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I, uh...
I didn't hate DAREDEVIL. There, I've said it.
That being said, though, I think my bodiless namesake hits the nail on the head when he points out that the concept is already overfamiliar, even if this is the character's film debut.
It's a curiously dated concept, too—it's really tied to biker-chic's moment in the 1970s. It was always a cinematic idea, a B-movie mash-up of motorcycle picture and cheapie occult thriller.
And here's the thing: a GHOST RIDER movie, no matter how high the budget, will always be a B-movie. It can never be anything else. A=A, and B=B.
If the filmmakers choose to emphasize the concept's inherent trashiness, and gloss up the grindhouse elements, this could be something exhilarating—the KILL BILL of superhero movies. (Bonus points for visual references to MAD MAX, the original Great Australian Motorcycle Movie.)
where it might fall down is if they make the mistake of thinking it's an A picture, and try to overload it with significance and solemnity. That's a real danger, with Marvel film product. The HULK film especially, but also the SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN franchises—they've been (IMO) oddly joyless affairs. They seem to believe, somewhere in their cinematic hearts, that they are somehow important movies, and somehow above such mundane concerns as Fun. (Fanboy in-jokes are not the same as actual Fun.)
Johnson's still largely an unknown quality, but with DAREDEVIL he seemed to understand that he was making an energetic, unpretentious action movie. He might pull off a great little biker-from-Hell flick. I hope so. |
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