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| The Batsuit of The Dark Knight, worn by Christian Bale. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Forgive my pedantry here, but there are feature film Remakes,
feature film Re-Adaptations of non-feature film material and – the subject of
this article - Reboots. When I read lists of good or bad remakes I often see a
mishmash of these three and yet each is quite different. Remakes are films that
make a clear attempt to produce a new version of a single film. A re-adaptation,
in the context of this article, describes a second or subsequent adaptation of
a novel, a play, video game or some other non-feature film source material. A
movie reboot occurs when an established franchise of films starts anew. The
overwhelming majority of reboots will start with a remake or a re-adaption, but
the motive of the producers is to refresh an established franchise anew,
disregarding previous continuities. A good reboot meets the torturous task of
doing justice to the core “spirit” of the original work with obvious respect whilst
laying believable foundations for the rest of the series. A bad reboot does the
complete opposite. Therefore, the purpose of this frivolous and unashamedly
geeky article is to put forward my favourite and least favourite attempts to refresh
a movie franchise.
If we look at the lists of movie franchises that have
occurred throughout the history of motion pictures, we note that post-2000
offers the greatest volume of examples. Remakes and Re-Adaptations are nothing
new in the movie world. The concept of both pre-dates the invention of feature
films, and can be seen in the history of plays. However, the Reboot marks the
establishment of the historic and continued success of an ongoing series, and
is a clear indication of the increasing presence of the hard-core fan element. That
clearly came into bloom around the turn of the 21st century and has
become a distinguishing feature of the movie-making industry in the early part
of that century. Rebooting has accelerated so much that we are getting more
than one attempt to re-boot a franchise occurring within shorter spaces of
time. We also have interesting
variations on the reboot, such as the “soft” re-boot whereby a franchise
re-starts as a sequel and either dismisses only some of the continuity, as in
“Superman Returns” or makes a clear new focus for the franchise, as in “G.I.
Joe Retaliation”. Despite growing
criticism over reboots, the nature of the franchise business indicates we will
be seeing an increasing number of them. It almost seems inevitable, but this
doesn’t mean that originality, creativity and artistic integrity have to go out
of the window.
Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy was the perfect
example of how far good style can take a regimented formula. I accept that his
three films meet all the cynical production-pleasing criteria; including being
obedient to the standard script structure that has become sickeningly
predictable in Hollywood blockbusters, but the film still succeeds as art in
spite of this conformity. All due credit should go to Tim Burton and Sam Raimi
for laying down some brave foundations in the superhero movie world, but what
set Nolan’s vision above most was his honouring the core spirit of the
character. By grounding Batman in a more realistic world carefully crafted in
an exaggerated noir style reminiscent of Bob Kane’s earliest work and the 1980s
work of Frank Miller via Alan Moore, Batman finally got the respect he
deserved. If we add to this the excellent casting of Christian Bale, Gary
Oldman, Heath Ledger and Tom Hardy, the finished product is not only the best
example of a reboot, but is also amongst the best movie trilogies.
Sadly there are more bad reboots than good and they don’t
even get the mitigation of being called heroic failures. 1998’s “Godzilla”
regarded its Kaijū genre source material in the same way the original monster regarded
Tokyo and hungrily stole from the Jurassic Park franchise. The attempts to
reimagine the titular character were so abstract and pompous that the single
film might as well have gone by a different name. What further qualifies it as
a terrible attempt at a reboot is its hackney-eyed ending. It is a throwback to
“Critters”, “Venom”, “Alligator” and other creature features that tagged on
these lazy cliff-hangers in hope they could make a sequel even if little actual
forethought had gone into this possible future film.
The attempted 2014 reboot of “RoboCop” gets a mention for
exhibiting near enough the same level of cynicism and consumerism the first
film sent up. Whatever the merchandizers were trying to do upon the release of
the first “RoboCop” film it is quite clear that Paul Verhoeven’s 18 certificate
cyberpunk satire was not a superhero film. However, it would appear that the creative
team behind the remake had other ideas and set their sights on 12a certificate
market. The commercial success of this film appeared to be a triumph of clinical
algorithm prediction over artistic integrity. It delivered to the lowest common
denominator, appealed to a wider new audience and, in a shallow move that is
now a patronising staple element in most remakes/reboots, it threw titbits to
supposedly please fans of the original franchise.
However, the soul of a franchise may yet be saved in the
same haven that has allowed a wide range of original drama to flourish. After “Hannibal
Rising” seemingly killed Thomas Harris’s franchise in both literary and filmic versions,
Bryan Fuller’s grotesquely brilliant “Hannibal” is the antithesis of bad
reboot. Nolan’s vision of Batman may have finished with his great trilogy, but
its spirit has risen within the even more understated and adult “Gotham”. The
acceptance of a patient audience that relishes a slow-burning plot and complex
character development to occur, regardless of the genre, provides creative
writers and directors with many possibilities. The strength of a franchise is
its ability to sustain the interest of its fans. Television provides the
perfect medium to achieve this objective, allowing a great movie idea to thrive
with less corporate influence.
Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com
