The Death of Spider-Man ???

Marvel Comics seems to be interested in killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. A few years ago, the companion series ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, which was begun a decade ago to see what the effect would have been if Peter Parker had been a nerdy kid in the late 1990s instead of the early 1960s, was concluded with a most heroic deed: Spider-Man gave his life in battle to save others.

This series was brought to a close so that another young hero could take the suit of Spider-Man and make it his own. But the death of (Ultimate) Spider-Man was well done, excellently written and very well drawn. I must admit I was very touched by the sincere way in which Peter Parker laid down his life to save others.I had not followed the whole series of Ultimate Spider-Man but I was indeed impressed with that book.

The Amazing Spider-Man, which has now reached its 700th issue, seems to need to make a similar statement but fails to do so. In confronting Dr. Octopus, in a previous issue Octopus succeeded in transferring the personality of Peter Parker to the frail and near death body of Dr. Octopus, while Otto Octavius's spirit took control of Peter's body. Details elude me at this point, they do not matter for the point I am going to make here.

First of all, in terms of dramatic presentation, I feel this story is sorely lacking. It does not come across to me as a sincere story, with the intent to indeed end the adventures of Spider-Man. It reeks too much (like two decades ago with the death of a certain DC superhero)of a commercial decision, to poke up the sales a little to a lot. The art, likewise is subpar and nowhere near as good as has been seen before. The death of the Ultimate Spider-Man was handled way better.But then….. I don’t think this is a sincere exit for Peter Parker. I believe that the person that is Dr Otto Octavius, Doc Oc, is in no way up to the challenge of taking on a life as burdensome as Peter Parker’s. Like with the assassination of Captain America a few years ago, I believe in a few months we’ll see some kind of return of Peter Parker to this world. I’m not impressed with this Dan Slott finale. And therefore I firmly believe The Amazing Spider-Man will be back. Mark my words. Peter Parker will be back.

PS naturally, all artwork copyright Marvel Comics.

James Bond - SKYFALL

In the history of the James Bond films there are a great many of interesting comparisons to make. One that caught my eye was also something I was really hoping for, a year ago. The comparison? Well, for Sean Connery as Bond, his third film, Goldfinger, really was his best one. For Roger Moore, his third one, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was certainly his best one too (and for Roger Moore himself also his favorite). And now for Daniel Craig, we can surely note that his third film, SKYFALL, has now also become his best one.

One year ago, when SKYFALL went into production, I was most certainly hoping for this. I was more than disappointed with QUANTUM OF SOLACE ( after the brilliance of CASINO ROYALE, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, with its disjointed editing and sloppy story was nothing more than a slap in the face when it should have been a solid punch ) and was definitely hoping Craig’s third outing as Bond would be his best one. With the current box office success (the film has raked in more than 960 million dollars and is still playing, having become the most succesfull Bond film in history as well as the most successful British film ever, too) one can indeed say Daniel Craig’s Skyfall matches up to Connery’s Goldfinger and Moore’s TSWLM.

For those among you who have not yet seen the film, please do not read further. There will be spoilers ahead. SKYFALL opens with a spectacular chase in which Bond is going after a mercenary who has stolen a computer hard drive containing details of undercover agents in terrorist organisations. When Bond is inadvertently shot by his colleague agent Eve, he falls to his seeming death while the mercenary escapes. M is consequently put under political pressure when MI6’s offices are breached and destroyed. After hearing the news, Bond returns to London from his “retirement” and undergoes a rigorous examination, proving himself not ready to go back into the field. M does allow him to go off anyway to search for the mercenary in Shanghai. Bond fails to get the mercenary to talk about his employer, so he approaches a female accomplice of the mercenary. She takes him to her employer, the villain of the movie, Mr. Silva, masterfully played by Javier Bardem. Silva confronts Bond with the information that he, a former MI-6 agent working under M, is responsible for the attacks on MI-6. During his confrontation with Bond, Silva kills Severine, the accomplice, but Bond manages to get the upper hand by capturing Silva and having him removed to England. Back in England however, Q makes the mistake of connecting Silva’s laptop to MI-6’s mainframe which allows Silva’s laptop to access the MI-6 systems which gives rise to Silva’s possibility to escape. Bond follows him thru the London subway tunnel network but manages, when Silva openly attacks M in a public hearing, to ward off the attack of Silva and escort M to his home estate in Scotland, Skyfall. At Skyfall, the final act sees Silva execute a formidable attack (in which M gets wounded) but Bond (barely) manages to keep M out of harm’s way. In a final confrontation, Bond manages to eliminate Silva but M succumbs to her wounds and dies. A new M is appointed and with a new M comes a new secretary: Ms. Eve Moneypenny. And with a new Q also in place the formula is ready to go on to the next adventure.

Interesting to note is that now that Daniel Craig has made the Bond character his own, the whole image of Bond is decidedly darker and weaker than we are used to. Also before, Bond was more often than not appointed the best agent M had, but in SKYFALL, he fails to apprehend a mercenary, fails a rigorous examination, fails to keep Severine the accomplice alive and fails to fully safeguard M: she is wounded and dies. On an ambiguous note here, one could state therefor that SKYFALL is the first Bond film in which Bond LOSES !! (M is dead, as a direct or indirect consequence of actions of Silva.) And yet, Bond re-enters the field at the end, ready to get back to work for a new M. Interesting.

