![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So Cam and I watched the trailer for Wanted and he was so taken he went out and bought the graphic novel from Quality.
I read it this morning and..blah. Not impressed. Before the cut I'll just say that the movie looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. So I may like it, who knows :)
It's trying to be a dark, somewhat shocking (yet engaging and seductive) depiction of life at the top in a world where the supervillains won and evil reigns. Except that Mark Millar appears to be a dull, rather unimaginative man so "evil" means having consensual sex with prostitutes who are..barely overage! OMG! (I'll admit, it's left open as to whether or not he leaves a tip) Randomly killing people is, yes, pretty evil, but there doesn't seem to be any malice in it. