Thoughts on Heroic Sacrifice

"Have you ever seen 'Pacific Rim?'" a friend of mine asked.  "Yeah," I answered. "Good movie, but it would have been better if the hero died in the end."  I'm given a strange look, and am left wandering if I sprouted an extra head.

(This post may contain spoilers for Pacific Rim, Spiderman 2, Cowboys and Aliens, and Suckerpunch)

In the climax of Pacific Rim, our hero pilots a disabled self-destructing mech into a portal to another dimension in the bottom of the ocean.  He sent his unconscious co-pilot girlfriend back to the surface in an escape pod, and we are led to believe that he is about to go down with his ship.  At this point in the movie, I actually started to believe that our hero might not live through the story, and that's something that rarely happens.  So, when he takes a second escape pod to the surface in the ta-da nick of time, I was pretty disappointed.  If he had died, it would have been a beautiful self sacrificing moment.  Dying to save not only the love of his life, but the world as we know it.  And as the hero had lost so much over the course of the story, for example the twin brother with whom he shared a telepathic link, loosing his life felt like a satisfactory end to his story arc.

Willingness to sacrifice ones self for others is a key part of the definition of a hero.  However, that sacrifice doesn't always have to be the protagonist's life.  Take 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' for example.  Han Solo spends the entire movie putting his own needs - paying off Jabba the Hutt - to the wayside in order to ensure Princess Leia's safety.

Another good example is Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's Spiderman Trilogy.  In the first movie, Peter scarifies the possibility of a future relationship with Mary Jane Watson because his secret life as Spiderman could put her life in jeopardy time and time again.  In Spiderman 2 Peter gives up the happiness of a normal life to put on the Spiderman suit again because he knows it's the right thing to do.  Spiderman 2 has a powerful line of repeated dialog that rivals "With great power comes great responsibility."  The gist of it is this: "Sometimes to do what is right we must give up what we want most; Even our dreams."  Peter isn't the only one who gets a heroic sacrifice in this story though.  The villain Doc Ock conquers his inner demons and saves New York City, atoning for his wrongdoing while giving up his life and scientific ambitions.


So, heroic sacrifice doesn't HAVE to be a character's life, but it CAN be.
In the criminally underrated movie 'Cowboys and Aliens' our heroine, Ella, is an alien who's race have been pretty much been wiped out by the same marauding aliens invading Earth.  To ensure that no other planets will be ravaged like her own had been, she makes her way to the heart of the Mothership and blows it, the invading aliens, and herself sky high.

Themes of self sacrifice can be found all throughout Zach Snyder's 2011 film Suckerpunch.  There are parallels between the lives of 3 of the characters: Babydoll, who after a failed attempt to protect her sister from an abusive stepfather is thrown into an insane asylum to keep her quiet.  Sweet Pea is equally protective of her younger sister Rocket.  In a scene that parallels the abuse scene in the beginning, Babydoll comes to Rocket's aid when she is slapped around by an abusive cook.  After this Babydoll and Sweet Pea form a bond, because they are both looking out for Rocket, who is a sister to Sweet Pea and like a sister to Baby Doll.

They, and a handful of other inmates, attempt escape the asylum, and to do so have to fight through several visually spectacular dream sequences.  Several of the girls are killed along the way, including Rocket, who dies to save her big sister Sweet Pea.  In the end only Sweet Pea and Babydoll remain.  Babydoll realizes that the only way either of them can escape is if one of them distracts the guards and is recaptured.  She doesn't even hesitate.

In the beginning of the story Babydoll's abusive stepfather bribes an orderly at the asylum to forge an order to have Babydoll lobotomized so she couldn't testify against him.  In the end of the movie Babydoll allows herself to be lobotomized.  Afterwards the doctors discover that there was a mistake, and root out the cause of the injustice.  The villains of the story fall into their own trap, all because of Babydoll's sacrifice, ending the story on a beautiful bittersweet note.

I think if you want to make your hero stand out, a little selflessness goes a long way.  A heroic sacrifice of some kind might be the way to go.

Old Dark House Mysteries - A Crash Course

 You walk towards the creepy old house (or maybe it's a crumbling castle) in a driving rain.  Thunder rolls in the background.  Perhaps your car broke down and you are seeking shelter from a storm.  Maybe you took the last ferry for the evening and cannot return to the mainland until morning.  Perhaps the bridge has washed out

Are you here as a guest?  Is an eccentric millionaire throwing a dinner party in order to lure all of his greatest enemies to the same place at the same time?  Perhaps you are in the will of your late rich uncle.

