heroes.

So, they vowed to restart things, even if it meant destroying these universes along the way. Superman was tricked into going along with them. Ultimately, the heroes of the DC Universe managed to stop Luthor’s mad plans, but in the process, they also revealed the existence once more of alternate Earths! The Multiverse was soon on its way!

SECRET ORIGIN

“Secret Origin,” which ran in “Green Lantern” #29-35, was the first big follow-up to the epic “Sinestro Corps War,” and it helped to serve two notable purposes. First, it streamlined Hal Jordan’s origin. Secondly, it set up future events that would lead to “Blackest Night.” Geoff Johns and artists Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert re-told the classic tale of Abin Sur crash-landing on Earth and giving his ring to a young Hal Jordan; but this time, the young Hal Jordan is attacked by the future Red Lantern, Atrocitus.

We also see how Hal’s origins coincided with Hector Hammond being transformed into a telepathic villain, as well as William Hand’s new, twisted origin and path to the Black Hand he would become. Carol Ferris also got some strong development in this new origin. It was basically this stream-lined and engaging origin (complete with the fascinating pairing between Hal and his training officer, Sinestro) that was used as the basis for the “Green Lantern” film in 2011, dubious though that film is remembered as being today.

NEW KID IN TOWN

Geoff Johns’ first ongoing series for DC Comics was the delightfully charming “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.,” with artists Lee Moder and Dan Davis. The idea behind the series is that a teenage girl, Courtney Whitmore, has grown up with a single mother most of her life. Her mother, though, fell in love with a stodgy middle age man who decided to move them to the middle of smalltown U.S.A. in Blue Valley, the city best known for being where Wally West lived as a child.

Courtney discovered that her stepfather Pat was actually a superhero, the former sidekick to the Star Spangled Kid. He still had the Star Spangled Kid’s power equipment, which Courtney stole to became the new Star Spangled Kid. Pat had been working on a suit of armor and went into action as S.T.R.I.P.E. He wanted Courtney to stop being a superhero, but the problem was that Pat was keeping his identity a secret from his new wife, so if he told on Courtney, she would tell on him. Thus, they formed an uneasy new superhero alliance. Johns really nailed the personality of young Courtney, who was a good kid put in a difficult position, who was striking out at her step-father, despite knowing that he really was a good guy. The whole series was a blast, but if we had to pick one story, we’d go with the initial arc in “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” #1-3, where they first form their team.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ORIGIN

When the DC Universe was rebooted with the New 52, Geoff Johns actually launched the whole endeavor with the first all-new number one, which was, of course, “Justice League” #1, a title he helmed alongside superstar artists Jim Lee and Scott Williams. This first story arc, “Origin,” was set at the start of the rebooted Justice League’s tenure, when seven heroes had to join together to take on the invading forces of Darkseid.

The most striking aspect of this initial story, besides how Cyborg was now a founding member of the Justice League, was how well Johns used humor to humanize the heroes. These were new heroes just getting to know each other, so of course there was going to be plenty of ill-at-ease humor between them (especially between Flash and Green Lantern, who had been teaming up with each other before the other heroes met). When the chips were down, though, they came together and were true heroes during a huge, world-threatening crisis.

BLACKEST NIGHT

“Blackest Night” served two major purposes. On the one hand, it was the culmination of a series of “Green Lantern” storylines that had introduced Yellow Lanterns, Red Lanterns, Blue Lanterns, Violet Lanterns and Indigo Lanterns. This event, as is subtly implied in its title, introduced Black Lanterns and, ultimately, White Lanterns. On the other hand, it also served as a meditation on the very nature of superhero “death.” Superheroes had been dying and coming back for years at this point and now, in this series, there was a sort of explanation for how this went on, and a backlash against it.

The conflict revolved around Black Lantern Rings suddenly reanimating the corpses of every dead superhero and supervillain in the DC Universe, corrupting them and sending them against the living heroes as an army of (effectively) zombies. By the end of the series, Geoff Johns and artists Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert had reconfigured the very notion of “death” in the DC Universe, as well as bringing back a number of major characters like Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

THE DARKSEID WAR

Geoff Johns finished out his run on “Justice League” with the epic that he was building up to from his very first issue on the series. The two powerful god-like beings, the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid, went to war with each other and in the end, Darkseid was killed. In the process, the Justice League all became Gods themselves. This was all part of a secret plot by Grail, the daughter of Darkseid. She killed the Anti-Monitor and then set her sights on the League, who had found themselves not dealing well with godhood.

