What We Want: R Rated Movies

R Rated Movies

 

From the moment the test footage was leaked on the internet, Deadpool has continued to exceed all expectations. No one expected a solos film to be made. When it was confirmed, it was expected to be released as PG13. When it’s R rating was confirmed, everyone expected this to a low budget piece of fan service that would do well to match the box office revenue of Kingsman. The film went on to be one of the highest grossing R rated movies of all time, potentially paving the way for future comic books to have R Rated movie adaptations.

 

Here’s a list of Comic book movies we’d like to see with made with an R rating.

 

The Killing Joke

Okay, so we are getting a DC Animated version this with Mark Hamill once again voicing the joker and it currently seems more likely that we’ll get Under the Hood as our batman solo movie. But with DC focusing on their justice league movies and the newer members standalone movies, Ben Affleck could be given some freedom on the Batman franchise. Our new Batman is an older, tortured soul and we could really explore that more with an R rating. Jared Leto seems really invested in the role and could easily do justice to The Dark Knights darkest villain in one of the darkest and most famous Batman stories.

 

Wolverine 3: Old Man Logan

This one looks like it is actually going to happen, which is great. This is Hugh Jackman’s final appearance as Wolverine and we pity the actor that has to follow him. Since Deadpool, there’s been a huge call from fans for this last film to get the R. It makes sense. This is a man that can endure immense amount of abuse and pain and heal almost any injury. He also has a horrible temper and I’m sure there’s something else. Oh yes, unbreakable metal knives that come out of his hands. It’s about time we saw wolverine put his skill and his weapons to good use and that would certainly require an R rating. Old Man Logan Is the perfect story line for this to happen.

 

Spiderman: Carnage

Perhaps a bit ambitious but it would make sense. Thanks to the Sam Raimi film, everyone saw what happened when the alien symbiote bonded with Eddie Brock. We got Venom. For those who don’t know Carnage, imagine that same symbiote bonding with a convicted child killer. He then escapes prison leaving a trail of Carnage in his wake. Spiderman is then forced to team up with Venom to defeat this new evil. This storyline wouldn’t only benefit from an R rating, but it would be difficult to determine a difference between Carnage and Venom without it.

 

The Punisher

The Punisher has had his chance on film a couple of time before, but times have changed. Moviegoers are more open than ever to comic book adaptations and a brutal vigilante with a dark and violent backstory could be a potential success. Blade has trodden this ground before and was somewhat successful. A punisher movie with the same tone and with possible cameos from other marvel characters could be great.

 

Black Widow

IT seems increasingly unlikely that we will ever see Natasha Romanov take to the screen in her own movie but I think it would be the prefect way for her to leave the MCU should that day come. A film that could take her back to Russia, where it all began, to tear down the system that created her. Revealing and reliving her dark past.

 

Angry Birds

 

Because, why not?

Let us know what comic book Characters or Movies could be made or rebooted with an R rating.

In Anticipation: TMNT2

TMNT2

 

Will it be any good?

 

This is an important question for me. I was born in 1989 when TMNT were at their peak in the UK. The cartoon TV show was huge. The first 2 live-action movies were very good. The third one… well it happened. And hundreds of families in the UK bought terrapins without realising how big they got and abandoned them in local ponds to fend for themselves. This is actually true.  One was even found in Nottingham July 2015 about 25 years old. Link

 

The first film did not reach the great heights of its predecessors. (Okay, maybe the third). The teenagers are owned by Nickelodeon and the target audience is clearly children but I still wanted a bit more from the first film for my generation. They screwed with the origin and tried to give April a greater purpose than was necessary. However, they got their characterisations spot on and even if I’d prefer them to be a bit shorter and look at all like turtles, I did enjoy the first film.

The second promises to be even better. Simply by introducing Bebop & Roscksteady they’ve raised that game. But to bring Krang In as well… genius. I almost wish they had held back one of these reveals for the movie. But I’m actually looking forward to this. The trailer seems to hint at Dimension X and a side to the movies that the original films didn't explore. it looks like they're going to go back to the origins of the Turtles and I hoe they pull it off in this movie.

