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SUMMER SUPERNATURALS ON THE BIG SCREEN

SUMMER SUPERNATURALS ON THE BIG SCREEN

This summer cinema season has been filled with super-natural, super-action heroes. Although I missed HULK and HELLBOY, I did watch the three box office blokes: IRON MAN, HANCOCK and THE DARK KNIGHT. After the July 25-27 weekend, according to the NY Times box office overview, THE DARK KNIGHT had earned a total of $313,781,677 during its first 2 weeks, HANCOCK brought in $206,482,007 after 4 weeks and IRON MAN tallied $314,925,955 over the past 13 weeks in the US and Canada alone.

For a couple of days I have been wondering about the success of these summer block busters. What is it - besides introducing us to some super action heroes on a mission, with top notch professionals in front as well as behind the camera plus immensely high production value - that makes these films so popular?

Sometime last year, after a screening of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, I overheard a mother of a pre-schooler say, that she was fine for her small child to watch this film – because the killings were for a good cause. That seems to be one other communality of these summer hits – their heroes are violent - but only to save the world from evil forces.

I started the season with IRON MAN. Robert Downey Jr.’s does not possess supernatural powers – but is a super-smart inventor and engineer. His IRON MAN does not always take himself completely seriously which adds charm to the character and story. And the subtle love interest between Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) gives the film another dimension, in addition to the incredible gadgets and the thrilling super-hero-action-scenes.

Similarly, HANCOCK offers a lot of humor with Will Smith as the ultimate anti-hero with incredible powers. His HANCOCK is imperfect, with a drinking and severe discipline problem, in urgent need of an image make-over, all of which makes him a very likable guy. However, in the final chapter, the film shifts gears a number of times, moving from a potential love drama to a much more brutal, dark and grim thriller before it turns around one more time to finish on a positive, appeasing note.

Of the three films I saw, THE DARK KNIGHT is by far the darkest, most depressing and daunting one – especially, each time Heath Ledger as the JOKER appears. His JOKER is creepy. Although the horrifying make-up makes Ledger unrecognizable, there had been so much publicity about his sudden death prior to the opening of the film – that I was automatically reminded of his real life tragedy whenever he entered, looking for clues in his powerful and psychotic performance: For example, one of my most memorable scenes in the film is when the JOKER introduces himself to some gangsters stating: “I can make this pencil disappear”. He then takes a mobster’s head and drives the same pencil though it.

At first sight these films seem to perfect the art of violence in the most entertaining way. On second thought it is more complex. Who do we, the audience, root for? With IRON MAN and HANCOCK it is clear: our sympathies are with the heroes and their associates. But how about THE DARK KNIGHT? Is BATMAN -the actual hero of the film- the character that we want to see more of? Or is it the villain, the JOKER that we are most interested in? Even though his motivations and actions are immoral, it is the JOKER that everyone is fascinated with and seems to talk about. I wonder if this is because of Heath Ledger’s passing and whether therefore another kind of hero is created – one where the real life person and the fictitious character converge. And I am curious to know if we therefore project additional meaning and darkness upon the film.

Tagged as: batman, batman and joker, blockbuster summer films, comic books, hancock, heros, joker, summer films, summer hits, superheros, villains