People vs. Reboots

People vs. Reboots

You may love them, you may hate them, but at the end of the day, they will exist. Reboot or not, comicbook fans and critics must learn to review these films as if the original does not exist.

Editorial Opinion
By RextheKing - Jun 16, 2013 08:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Other
Rebooting a comicbook franchise causes mix feelings in comicbook fans, and reviewers; Some, like me, are excited because we personally do not feel like waiting 10 years to see one of our favorite comicbook characters, who's trilogy just ended, back on the big screen. Some people hate them, because they feel the original or the latest version is "too perfect" and "shouldn't be touched." I do not blame anyone for how they feel about reboots, but you must learn how to review them.

The reason why people, like me, enjoys reboots, is because we love to see other people visions of our favorite superheroes, and we do not like waiting years and years before we get too. If the Batman reboot were to come out next year, I'd be super happy, because I do not feel like waiting 10 years for a reboot because some fans and critics thought the original was "too perfect." Nothing will happen to Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy just because a reboot exist, and that's the way I look at it. I've actually been in a lot of argument over this with the upcoming The Crow reboot. Yes the original was amazing, but it will still be amazing even if a good or bad reboot exist.

The Amazing Spider-Man a reboot to Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, has had a lot of mixed feelings with the fans and critics. The majority of those who do not like the film, will bring up and/or compare the film to Raimi's Spider-Man. They say "It's way too early for a Spider-Man reboot" which yes it was a little early, but Sony had no plans of giving Spider-Man back to Marvel, so they had to act quick and I don't blame them. Even with the early rebooting and the reasoning behind rebooting, The Amazing Spider-Man is still not Raimi's Spider-Man and should not even be compared. The Amazing Spider-Man wasn't a bad film because Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was great, but many cannot see it this way. The same thing is happening with Man of Steel right now, but mostly from the critics. Zack Snyder's Superman is not Donner's Superman, so no comparisons should be made. Man of Steel is not a bad film because Donner's Superman films were great. I'm not one of those people that hate Superman Returns, but I watched Man of Steel for the first time today and it is a shame to say that on RT the score for Superman returns is higher than Man of Steel's.

At the end of the day, if your judgment over a film will be clouded due to the fact that it's a reboot, just do not see the film. Adding undeserved negativity to the film, because you never planned to like the film to begin with, shows a great amount of immaturity from those that do it. We all just need to grow up, and accept the fact that reboots will exist, they must be reviewed fairly, and if you can't find yourself to do it, their is no need for you to make anymore reason for yourself to hate it, by seeing the film.
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tonytony
tonytony - 6/17/2013, 3:39 AM
Every idiot and their dog reckons they know superman and a lot of the bad reviews are people who dont read any comics but reckon they are superman experts after watching a movie made 40 years ago with superman reversing time by flying round the planet and throwing the s from his chest. These people are absolutely pathetic.
fortycals
fortycals - 6/17/2013, 6:03 AM
I see where you are coming from, but you can't blame someone for comparing a reboot to the original, just like I can't blame a person for comparing a cbm to the source. I don't really like either comparison, but I can't blame others for doing it. How many times do we see completely different movies being compared like avengers and dark knight, but comparing a reboot to the original is now somehow wrong? As much as you try to go in with a open mind, the comparision is always going to be there because you are going to like one more than the other. Its hard to evaluate a reboot on its own merits, because a reboot doesn't stand on its own merits. A reboot is taking something that has been done, and doing it again only different. Its using an already established franchise, and the same characters and story, why should it be judged as an original, when it is banking every on something that's been done before.
fortycals
fortycals - 6/17/2013, 6:12 AM
@tonytony

