6 problems with modern blockbusters

The difference between PG-13 and R can be rather minuscule, the problem is that because they made the conscious choice to hit PG-13 the movie lost a lot of the impact that came from the R rated violence. Expertly made PG-13 movies can have the same impact, sometimes even more because they leave the carnage to the imagination. The Dark Knight and The Lord of the Rings are examples of movies that were no less intense for being PG-13.

I'll go on the record and say that I thought Genesys was the best of the three sequels to the original duology.

Sure, it was unfocused, chaotic, relied too much on there being a couple of sequels that if the studios that made it think too much about the catastrophically low US box office numbers, will never be made, and had a miscast Kyle Reese, but it was enjoyable, watchable popcorn entertainment.

The problem was that that was all it aspired to be.

The proper Terminator films, those starring Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger (I typed that from memory rather than looking it up on the net for how to spell it - witness me!), and directed by James Cameron, with Gale Anne Hurd producing the films and reigning in his excesses, were much more than that.

The harder rating allowed them to explore issues far more complex than Genesys ever could.

Random wondering.

What are some speculative fiction, especially superhero genre, works that actually suffered because of lack of origin story?

The only superhero movie I can think of that didn't have an origin story is Hancock and that was pretty good.

edited 29th Sep '15 8:08:17 PM by washington213

I don't think that we ever had a Superhero lead whose origin story wasn't told at one point.

Yeah, superhero origins are either the focus of the story or told in flashbacks or expositive dialogue. But they're never completely absent from the story

I mean, fleshing out a character is more or less basic story-telling, Superhero or not. A good movie shows the audience what the main character is doing with his life and why he is doing it.

To be fair to Fury Road, it WAS the clear victor in terms of profit (and, well, everything else) not too long ago. The only reason Genisys zoomed past it was because it eventually got released in China, which FR didn't see the light of day in.

But just how confident Skydance is in continuing the sub-series is another story. They can wipe the sweat of their brows for now, but they're probably going to seriously reconsider making back-to-back sequels.

The closest we got to a first superhero film without an origin story was The Incredible Hulk, which started In Media Res. But even then they gave a reader's digest version of his origin in the opening credits.

edited 30th Sep '15 9:39:35 AM by comicwriter

Well, there was The Incredibles.

Except The Incredibles was kind of an origin story for the children of the family. But, yeah, this might be the superhero franchise which started the furthest away from an origin story.

Speaking of The Incredible Hulk...that actually IS a movie in which I would have liked a little bit more explanation. Like, what compelled Bruce to participate in a dangerous experiment like this, why did he hurt Betty back then but then the Hulk acted protective of her aso.

Also in The Incredibles, we got the villain's origin story. Or at least, more of his origin than we got for Mr Incredible or Elastigirl.

Origin stories are a part of any story that involves hyper-realistic elements. In the original Star Wars film, Obi-Wan had to give a short monologue about what the force is and its relation to the Jedi because there had to be some exposition related to Worldbuilding. Even Cowboy Bebop, a series famous for never really telling backstory, has some exposition on the astral gate explosion and even a short dialogue at the beginning about humanity spreading across the solar system. Once the rules are set you can skip the layman's terms.

But the problem with dedicated Origin Stories is that no matter how hard you try to make them connect it usually ends up being two stories, the explanation of origin and their first significant confrontation. Even the first Iron Man falls into that issue, because Tony's inspiration and efforts to create a suit of armor is ultimately unconnected to Stane's collaboration with the Ten Rings (Once he takes the mk III into battle, Tony has nothing more to do character-wise until Stane makes a move against him).

edited 30th Sep '15 6:01:23 PM by KJMackley

Yeah, I agree with this. I think the only movie which kind of manages the balance is Ant-Man, it is slightly different structured than other origin story movies which spend some time on figuring out the powers of the hero.

It's also become a bit of a Seinfeld Is Unfunny situation. We've seen so many superhero origins at this point that it's hard to do a truly exciting or inventive one.

the incredible pull a Watchman by showing world of superhero before the main issue happen, with fury road it tell the only things to know, increible show you a new world.

It works better when the origin and confrontation are part of the same plotline, as in Batman Begins with Ras al Ghul.

It also help Ra in origin its less and adaptation and pretty much a Nolan villian with some nods to comic world, by doing that you focus in batman without having to adapt more on comic.

But is unique case with Batman since origins then to be skiped a lot, he jump to child from murder parent to batman pretty quick.

Compare with Antman who have origin story, it was necesary because he have bad luck of being the "aquaman" of Marvel, so you need to sell the concept to the public, it depends.

Folks, we already have a Cracked topic, and this veers way too close to "here's this news article, now let's complain about what it discusses" for comfort.