Today's Double News: Hercules into the wild

How's about sum' news, yo?:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156010/nieuwe_trailer_hercules_online

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155999/opvolger_nieuwe_wildernis_in_de_maak

The rule that success at the box office guarantees a sequel is not limited to fiction films. When enough money is made, even documentaries require a follow-up of sorts by an insatiable studio. Of course, the 'of sorts' bit is what is most poignant here, as it's open to interpretation just how such a sequel should built on what came before. After all, a documentary dealing with a specific subject can basically cover everything there is to say about that and not leave room for more of the same about the subject, thus rendering a sequel a blatant redundancy. So it is with De Nieuwe Wildernis in my mind. The point has been made well enough: the Oostvaardersplassen are a beautiful nature preserve that doesn't actually preserve nature as it used to be, but nature as it can be, aided by humanity's graces. You can shoot more breathtakingly splendid shots of horses prancing about, foxes hunting or all manner of birds generally being pretty, but it would add little of consequence. A new angle is what makes it stand out, and it seems distributor Dutch Filmworks has found one. And so this sequel isn't really a sequel, just equipped with a title - the Dutch version at least - that creates all the right expectations from an audience that fondly remembers its "predecessor" and hopes to be dazzled by nature's beauty once more. And yes, it does show the Oostvaardersplassen again. But not solely that area, as it is incorporated into a mosaic of European nature in general. And since the movie is made by Frenchmen who conceived of their angle independently from De Nieuwe Wildernis, expect a different kind of documentary. It's good to know Dutch audiences will soon get the chance to be familiarized by the splendour of forests and wildlife outside of Holland too, so they'll know where to plan their next vacation. As for the possibility of a direct follow-up, I think it surely exists. There's other nature preserves in the Netherlands worthy of being immortalized on film, you know. How about National Park the Meinweg in Limburg? Or the Hoge Veluwe? Why not focus on the wacky antics of beavers in the Biesbosch, that ought to attract a crowd. An actual sequel to De Nieuwe Wildernis really isn't outside the realm of possibility. Just as long as people stay away from the depicted area after having been delighted by the film instead of going around trampling nature's beauty en masse, I'm all for it.

This second Hercules trailer makes me a bit more hesitant about the project that the first. Those fabulous Twelve Labours of his only form part of the background story apparently, so most, if not all, of the neat monster action seen in this trailer will not be featured as extensively as I had hoped in the movie proper. Instead, the plot will focus on Herc's latter days as a mercenary, saving a kingdom and a beautiful princess from tyrannical oppression. Sounds a bit too familiar a plot for my taste. Not much different from what The Legend of Hercules was all about earlier this year, except with a bigger cast and budget (good thing too, makes it look less than a crappy video game). Also fairly reminiscent of Dwayne Johnson's own The Scorpion King. Still good for a laugh no doubt, but not as spectacular as recanting all Twelve Labours in full would have been. And there's still no movie that does justice to that complete Hercules epic, it's always served in bits and pieces instead. This story would really be better suited for a TV series, also considering its rather episodic nature. I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen eventually (preferably on HBO with lots of nudity and gore and all the other niceties of life). But for now, we have to make the best we can with partial retellings of the myth, some good (hopefully), most not so much (like the last one). I remain skeptic as to what category this particular rendition will end up belonging to, though I can guess.

Today's Double News: Hercules ain't part of the Avengers yet here

Must post more news, must post more news!:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154668/eerste_trailer_dwayne_johnsons_hercules

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154639/nieuwe_setbeelden_avengers_age_of_ultron

This Hercules is more like it. All kinds of monsters and supernatural elements present, just as the original Greek myth offered aplenty. It's amazing there hasn't yet been a Hercules/Herakles movie to do those elements of the story justice. You wish Ray Harryhausen had made a movie about the demi-god in his time. It seems this is the closest we will ever get, even though the central part of the story isn't about the Twelve Labours (so I wouldn't hope for too much solid monster action just yet). Instead, it's about Herc playing a merc and fighting a tyrant to save a kingdom. That sounds a little bit too much like The Scorpion King (The Rock's breakthrough in the film business), which in itself was doing a derivative job of the Eighties' Conan the Barbarian franchise. In fact, apart from the monsters and the instantly recognizable "brand name" Hercules, there's very little here that seems to set this story apart from Scorp. Oh well, at least it looks to be a fun action flick, with a good cast. And sorry Dwayne, I'm not referring to you. I'm talking about established GBAs (Grand British Actors) like John Hurt and Ian McShane. Plus less grand but still very British actors like Peter Mullan, Joseph Fiennes and Rufus Sewell. Why is it that action flicks like these always have to rely on Britain's top talent to carry the acting, while the Americans only show off their muscles? Acting your way out of a CGI heavy film like this, now that's a real Labour!