Regardless of your reason for entering the spooky old house on a dismal night such as this, you can expect the following to await you within: A collection of colorful guests with diverse reasons for being there, secret panels and passages, a lost treasure or hidden fortune that drives men to kill, and a killer on the loose (often a hooded figure to unmask or perhaps a gorilla with a taste for human flesh).

This is the 'Old Dark House' genre.  Repetitive, cliche, and oft parodied, but undeniably nostalgic.  If you've watched 'Abbot and Costello', classic 'Scooby Doo', or played the board game 'Clue' (or 'Cluedo' in Europe) you'd probably recognize an Old Dark House mystery when you saw one.

Where I live it's been a really wet spring, with rain for a solid week in May, and off and on so far in June.  There was a storm this afternoon.  It's the perfect time of year for this kind of story.

I just recently read John Willard's 1922 stage play 'The Cat and the Canary' which is said to be one of the first, and perhaps most influential, examples of the genre.  I had seen the 1927 silent film, and the 1939 version with Bob Hope, but a silent movie often has minimal dialog, and inflection is lacking.  The Bob Hope movie is a comedy, and I wanted a serious take on the story.  It never hurts to go back to the original source material.  I really enjoyed the play, reading it in a single afternoon, and would recommend reading it if you're interested.

"So, now that I've read 'Cat and the Canary' what next?" you may ask.  I'm glad you did.  I'll tell you.  Here are some Old Dark House movies that I personally enjoyed:

#1: House on Haunted Hill (1959).  This is a later Dark House movie, and I really feel like it dodges and plays around with the cliches.  Also, Vincent Prince is in this one.  'Nuff said right?

#2: And Then There Were None (1945).  Based on the Agatha Christie mystery of the same name.  This suspense story features 10 people trapped on an island.  Soon they are killed off one by one...  This movie is missing several common elements of an Old Dark House picture, such as secret passages and a killer in a mask, but it's still a very influential Old Dark House film.  The climax is different from the original book, however, giving the story your typical Hollywood happy ending.

#3: Dark and Stormy Night (2009).  An independent comedy from the creators of 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra'.  This movie spoofs a ton of classic Dark House movies.  Perhaps the most noticeable is 'Cat and the Canary,' because most Dark House stories take so many queues from the classic play.

#4: The Monster Walks (1932).  Been a while since I've seen this one, but it's a good Old Dark House movie of the gorilla suit variety.

#5: Horror Island (1941).  This movie is very Scooby Doo, with a get-rich-quick Sea Captain who tries to con tourists into staying at a 'Haunted' pirate castle and search for buried treasure.  Unfortunately, a 'Real' ghost shows up.

#6: Hold That Ghost (1941).  Abbot and Costello inherit a gangster's haunted house in this classic comedy.

#7: The Gorilla (1939).  Again, it's been ages since I've watched this one, so I forget the details.  But I enjoyed this comical mystery, and should watch it again in the near future.

So, there are a few suggestions for your next summer thunderstorm.  If you're already a fan of classic mysteries, and I missed your favorite Old Dark House story, be sure to tell me about it in the comments.

Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice - My initial reaction

I just saw Batman Vs. Superman yesterday evening with friends at our local second run theater.  It was just us guys, because two superheroes punching each other in the face was deemed as too masculine by all the girls that I hang out with.

Did I enjoy the movie?  Overall, yes.  I don't think it deserves the mixed to negative reviews it received.  And I think those negative reviews tainted my movie going experience.  For example, I was informed by everyone on the internet that BVS is a confusing muddled mess.  So every time I was just a little bit confused by what was going on, rather than waiting for the story to make sense as it progressed, I would rush to judgement and say, "I'm confused by this!  The critics were right! This movie is stupid!" Even though about 95% of the time what I found confusing was either explained later, or was something I had forgotten from "Man of Steel" which I haven't watched in well over a year.

You'd think that with all of the movies I love that have flopped at the box office I'd be immune to the opinions of critics by now.  But in the 21st century "group think" is so prevalent.  Good media and bad media are determined by the masses.  Opinion is now absolute fact.  I think if we all lived in a bubble and decided for ourselves what we did and didn't like, we'd get more out of entertainment AND be more rounded individuals.

I don't really know yet if I liked or didn't like BVS.  I would need to see it again, preferably after re-watching "Man of Steel."  But I know what I DID like.

