More on Comic Book Movies

I found this interesting "Open Letter" on the Internet the other day. We recently had a customer make some similar comments, and I know I've read many like it on the web.

The letter is called: "An Open Letter to Hollywood: Please, No More Shitty Comic Book Films" You can read the full letter by clicking here.

His premise is that yes, comic book movies are making tons of money. However, they could be loyal to comics and still appeal to the general public as well as comic book fans. He provides 5 "rules" for Hollywood to follow in order to accomplish this:

1. If You Don't Have A Script, Don't Start Filming
2. Not Every Comic Book Character Can Carry A Film
3. Lights. Camera. Action?
4. Know When To End A Good Thing
5. The World Needs A Justice League

Some of his points are pretty true to my experiences watching movies. Others are a little bit silly. I have a few tips for comic book fans who are quick to criticize the movies:

1. Understand that the movie is not always about a specific story, but rather a character, and therefore shouldn't be compared strictly with a comic.
2. Don't complain that there isn't enough action in the first movie - the general public doesn't have the information you do as to how the character got his/her powers, so give the storyteller the time to explain it.
3. Try to separate your love of the character from the love of film and see if the movie was entertaining as a movie before you condemn it for not living up to your high expectations.

I've had to keep these tips in mind myself sometimes. It is easy to knit-pick a movie when you have a preconceived notion of how it should be. But those of us not exposed to comic books probably don't have those preconceived ideas. And as long as comic book movies bring in big money, they'll keep making them.