And we got our first glimpses of several new highly anticipated Marvel characters as photos from the Italian set of Avengers: Age of Ultron leaked. First off, there's Magneto's kids siblings Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. It seems this Quickie retained his familiar thunder bolt patterned costume while the one from X-Men: Days of Future Past keeps his ties to the Mutant Master of Magnetism. Scarlet however looks little like her top model outfit sporting equivalent from the comics (too bad really!), or even her Ultimate Universe counterpart (unlike Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, also present on these pics). It seems they made up a girlie costume appropriate for her intended age for this movie. However, her hexing moves are straight out of the comics, so there's at least some tribute to those at least. I wonder how they're gonna explain these kids' powers if they're not allowed to call them mutants. Was Quicksilver bitten by a radioactive/genetically engineered roadrunner perhaps? As for Scarlet Witch, how do you probably explain altering the laws of probability by using spells in a scientifically sound manner? Last but not least, we may have our first glimpse of the titular nemesis, the maniacal robot Ultron. Or at least, we see a guy wearing some sort of armour which kinda resembles Ultron. Otherwise, there's little robot-ey to the suit. I reckon this is a stand-in giving the kids something to work with on set. Or some Italian fan who ran onto set after avoiding the heavy set security. This has yet to be confirmed by Marvel.

Today's News: Hercules fights his way through another trailer

This just in:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152015/nieuwe_trailer_the_legend_of_hercules

Despite a new and slicker title, it seems there's still little to look forard to in this particular Hercules flick. It has all the hallmarks of a modern B-movie: a cast of mostly unknown actors, fairly digital and unconvincing effects, a director who hasn't produced anything of note in over a decade and a visual style that rips off the latest trends (already overused at this point), in this case 300's extreme slo-mo fight scenes (for which they got Spartacus' Liam McIntyre in the package as a bonus no doubt). What's worse, there's apparently just nothing truly Herculean about this film. There's no genuine connection with the myths that have entertained and inspired humanity for thousands of years, let alone cool monsters to match (fortunately Ray Harryhausen doesn't have to live through this terribly missed opportunity). The more I see of this project, the more I look forward to next year's other Hercules epic, which also shares a lot of flaws with this supposed Legend, but at least has a better cast (I'm not referring to Dwayne Johnson, I meant grand British actors the likes of John Hurt, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes) and most likely a bigger budget to ensure we're engaged more on a visual level, if nothing else (which is likely). But it's a sad fact the legendary demi-god still hasn't received the cinematic treatment he deserves, nor is he likely to get it anytime soon. Maybe it's time Marvel did for their Hercules character what they did for that Scandinavian thunder god?

Today's Double News: Two Hercules movies, four TV-shows

Here's two short news flashes brought to you from MovieScene and myself:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/150808/eerste_trailer_hercules_the_legend_begins

Another Hercules movie in 2014? What is this, Hercules Memorial Year? Or just a very suspicious coincidence? Whatever the cause, I don't really mind the fact Hercules, or Greek mythology for that matter, is suddenly enjoying newfound popularity. I do mind if the results are poor though, which seems to be the case in the majority of recent examples of the Mediterranean classics being adapted to the moving image, from the two heavily digital Titans movies to the new BBC series Atlantis (which also features 'a' Hercules). This new film, Hercules: The Legend Begins, doesn't seem to steer in the right direction, as the story ventures far from the known Hercules tales and tells an origin story all its own which, judging from the trailer, seems a bit of an uneasy potpourri between traditional mythology fare and Roman plots and intrigue, complete with the ever sensational topic of arena fighting. The visual style is all too similar to the likes of 300 and the Spartacus series (the latter also starred Liam McIntyre, who plays an important role in this film as well), which is not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely an uninspired move at this point, as it currently seems "the" route to take for action flicks set in ancient times. There's also quite a 'B-movie' or 'direct-to-video' vibe to the piece (even though it's just a trailer and therefore nowhere near an accurate representation of the final product, as trailer history has taught us in the past) with its fairly bland and overly digital vistas and battle scenes, plus the fact there are no genuine A-list actors present, despite its obviously intended epic scope. All of the main cast is composed of actors that previously played bit parts and supporting roles, often minor, though some did take place in moderately big budget projects (including lead Kellan Lutz of Twilight Saga fame). For now it seems Hercules: The Legend Begins will find a major competitor in Brett Ratner's Hercules: The Thracian Wars, starring popular muscleman Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as its titular character, while the cast includes veteran names like John Hurt, Joseph Fiennes, Ian McShane and Rufus Sewell. And that film too is nothing like the Hercules we know, but at least in its case that can be attributed to the fact it's a comic book adaptation. It seems Hercules will experience some tough competition from himself next year...

