Sneaked into a theatre to catch Spidey in action; came out wondering - Why in the name of God, do people experiment with well-established success formulas ?
Just when you turn to the comforting familiarity of your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, he gets a bad-boy makeover!!! Spiderman flirting with his darker side??? He tousles his hair, flirts with unknown strangers, swaggers on the street, and worse still, wears a Gothic grey bodysuit (bumming hard guys!)....I think to myself - why do these rookie directors meddle with the "formula"....Aren't their enough baddies in the world?...Poor Tobey McGuire....He was so convincing as the earnest-looking Peter Parker.... And now he is visibly outside his comfort zone as the menacing Spiderman
The seeds of this “radical” change (read : experimentation ) were sown by none other than Her Majesty’s favorite Secret Service Agent – James Bond. When Bond came out of a long and painful sabbatical (putting casting wars and remuneration woes firmly behind him), I was thrilled to bits. As a die-hard patron of Ian Fleming's classic franchise, I have watched all James Bond movies several times over; So much so that I had learnt to lip-sync the dialogues long before I learnt to tie my shoelaces!!
However, Casino Royale left me wishing that the character was given a dignified burial right after Die Another Day. Even though Casino Royale won the hearts of the most disparaging of critics, and broke all box-office records, somewhere it jabbed hard at my loyal Bond sentiments. Brand name Bond was built around adjectives such as suave, sophisticated, smooth, guarded and invincible ; not around adjectives such as emotional, gullible, reckless and vulnerable. After years of preserving his unflappable tough-guy image, which was deliciously peppered with his philandering ways, Bond finally succumbed to the pupperty of his creators; Overnight Bond became a lovesick ninny!!
Chide me for seeking solace in familiarity, but some character quirks and traits, over-time become the defining soul of any character. And pardon me for saying this - but what's a character without it's soul? What's Chandler Bing without his sardonic sense of humor or Monica Gellar without her obsessive cleaning disorder? Likewise what's Indiana Jones without his swashbuckling ways, or Spiderman without his endearing boy-next-door image? And what's Bond without his ability to score with the ladies?
Just when you turn to the comforting familiarity of your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, he gets a bad-boy makeover!!! Spiderman flirting with his darker side??? He tousles his hair, flirts with unknown strangers, swaggers on the street, and worse still, wears a Gothic grey bodysuit (bumming hard guys!)....I think to myself - why do these rookie directors meddle with the "formula"....Aren't their enough baddies in the world?...Poor Tobey McGuire....He was so convincing as the earnest-looking Peter Parker.... And now he is visibly outside his comfort zone as the menacing Spiderman
The seeds of this “radical” change (read : experimentation ) were sown by none other than Her Majesty’s favorite Secret Service Agent – James Bond. When Bond came out of a long and painful sabbatical (putting casting wars and remuneration woes firmly behind him), I was thrilled to bits. As a die-hard patron of Ian Fleming's classic franchise, I have watched all James Bond movies several times over; So much so that I had learnt to lip-sync the dialogues long before I learnt to tie my shoelaces!!
However, Casino Royale left me wishing that the character was given a dignified burial right after Die Another Day. Even though Casino Royale won the hearts of the most disparaging of critics, and broke all box-office records, somewhere it jabbed hard at my loyal Bond sentiments. Brand name Bond was built around adjectives such as suave, sophisticated, smooth, guarded and invincible ; not around adjectives such as emotional, gullible, reckless and vulnerable. After years of preserving his unflappable tough-guy image, which was deliciously peppered with his philandering ways, Bond finally succumbed to the pupperty of his creators; Overnight Bond became a lovesick ninny!!
Chide me for seeking solace in familiarity, but some character quirks and traits, over-time become the defining soul of any character. And pardon me for saying this - but what's a character without it's soul? What's Chandler Bing without his sardonic sense of humor or Monica Gellar without her obsessive cleaning disorder? Likewise what's Indiana Jones without his swashbuckling ways, or Spiderman without his endearing boy-next-door image? And what's Bond without his ability to score with the ladies?