Batman's origin.  There is a school of thought that superhero origins in movies are no longer relevant and just bog the story down.  We all know how Thomas and Martha Wayne were gunned down by a mugger outside a movie theater because you already told us about it in Batman, Batman Forever, Batman Begins, and the TV series Gotham.  But it was so well done here in BVS.  I love the way Zack Snyder weaves the mugging and Bruce's discovery of the Batcave together, all with minimal dialog while the opening credits play.  It's a beautifully done sequence, and it doesn't take any more than 5 minutes.

Batman and Alfred's interaction.  These were some of the best moments in the movie for me.  Alfred's dry humor was spot on perfect.  This is very much a grim-and-gritty-post Christopher Nolan DC comics movie, but most of the laughs this movie got from me were either from Alfred or Perry White.  As you may recall there was a great deal of internet outrage when Ben Affleck of 2003's "Daredevil" was cast as "Batffleck" but he really is terrific as Batman.  What was that I was saying earlier about popular opinion not always being right?

Wonder Woman.  I really didn't expect Diana Prince/Wonder Woman to be as cool as she was, but she has a mysterious bad girl quality in her introduction, and great action sequences in the climax.  Some people in my gang thought she hogged the spotlight too much in the climax, but if you put Wonder Woman it your movie, you do need to use her.

Lex Luthor.  The Lex of BVS is another polarizing element of this movie.  Yes, he is an obnoxious little twerp.  Some fans resent the fact that this movie turned Superman's nemesis into a twerp.  But twerpy as he may be, he is also truly menacing, and a diabolical chess-master.

Visuals/Action.  This is a no-brainer.  It's a Zack Snyder movie.  Awesome stylized visuals and great action sequences are a big part of why you watch.  Going in I knew that even if the movie was a train-wreck, it would be a truly spectacular train-wreck.

What didn't I like?

The surreal dream sequences.  Particularly that middle one, where Post Apocalyptic Batman fights Post Apocalyptic Superman in the Post Apocalypse.  This entire sequence is too long and, as near as I can tell, rather pointless.  It seems like Zack Snyder was trying to repeat "Suckerpunch" in this scene.  Now I for one like Suckerpuch.  It's in my top 10 really weird artsy movies.  But BVS isn't Suckerpunch.  It's Batman Vs. Superman.

(Spoiler Alert) WORSE than this dream sequence is the Flash cameo.  Time traveling Flash from the future pops out of Bruce Wayne's computer screen to warn Bruce about future stuff stating "Lois Lane is the Key!" and, when Bruce is just as confused as the audience, Flash states that he "Was too soon."  So.  Is this about the climax of this movie, in which Lois does play a role?  Or is it about the upcoming Justice League movie?  Because Flash wasn't in the climax of this movie, and shouldn't have known how Lois would be involved---!

So, I don't think BVS is a perfect movie, but it is an enjoyable movie if you have the intention of enjoying it going in.  Few movies are perfect.  Don't let that stop you from watching them and forming your own opinions about them.  Because if you just listen to the critics all the time you could miss a few gems.  I know I almost did.

Perils Of Nyoka (1942)

The 1942 serial "Perils of Nyoka" (Re-released under the title "Nyoka and the Tigermen") is a sequel to the 1941 serial "Jungle Girl".  Sort of.  Except for the part were it really isn't a sequel at all.

This serial stars Kay Aldridge as Nyoka GORDON, whereas Jungle Girl featured Frances Gifford as Nyoka MEREDITH.  Nyoka Meredith's father Dr. John Meredith was murdered in chapter 1 of "Jungle Girl", and "Perils of Nyoka" concerns Nyoka Gordon's search for her father Dr. Henry Gordon.  Nyoka Meredith swings around on vines, and Nyoka Gordon hangs out in the desert with her friendly native Bedouin buddies.  Get the picture?

But "Perils Of Nyoka" is a sequel in spirit.  This serial has plenty on globe trotting adventure, treasure hunting, and death traps.  And for those of us who are fans of people wearing gorilla costumes, Queen Vultura's pet ape Satan appears in almost every chapter.  Some people think that "Perils" is actually a better serial than "Jungle Girl".  I personally prefer Jungle Girl, but "Perils" is in my top 5 favorite cliffhangers.

So.  What's so great about "Perils of Nyoka?"

The Music.  This may be odd thing to talk about in a review of this sort, but I love the opening theme.  In my opinion "Perils" has the best music of any cliffhanger serial.