 

Anticipation

 3.5 Grenades

In anticipation - Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War

 

Comic to Movie

 

Disney & Marvel’s next Silver Screen adaption is of the hugely popular Civil War storyline. However, the movie we get on April 29^th in the UK, will likely draw inspiration from the comics, but ultimately differ greatly in terms of some major plot point and characters. This is mainly a result of Marvel selling off movie rights for certain characters or franchises between the 1970’s and 1990’s just to stay afloat.

Here’s a list of things that won’t be done by the book.  

 

Spiderman – Wall crawler, Peter Parker, was 30+ years old during the comic book Civil War storyline. He’d been a superhero for more than 15 years and was all loved up with Mary-Jane Watson. With the argument surrounding secret identities and lack of accountability, Parker publicly unmasks himself to the world risking putting MJ and Aunt May in trouble. None of that will come to pass in Captain America: Civil War. Sony owns the rights to Spiderman and has kept him out of the MCU so far. But Marvel & Sony struck up a deal in 2015 to bring Spidey into the Avengers line up. Casting a 30 year old Spiderman to fill the role could have been possible but not ideal for Sony rebooting the franchise with individual movies starting 2017. So Sony cast a teenager to play a teenager and allow Marvel to bring him in alongside Tony Stark. Stark will be kitting Parker out with an advanced Spidey suit but everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood – you know – could still defect to Caps team as per the book.  

 

Fantastic 4 – Reed Richards & Sue Storm play a pivotal role in the comics. Reed helps Hank Pym (Ant Man) create Prison 42, an interdimensional prison for any superheroes opposing the registration act. After the death of Goliath at the hands of a Thor clone Sue Storm leaves Reed and their child to join Caps team. Unfortunately, Fox owns the rights to Fantastic 4 and the Negative Zone (where prison 42 resides) and have been butchering them for years.

 

Hank Pym – Ant Man will feature in this film but it will be Scott Lang in the suit. So don’t expect a great deal of intellectual input from him.

 

X-Men – Fox. Again. How great would Wolverine have been in this film! We’d even be able to call Scarlet Witch a mutant instead of an “enhanced”. The X-Men did their best to stay neutral in the comics but it was great to have them involved.

 

Daredevil, The Punisher , Jessica Jones & Luke Cage – Despite the roaring success of these Netflix television series’, and the role these characters play in the comics, Marvel seems to want to keep them  separate from the MCU. I still hold hope that these guys come into play in the Avengers: Infinity Wars as heroes on the ground.

 

Thor – Okay, so Thor technically wasn’t involved in the comic series but his likeness was used. Stark, Richards and Pym combined to create a Thor clone that ended up killing Goliath resulting in Sue Storm defecting to Team Cap. This will absolutely not happen in CA:CW.

 

Who will die?

 

A death is all but confirmed with IMDB crediting a couple of actors as “Funeral Mourner”. If the trailer is to be believed, it could be James Rhodes, War Machine. He seems to be blown out of the sky and falls to the ground and left unconscious. I think this is simply misdirection. Characters that won’t die are and all that are due solo movies. Ant Man, Black Panther & Spider Man. Crossbones is in this film and famously killed captain America in the subtly named comic: The Death of Captain America, which came to pass at the end of Civil War. But the could easily flip the script and kill Iron Man. RDJ is contracted to one more movie after CA:CW and it could be Infinity War II. Bucky might end up killing Tony Stark causing Steve Rodgers to abandon him and seek out the infinity gauntlet to resurrect him. A bit farfetched, perhaps. A lot of people expect Hawkeye. We’ve just bee introduced to his family and he came close to death in Age of Ultron.

At this point, it’s anybody’s guess.

Anticipation:

 

4.5 Grenades

SHG Review - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

March 25^th saw, possibly, the most eagerly anticipated comic-book-movie release in recent history, if not ever. The follow up to 2013’s “Man Of Steel” promised to answer the big questions argued between DC comics fans. Who would win in a fight? The Dark Knight or the Man of Steel? A Run time of just under 3 hours, along with action packed trailers & TV spots, teased multiple battles before the hero’s inevitable union to take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Abomination – Code name: Doomsday.

Overview

This is a good movie and an improvement on the Superman picture that came before it. DC & Warner Bros have brought a fan favourite storyline (or 2. #Spoiler) to the big screen with their current Superman and an excellent incarnation of the Batman. However, in a rush to bring the DC Extended Cinematic Universe to everyone’s attention, they’ve tried to pack too much into what could have been an amazing film, taking focus away from the title character’s conflict.