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/150887/marvel_plant_vier_tv-series_

Then there is the news Marvel's TV plans, alluded to before when I reported on a potential Agent Carter series, have been revealed to some extent, and appear far bigger than anyone would have dared to anticipate. Four TV-shows and a miniseries, produced simultaneously, with a commitment for no less than sixty episodes?! Madness says I, and most seasoned television producers would agree with that assessment. However, this is the House of Ideas, and it has a brand name which has shown to survive seemingly mad notions before: on the big screen at least, establising a shared universe between various movies, culminating in one of the biggest box-office successes ever. Could it work similar wonders on the small screen and thus continue to slowly but surely dissolve the boundaries between both audiovisual media (as further interweaving of universes will be sure to happen, now that Marvel's only currently running show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has witnessed its first Samuel L. Jackson appearance that most people previously considered was not gonna happen)? Marvel's previous gamble payed off successfully and one cannot help but admire this bold move, but it would definitely be wiser to either continue more modestly (say, two additional shows) or wait for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to conclude its first full season and see the financial results. Of course, the latter would mean risking the loss of the current momentum: Marvel is hugely popular now, so better exploit that huge fan love before it dies down (you never know whether it will or won't, eh?). There's simply all kinds of pros and cons involved and that's not gonna change, so why not show a little more bravery and contine to risk much and gain more? After all, there's still many hundreds of fascinating superhuman characters (see above) that have yet to be seen on film, with an equal amount of good actors available to portray them satisfactory. I'm gonna watch whatever is spawned here for sure, and I know many many other people will do the same.

Today's News: shooting Hercules (on film) begins

If you're already tired reading about plastic dinosaur toys, this bit of news from MovieScene might be of interest to you:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147811/opnamen_dwayne_johnsons_hercules_begonnen

I hadn't heard of both this project and the graphic novel it's based on before. It sounds reasonably intriguing, but there's a lot of apparent similarities with Johnson's own The Scorpion King (2002). That's not necessarily a bad thing: TSC might not have been a good film, but it was a fairly fun action flick. I have a gut feeling this movie will turn out likewise. Though a different approach to the mythological Hercules sounds fascinating, I'm not overly fond of ignoring the more fantastic elements like monsters and sorcery, which always proved my favorite bits of any mythology. And what about gods? They're surely the realm of fantasy (for an atheist like me at least), but they're mentioned in the synopsis I've read, plus they're an integral part of the Hercules persona that should not be ixnayed in my mind. He's a demigod and he knows it, after all. The rest of the plot sounds fairly standard really: conflicted mercenary and his gang get involved with the wrong crowd, i.e. a ruthless monarch, and slowly see the truth about themselves, realizing they're good guys after all so they turn the tables and start fighting for the oppressed masses. And then they win and their leader becomes the new king or stuff. That's probably the gist of it. Can't imagine Hercules ever being a real bad guy. Now that would be an original take on the character for sure!

I will not deny there's a lot of solid names attached to this project. Least of which is Brett Ratner, who is truthfully a capable action director - is this a good moment to openly state I liked X-Men: The Last Stand? - but usually feels lacking in most other departments. Still, he's a fairly decent player in Hollywood. Certainly not the lowest of the low as far as directors are concerned, but also not exactly top Hollywood brass. John Hurt, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes all sound like music to my ears. Solid British actors each, every one of them always a joy to behold despite the occasional feeling they should have picked a better project than waste their talent on the current one. This Hercules flick might very well turn out to fall in the latter category. After all, it kinda sounds like a typical B- action movie, Sword & Sandals style. However, if it were, I doubt Johnson himself would bother to star in it, considering how far he's come - or he thinks he's come - over the last decade. Perhaps he felt nostalgic and wanted to do something reminding him of the old days? Fat chance! Maybe he wanted to cash in on the comic book craze and star in a graphic novel adaptation of his own? Or maybe, jusy maybe, there's more to Hercules: The Thracian Wars than we might be inclined to think at first... Whatever that may be, it's definitely not in that silly title.