In the end, Johns and series artist Jason Fabok not just gave the series a satisfying conclusion (especially how one of the Leaguers earns their way to becoming a full-fledged Green Lantern), but it all tied into the next phase of the DC Universe, DC Rebirth. The whole thing flowed together seamlessly, as well as excitingly. It worked for longtime readers of “Justice League,” but it also served to get readers excited about what was happening next with Rebirth.

52 PICK-UP

After “Infinite Crisis” and “52,” Booster Gold found himself in a fascinating situation in his ongoing series, written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katx, and drawn by Booster Gold creator Dan Jurgens and inker Norm Rapmund. Booster, you see, was now tasked with keeping the timeline of the DC Universe protected, but to do so, he had to make sure that no one knows that he is protecting the timeline of the DC Universe. As a result, he has to intentionally pretend to everyone else that he is a buffoon. He has to sacrifice everyone’s respect to protect them. It’s a wonderful hook.

There’s one story in this first volume (where Booster and Rip Hunter travel through time fixing incursions) that stood out so much that we almost included it just by itself. In “Booster Gold” #5, in an issue called “No Joke,” Booster tries to save Barbara Gordon from the events of “The Killing Joke.” However, that was not why he was there. Thus, he could not ever actually fix it, as time is too resilient. So, no matter what he tries to do, the Joker somehow still does what he set out to do. The only thing he could change is that Booster could die himself. It was a heartbreaking and yet still somehow beautiful issue.

SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES

As noted earlier, Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer had re-introduced the classic Paul Levitz version of the Legion in a “Justice League of America”/”Justice Society of America” storyline. Now, in “Action Comics” #858–863 (along with artists Gary Frank and Jonathan Sibal), Johns was teaming Superman up with the Legion for the first time in many years.

Superman visits the Legion in the future and discovers that Earth has turned against aliens and that the Legion are now outlaws. Not only that, but the very basis for this xenophobia is a distorted version of Superman’s mythos, where he has been reworked from an alien visitor on Earth to being a protector of Earth from alien outsiders. The problem is that the bad guys have found a way to neutralize Superman’s powers, so he can’t even prove that he really is Superman. The Legion and Superman have to find a way to discredit the bad guys before the Legion is destroyed for good.

ABSOLUTE ZERO

During his run on “Flash,” Geoff Johns was perhaps best known for the great work he did in the development of both new villains for the Flash, as well as the original Flash Rogues. Johns would devote spotlight issues to most of the Rogues, as he made them major figures in the book (without making them heroes). The most famous and well-regarded of these spotlight issues was “Flash” #181 by Johns and Scott Kolins, which was a spotlight on Captain Cold, whose main motivation was avenging the murder of his sister by another supervillain.

Throughout the issue, we learn the history of Leonard Snart and his sister, Lisa; how their father abused them and how Leonard just needed to get out, even if it meant leaving Lisa behind. Johns added a fascinating wrinkle by establishing that Cold’s gun actually emitted an aura around him that slowed down the Flash, which would explain why Captain Cold was able to fight the Flash at all. In the issue, Cold talks about his various codes of honor and discusses where he draws the line and when he is willing to cross it. It’s a fascinating look into the mind of a villain whose heart is not nearly as cold as he would like you to believe.

THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR

After the return of Sinestro and the reveal of the existence of the fear entity, Parallax, Geoff Johns built up to this epic storyline, where Sinestro and Parallax team-up to form their own Lantern Corps. This time, instead of finding people who could overcome fear, they are looking for people who instill it! These Yellow Lanterns serve in the Sinestro Corps. In an initial attack on the Green Lanterns, they capture Kyle Rayner and expose him to the Parallax entity so that he becomes the new Parallax.

The Green Lanterns are soon pitched into an epic battle with bloodthirsty enemies, all of whom would gladly kill them. The whole crossover comes down to an epic battle on Earth, as the Green Lantern Corps must defend the planet from the Sinestro Corps. Johns wrote the crossover, along with the writers of “Green Lantern Corps,” Dave Gibbons and Peter Tomasi. There were a number of artists involved in this crossover, with Ethan Van Sciver and Ivan Reis taking point. This was the story that began what eventually became the rainbow spectrum of Lantern Corps, which in turn became arguably the most defining aspect of the “Green Lantern” titles this past decade. It is Johns’ most famous story and it will be hard to ever be surpassed.

What’s your favorite Geoff Johns DC story? Let us know in the comments!

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