No matter how great the film in itself is, there are always things one can say. For one, the ingenious way in which Silva gets close to M to try and kill her borders on the insane. No way can one foresee every step along the way where he gets that little bit closer to the moment of triumph. A much more viable way to kill M would most assuredly have been to wait at her door when she goes off to work and kill her in her car on the way to the office. But one must understand of course the minds of mega-maniacal villains like Silva, for whom simply killing M would not be enough if it did not make a statement. Another thing is that Q should know better than to connect Silva’s laptop to the MI-6 mainframe. Of course it would do what it does in the film. That’s what Silva is a mega-maniacal villain for. Still SKYFALL is a joy to behold and a very high note to end the first 50 years of Bond Film History on. Skyfall sets an incredibly high standard for next films to come. It would however have benefitted from a score by David Arnold. Thomas Newman is certainly not a bad composer but he fails to give the film that distinctive Bond sound that the films had when John Barry was scoring them. True, John Barry hasn’t been scoring them since 1987 but David Arnold has always been able to somehow convey that Bond sound in his scores. So can David come back and play, please?

Immensely satisfying as this film is, SKYFALL of course sets impossibly high standards to follow on with the next Bond movie. Nothing so far has been revealed of the next Bond outing but rest assured, I will be patiently awaiting the return of Daniel Craig as James Bond in two or three years’ time.

James Bond in a Perfect Collection

For James Bond fans, it will come as no surprise that the newly released Blu Ray Box celebrating the fiftieth anniversary is a grand set for one's collection. If you did not have any Bond films yet on Blu Ray, it may be good to know that for this new medium all of the films have been fully optimalized in visual and audio quality. Meaning they look absolutely smashingly good, whether you are watching the oldest Sean Connery films or a more recent Pierce Brosnan flick.

Don't worry; I won't bore you with the details of all of the features included in this set. Suffice it to say all the titles have commentary tracks (some have more than one), all have behind the scenes featurettes and some have extended and alternate sequences or even an isolated soundtrack. The details on these extra's can easily be found on other sources on the internet. I just want to add my two cents with this:

Not only is this set a great collectible because of the films themselves, the set also comes in a very lovely packaging and has one slot free for the blu ray disc of the upcoming Bond film SKYFALL, so that it does indeed complete 50 Years of History of Cinematic Bond Adventures. A fantastic set, certainly the best buy on blu ray of the year. And now the question of who is the Best James Bond may be brought up again ! Fire Away !

THE MARVEL UNIVERSE ON THE RISE???

With the upcoming release of the AVENGERS, it seems there is at last going to be a serious attempt to bring more of Marvel’s Superheroes together into one large Marvel Universe.

The Incredible Hulk showed military attempts to subdue the green behemoth with the use of Tony Stark’s inventions. Robert Downey jr’s cameo quickly confirmed that this film was taking place in the same Marvel Universe as the previously released Iron Man.

Iron Man was followed by Iron Man 2, which gave hints to both Thor and Captain America and all of these characters will join into one team for The Avengers, after which Tony Stark will continue on with Iron Man 3 and Thor and Captain America will both proceed with their subsequent sequels. All of this neatly refers to one another, which begs the question: will The Amazing Spider-Man, coming July, also fit into this picture?

It is clear that the upcoming film of our favourite webslinger is a total reboot of Sam Raimi’s earlier films, which grossed more than a billion dollars worldwide. It is also very well known that The Fantastic Four is currently being developed into a rebooted franchise as well. Again, will they fit into this same Marvel Universe?

It is currently totally unclear where The X-Men stand on this matter. The X-Men have had 3 very successful films and one spinoff: Wolverine. But is X-Men: First Class a reboot? Or does it fit in with the earlier films and just play in an earlier time period? Would it then be possible to slide it into the currently constructed Marvel Universe or would that not be desirable?

(From First Class it was clear that Wolverine shares the same universe, but beyond this all bets are off. What will happen with Wolverine in his sequel? Who knows?)

Similar questions can be forwarded with regards BLADE, the character that originated in a Tomb of Dracula comic book. Blade has also had 3 fairly successful films but it is unknown if there are any current plans to go forward with this character. (It may be that the television series of a few years back killed off any remaining interest.)

The Punisher and Ghost Rider also seem to linger in limbo at the moment. (Both have had 2 films but in both cases the sequels were inferior to the first film. And no clue if any had taken place in a universe compatible with that of Iron Man and the Avengers.) And although it has been reported earlier that DAREDEVIL was also undergoing a reboot, nothing has been released about the development so far. The same goes for an upcoming television series for The Hulk.

We know also a Dr. Strange project is being developed but nothing has been announced of that yet. And considering Conan the Barbarian was so atrociously maltreated last year with that terrible Markus Nispel film, we’d best not even want to talk about that anymore. Or about Howard the Duck, a film produced by one George Lucas. Not his proudest moment perhaps? Well, both Conan and Howard can not really be called superheroes, so that’s okay. But in the comics both have been brought together with Spider-Man and other superheroes, so it might have been cool.

Of course, if the current slate of interrelated films works out okay, it would be wonderful if one could be expecting some time soon a film of heroes battling amongst themselves. Like the Hulk fighting the Thing from the Fantastic Four, or maybe even Spider-Man taking on Super-Man. Just think of it!!! Wouldn’t that be absolutely glorious???