 

Rating: 4 Grenades.

 

The Good

Batfleck. By far the best part of the movie. The casting of Ben Affleck caused the internet to explode in outrage, similarly to the casting of Heath Ledger as the Joker. We were wrong then, too, people. Affleck delivers a dark, brooding and vengeful performance. This incarnation of Batman feels responsible for the death of dozens of employees. Perhaps because he wasn’t there to help them. Or perhaps because, even if he were there, could the aging Gothamite really prevent 2 Gods from destroying Metropolis. The bat brandings add a cruelty to Batman that fits within the tone of the movie. Comic book batman may be adverse to killing or using guns, but he’s never been afraid of inflicting a great deal of pain on his victims, often breaking bones. The Brands aren’t too much of a stretch.

Henry Cavill also put in a solid performance. His Superman may not be a fan favourite, but that’s a result of the writers and directors. The work he does with the story given to him is better than can be expected.  

The Bad

The entire movie screams PANIC. Ever since The Incredible Hulk & Iron Man 2008, marvel have gradually built a cinematic empire culminating in the record breaking Avengers movies and their own hero-on-hero battle due to take place later this year. Captain America: Civil War. DC began their Cinematic universe with the underwhelming Man of Steel. Instead of trying to establish this character and address some fan issues from Man of Steel with a well thought out sequel, they’ve opted to bring in their most popular cinematic hero, Batman. On top of that, they’ve forced the inclusion of 4 other Justice League members and hinted at the plot of their ensemble movie due for release in 2017. In doing so, they’ve taken away focus from what could have been a much better movie had they been patient enough to lead the characters in gradually.

 

The Ugly

 **Spoilers**

Characterisations – one of the biggest issues with the fans is the depiction of their favourite DC heroes. There were criticisms of the current Superman in Man of Steel. We’ve seen the same character in this movie. Dark and brooding. Even willing to kill criminals when not completely necessary.

Batman, while almost perfect, is too eager to kill criminals and use guns. Not only is this going against one of the most important parts of the character’s comic book personality, but will have an impact on a successful adaption of Under the Hood. This seems like the intention with an older Batman and a dead Robin part of the continuity. But with Red Hood demanding that Bats kills the Joker… what’s to stop him when he’ll kill any low level criminal in his way.

Doomsday and The Death of Superman (I said Spoilers)

There were always going to be rumours of this famous story line sneaking in to the movie. But trying to put this into a movie labelled as Batman v Superman and introducing 4 other justice league members as well as introducing a new take on Lex Luthor… surely it would be too much for a single film. Alas, they threw this in right at the very end without any time for any of the other characters to come to terms with it and immediately teased his resurrection.

 The Trailer

 

As we know, the trailer gave away far too much of the movie’s plot. Zack Snyder teased that we didn’t know the half of it, but, in truth we did. Marvel & Disney seem to have a better grip on their trailers. We know very little about Civil War and we knew next to nothing about the Force awakens. Yet fans flocked in their masses to see the latter. And the former is sure to be a huge success. Warner Brothers and DC need to hold their cards closer to their chest for the Justice League.

 

If SHG made BvS: DoJ

 

Under SHG’s control, this film would have been billed as a Man of Steel sequel, with Lex Luthor (Bryan Cranston) being the main antagonist of the first trailer. Possibly wearing the mech suit towards the end to offer Superman a physical challenge. The second trailer, ambiguously unveils Batman as Superman’s main rival in the movie. A Brief appearance similar to that of Spiderman’s in Civil War, but with a much darker tone. Superman has to try to defend metropolis from Lex whilst protecting himself from Batman who wants to bring him down following his exploits in Man of Steel. Lex is defeated in the first act but watches the following battles between Bats & Supes with a vested interest, all the while creating Doomsday from the corpse of Zod. The final act ends with Batman in a position to kill Superman but sparing his life when discovering he has an earth mother, a dead earth father and a fiancé in Lois lane. He is as much of a man as and has more to lose than Bruce Wayne. Batman helps him to his feet but warns Superman to keep on the right path.
Cliff-hanger ending – Lex is furious that Batman didn’t kill Superman when he had the chance. Final shot of the film is Lex waking Doomsday (who would actually look like comic book Doomsday).