You act like those are the worst cases of pis in supes history. In the comics supes has done far stranger and plain old wrong things. Of course post crisis supes is a whole lot better when it comes to those things, but you can't just forget Thirty plus years of writers giving supes every power/feat under the sun. Some people are quick to bash the donner flicks to make this one sound better, but you guys are doing the samething the critics are doing, letting your love/hate cloud your judgement for the new movie.
tonytony
tonytony - 6/17/2013, 9:48 AM
@fortyycals im not dissing the past stuff. All i am doing is pointing out that some of the reasons given by the negative critics is foolish in my opinion and maybe more proof that todays critics are out of touch with the source material they know nothing or very little about and the audiences today.
Also the reviewer is trying to influence people in one way but if that reviewer is carrying baggage or hate towards that production team and will score it low no matter what then they desrve to be called on it.
RextheKing
RextheKing - 6/17/2013, 10:06 AM
I should of made it more clear in my article, but what I mean by comparing is that using it to say the reboot is bad because the original was better, is not right. Like me saying The incredible Hulk sucks because by comparison it's not as good as Ang Lee's Hulk(which is not true, I just made something up).
fortycals
fortycals - 6/17/2013, 10:48 AM
@tonytony
Ok my bad, just been hearing a lot of poo being flung at the originals lately. As a comic fan I completly understand where you are coming from, but I don't expect a "movie" critic to compare a movie to the true source, the comic. A movie critic is going to compare it to what they and most people know supes from. If all they ever known was superman movies, lois and clark and smallville, they would have a different view of superman as some who reads the books. Just like people who only read silver age supes, wouldn't have the same view of supes, as the kid who only knows the new 52. It doesn't make their opinion worth less/more than yours.
fortycals
fortycals - 6/17/2013, 10:58 AM
@rex
I do think one shouldn't affect the other, theorically, but its hard to do that. You are going to like one or the other more, its just the way it is. Its not wrong for you to say so. I am not a big superman fan, but the donner films hold a special place in my heart(and a lot of other peoples heart) and nothing short of a epic MoS movie was going to knock it off. That's the whole problem with doing a reboot of a classic, it will always be compared to the original, and anything you change is going to piss someone off.
RobGrizzly
RobGrizzly - 6/17/2013, 11:08 AM
I think comparisons with all reboots are inevitable and there is nothing wrong with that.

By nature of the reboot, a filmmaker is essentially saying "I can make this story better/relevant/different" whatever and thus, invites comparison, whether they like it or not.

Of course in an ideal world we can ask to just 'accept everything' and hold hands and skip around in a field of flowers, or we can challenge filmmakers. Challenge them to do better. I mean, if you're going to tell a story again, what will you bring to the table?
There's nothing wrong with asking this.

It applied to Amazing Spider-Man more than anything because, yes, we just had a slew of movies, so there was no need to go back. Yes, Sony was going to loose the rights, so the movie exists purely for monetary purposes, which is not cool. And yes, when you look at the film, it doesn't actually improve on anything or say anything differently than previous versions, leaving to question "what was the point?"

Man of Steel is a different animal. Superman as a character NEEDED the reboot. Spider-man didn't. Snyder and co. had a completely different vision on how to ground the character and make him feel more real- it so so far removed from Donner's films that the comparisons this time, are unfair. If the public won't let the Donner movies go, Superman can never evolve.
jmorin
jmorin - 6/17/2013, 12:37 PM
There's no need to compare a reboot to other iterations in the context of a review because saying you like one more than the other is not a review, it's just a meaningless, purely subjective opinion. But that's what people are doing. They are rating a movie based of what they wanted to see in it. They have a pre-conceived notion in their head about what a particular movie is meant to deliver and if they don't get that, they say it was terrible. Well it wasn't. Maybe they didn't like it, but it wasn't terrible.

Anyway, people should be clamoring for a new take on characters and stories. Otherwise, there is no reason to revisit the material. If Henry Cavill doesn't do his Clark Kent like Christopher Reeve did, perfect. He shouldn't. That's the whole point of doing something new.

Likewise, I don't see the point in comparing a movie to the comic books (again in the context of a review). It's my same point from above. Saying "Superman wouldn't do that" doesn't make it a bad movie. It's just you being disappointed that the writer(s) didn't faithfully adhere to the source material. Most people that go to these movies don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of comic books. "Oh I hated the ending because Superman doesn't do 'that'" Well, apparently he has on occasion and you're wrong. Do you still hate the ending? "Well they shouldn't have had in do it" Were you in the writers room? Do you know why they made that choice?

Finally, comic book movies are the last type of movie that anyone should be upset about a reboot. How many hundreds of story arcs have there been for all the various heroes? How many costume changes and modifications? How many times has a hero thought to have been dead only to be brought back to life. I mean, rebooting and retelling and retcon is what comics are all about. If you don't think another [insert comic hero] movie should be made, then do you also think they should just stop writing the books too? "Oh Christ, not another damned Batman comic!!"
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 6/17/2013, 1:26 PM
I think our love of both the originals and of continuity are just a couple of good reasons we hate needless reboots.
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