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Post by damngumby on Jan 22, 2020 22:56:46 GMT
... on unsuspecting superhero fans?
By taking a very non-superhero story about a mentally ill performer and adding some superficial Batman trappings?
I mean, the motive is certainly there. Big bucks at the box office vs a nitch movie that few people would have gone to see. Is that how it was green lit, I wonder?
How many other scripts are out there, languishing in development hell because no one wants to roll the dice on them, without a sure-fire return on investment? Some superhero fanboys will go to see anything with a cape, and even a bad superhero movie can make big bucks. BvS, anyone? Suicide Squad?
There is little chance of a Death Wish 2 any time soon, but put Bruce Willis in a halloween bat costume, and they will come!
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Post by hobowar on Jan 22, 2020 23:51:01 GMT
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Post by darkpast on Jan 22, 2020 23:54:22 GMT
WB thought the film would flop, they brought in co financiers to make film
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Post by politicidal on Jan 23, 2020 0:18:28 GMT
Well for one thing, there’s already a Death Wish 2.
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Post by sostie on Jan 23, 2020 0:34:29 GMT
It was the wisest move WB have made so far since Dark Knight. They have 4 of 5 historically most recognisable comic book characters (Spider-Man is also one). Batman had something in the pipleine, as did Wonder Woman, Superman may have been too much of a risk..so make a side project with the Joker, that was so far removed from the DCEU they could make it cheaper than a mega FX movie and share the investment and distance itself from the Suicide Squad stink that may have attached to the character. Above all try not to emulate the formula of its counterpart studio's franchise.
It was probably not that much of a risk, at least compared to other recent DC films, but it paid off, better than anyone could have expected.
Cynical to cash in on super hero fans? I don't think so. It appealed to those as well as a part of the audience who ignore or unaware of comic books origins and think that super hero films can only be legitimate "cinema" if it's dark and gritty.
It could have been called Clown, set in New York and had a billionaire with a name other than Wayne and it pretty much would have been the same film. It was so far removed from the DCEU. But I don't even think that was a cynical move...they just made something so far removed that was what was left
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Post by Tristan's Journal on Jan 23, 2020 10:03:20 GMT
if it was cynical to give the most famous comic book villain an origin backstory by way of intelligent character study and wrapping this into social commentary and clever karma ending, then yes.
But only the most cynical would call it that. It's fine art. It shatters the formula. It's not for kids.
Let it be remembered that this film got 11 Oscar nominations despite of swimming against the stream of currently favored agendas and politics, whereas most other bait films only swim with it. The former is a great feat and an unmistakably sign of fine art and quality.
QED
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Post by miike80 on Jan 23, 2020 12:30:57 GMT
if it was cynical to give the most famous comic book villain an origin backstory by way of intelligent character study and wrapping this into social commentary and clever karma ending, then yes. But only the most cynical would call it that. It's fine art. It shatters the formula. It's not for kids. Let it be remembered that this film got 11 Oscar nominations despite of swimming against the stream of currently favored agendas and politics, whereas most other bait films only swim with it. The former is a great feat and an unmistakably sign of fine art and quality. QED It eventually boils down to how much are you willing to ignore that it's a mash of King of Comedy and Taxi Driver. Some do, and that's fine, i for one cannot
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Jan 23, 2020 23:13:29 GMT
I think the movie borrows too much from The Killing Joke that it couldn't avoid being tied to the comics even if it wanted to.
I know a lot of people find the Batman references "forced" or "distracting", but I think the film works better within the Batman universe as sort of a deconstruction of the whole idea of Batman himself. By ignoring the economic disparity and lack of mental health care in Gotham and just trying to punch his problems away, he's repeating the same mistakes his father made and there will always be Jokers because of it.
Or it's just a movie about a guy getting shat on until he snaps because the world is meeeean. Really edgy and groundbreaking stuff that.
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Post by damngumby on Jan 24, 2020 1:52:05 GMT
Well for one thing, there’s already a Death Wish 2. You know what I mean. Death Wish 2.2
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Post by thisguy4000 on Jan 24, 2020 2:39:40 GMT
Well for one thing, there’s already a Death Wish 2. You know what I mean. Death Wish 2.2 That’d be a good name for a director’s cut.
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