The Villains.  Queen Vultura is up there with great serial villains like Ming the Merciless and Fu Manchu.  Visually she is memorable, and, dare I say iconic?  She assassinates people with her poison ring, she masquerades first as Nyoka and later as a native sun goddess, and she has a legion of arabs and her afore mentioned pet gorilla at her command.  Actress Lorna Gray has also appeared as the heroine in serials such as Captain America (1944) and Daughter of Don Q (1946) but she really shines as this native Femme Fatale.




The Action.  While most serials have a brawling fistfight every chapter in which the heroes break all the  furniture in a room, this serial shakes it up with a swashbuckling swordfight in chapter 1.  We also get breaking suspension bridges, spike traps, human sacrifice, ect. ect.  My favorite chapter endings include a pit-and-the-pendulum style sacrificial altar, where the altar lifts to meet the pendulum rather than the pendulum descending, and a trap where cave winds threaten to blow our heroes out of a tunnel and over the edge of a cliff.

Why do I feel this serial is slightly weaker that "Jungle Girl?"

Our Heroine.  This Nyoka doesn't lead the action the same way Nyoka Meredith did in "Jungle Girl".  She gets knocked out pretty much every time she's in a fight, and is rescued by her boyfriend Larry (Played by the future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore) or her dog Fang, far more often than she escapes herself or bails out the guys when they get into trouble.

Fang is basically like Lassie in this story, to the point where are Nyoka is constantly locking the helpful canine in his cage or tying off his leash just so she can get into trouble easier!

The Globe Trotting.  Yep, one of the things that makes this serial great is also one of the things that weakens it.  After awhile all the trap filled lost temples our heroes need to explore in order to find the next clue on their treasure hunt start to feel a little redundant.  And then in the final chapter their quest takes them right back to where they started.  So, all of that traveling feels a little pointless.  Would it have helped if this serial was 12 chapters instead of 15?  Maybe.

But those aren't good reasons to NOT watch this serial.  If you love a good action adventure romp, go check this out ASAP.




Fawcett Comics published an adaption of this serial, which led to the Golden Age comic series "Nyoka the Jungle Girl".  Most of these comics are now public domain and can be read for free here.

Perils of Nyoka (Fan Art)

It's been awhile since I've done any Fan Art (and all the old artwork I posted on this blog makes me cringe now). Since my blog description includes Fan Art I decided it was high time I did some.

Here's a digital drawing I made of Nyoka Gordon, the evil Queen Vultura, and Satan the Gorilla from the 1942 cliffhanger serial "Perils of Nyoka" aka "Nyoka and the Tigermen."

You can expect a review of Perils of Nyoka sometime in the near future.  It the meantime, if you have any Fan Art Requests, leave them in the comments!

Thoughts on the MacGyver Reboot Trailer

So.

CBS is rebooting MacGyver.

They just released a Trailer last week.

I mentioned this in an earlier post: MacGyver was one of my childhood heroes.  As such I have mixed feelings about the whole reboot thing.  But I'm trying to keep an open mind.

Richard Dean Anderson played Mac for seven seasons.  The newcomer, Lucas Till, has seven years worth of RDA's shadow to overcome.  And a haircut that looks like Harry Styles from One Direction.  The Richard Dean Anderson mullet was awesome.  Why does the MacGyver of the 21st century look like he belongs in a boy band?  Hopefully Lucas Till will either get a new stylist, or wear a ponytail for most of the show.  I could live with the ponytail.

I don't have a problem with the actor Lucas Till.  True, I've only seen him in X-men: First Class, but I thought he was good in that movie.

Original series creator Lee David Zlotoff is involved in the new series to some degree, so that's promising.

So, aside from the hair, what are some concerns I have about the show?

Target audience.  If this show is aimed at original fans or people who grew up with it because their parents liked it, well, reboot MacGyver will have to bend over backwards to appease these fans.  If it's aimed primarily at a new audience, that's a different story.  But it will have to win over people who have maybe never even heard of MacGyver and need to be convinced that he's the Bees Knees.

Original series MacGyver was a show that could be enjoyed by all ages, but I believe it may appeal most to young boys.  Hopefully this show will keep it kid friendly.  In this day and age, sex sells.  80's MacGyver had a girl of the week every week, but was always a perfect gentleman.  Hopefully the show creators will keep that element from the original show, as I personally believe it's a key part of Mac's character.

Character:  Speaking of Mac's character, Lucas Till comes across as a bit of a cocky showoff in this trailer.  MacGyver isn't a showoff.

