Welcome back to Comic Book Guy—your go-to for breaking down Hollywood’s comic book adaptations, with all the depth, nuance, and snark they deserve. We will be taking a look back at the studio's past comic book-laden seasons, starting with Season 2, where we’ve got an eclectic mix of neon-drenched dystopias, scarab-powered teenagers, and philosophical crime-fighters with no face.
This time around we will take a look at Season 2's output (we're skipping Season 1 due to a lack of comic book content)....
It’s Akira, but American, which is about as sacrilegious as putting pineapple on pizza. James McTeigue’s adaptation shifts the action to “Neo-Manhattan,” because apparently Tokyo wasn’t relatable enough. Dylan O’Brien plays Kaneda as if someone just told him a motorcycle is all you need to fix global dystopia, while Ezra Miller’s Tetsuo spends two hours as an emo bomb. The visuals are stunning, sure, but this film is all style, no soul, and the third act devolves into a mutant CGI blob-fest that would make Michael Bay’s Transformers blush. If you’ve never seen the original, you might enjoy this. If you have, prepare to scream “Noooooo!” into the void.
BLUE BEETLE
Blue Beetle is what happens when someone says, “Let’s make Spider-Man but swap the spider for an alien bug.” Aramis Knight is perfectly serviceable as Jaime Reyes, but it’s Scoot McNairy as Ted Kord who really steals the show as the film’s grumpy, tech-savvy mentor. Robert Rodriguez directs with his signature flair, but the film plays it painfully safe. The Reach aliens are just menacing enough to make you worry about the characters but not enough to be memorable, and the high school drama feels ripped straight from a CW series. Oh, and the Scarab itself? Equal parts terrifying and overly convenient plot device. It’s a fun, somewhat forgettable origin story that sets up the studio's DC Comics Universe in a modest fashion.
THE QUESTION
Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Question is a moody fever dream of faceless justice, featuring Ryan Gosling as Vic Sage, a.k.a. the guy who kicks butt, solves mysteries, and somehow makes being featureless look fashionable. Between Hong Chau’s effortlessly lethal Lady Shiva and Mads Mikkelsen’s cryptic Richard Dragon, the film oozes noir vibes and kung-fu Zen in equal measure. The plot feels like a mashup of Drive and Sin City with John Malkovich chewing scenery as the corrupt mayor of Hub City. It’s not exactly subtle, but then again, subtlety is for superheroes with faces.
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