Supporting cast.  One complaint I've seen online is how this show is adding so many new characters.  In a way this makes sense.  Modern audiences are used to seeing a core group of heroes and continuing storylines, rather than be introduced to new supporting characters with new problems each episode, then have the hero ride in like the Lone Ranger, and resolves everything in 45 minutes.  But MacGyver did have a supporting cast.  Peter Tornton was a regular, Jack Dalton, Penny Parker, and Nikki Carpenter were all recurring.  Some people in online forums and comment sections are asking why not simply bring back these classic characters?

I see this logic, but on  the other hand, do you really want to see a new actor playing Pete Tornton?  Or Jack Dalton?  As hard as MacGyver's shoes are to fill, it may be even harder for the quirky side characters like Jack Dalton or Penny Parker.

There's also the concern that having MacGyver leading a team of field experts on weekly missions could be a bit to much like all the police procedurals that are all over the place.

Humor.  There's a joke right at the end of the trailer, where Mac asks, "Does anyone have a stick of gum?" Pause. "Or a cue tip?"  Yes, it's funny.  But it's also a joke at MacGyver's expense.  Sometimes there's a fine line between a wink at the fans and self parody.

So, with all that wining out of the way, what did I like about the trailer?

The added backstory.  This MacGyver escaped from terrorists using a little bit of nothing to make a homemade explosion and blow open his cell door.  It looks a little bit  like Iron Man's origin, and it brings Mac into 2016 nicely.

The part were he tricks the fingerprint scanner.  This is something Mac did all the time on the original show.

That exploding arrow made from PVC pipe. THAT'S SO COOL ! ! !

The new logo. Yes this is a small thing, but it helps differentiate from the original show.  I love the way Mac's iconic Swiss Army Knife becomes the V in MacGyver.

So, is this enough to convince me to watch the show?  I honestly don't know yet.  Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm trying to keep an open mind.  I may try out the first couple episodes.  It will either be an enjoyable show, or it will cause me to weep over my RDA MacGyver DVDs.  Because we'll always have Paris, right?

How I Would Fix the Prequel Star Wars Trilogy

Welcome to the first installment of "How I would Fix" in which I and all of my Hubris take works of fiction that are less than critically acclaimed and try to make them better.

Have you ever heard of this thing called The Machete Order? The idea was to create an order in which one can view all of the Star Wars movies without pesky spoilers for first time viewers.  By watching A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Attack of the Clones (Phantom Menace is apparently skippable) Revenge of the Sith, and lastly, Return of the Jedi, one experiences the whole story, but all of the twists in Empire Strikes Back are left intact.

Which got me thinking.  Why didn't George Lucas just make the prequels in-between 'Empire' and 'Return'?  My idea is this: After the climactic battle with Darth Vader, Luke returns to Dagobah to finish his training, build a new lightsabre, and get some answers from Obi Wan Kenobi, before retuning to Tatooine to rescue Han.  After the whole 'You told me Darth Vader murdered my Father.' 'What I said was the truth...from a certain point of view.' bit from Return of the Jedi, Obi Wan launches into the story of what really happened.  The entire Prequel series is now a frame story, narrated by Obi Wan  Kenobi, and if possible all squished into one movie.

Because, lets face it.  How much of the Prequel series is really important?  The relationship between Obi Wan and Anakin.  Friends turned enemies.  Anakin's relationship with the Emperor.  The rise of the Empire.  And finally, the 'love story' between Anakin and Padme, which is only important to show that Anakin had kids.

If the story is told from Obi Wan's point of view, two of these four elements can be pushed to the back burner.  The love story can be in the background.  Hey, Anakin and Padme could potentially be married and the beginning of the story.  They could already have kids between the ages of 1 and 3.  The Emperor's rise to power can also be downplayed.  We know about the Empire from the original movies.  Do we really need to see the details?  We do need to see how the Emperor manipulates Anakin, but that's about it.  I think these elements could easily fit into one story.

The best part of all this is it fixes some of the problems with 'Return of the Jedi'.  That minor reveal about Luke and Leia?  After the BIG reveal about Darth Vader in 'Empire Strikes Back' it feels lazy, anti-climatic and tacked-on.  Now that would be revealed in back-flash form in this third movie, rather that at the last minute.

So.  That's my solution.  Rather then two trilogies, we have the Star Wars Quartet.

As for a title for this third movie, I would pitch: 'Star Wars: Rise of the Sith,' or 'Star Wars: Fall of Skywalker,' or possibly 'Star Wars: Legend of Vader.'

Let me know how you would fix the prequel Star Wars movies in the comments.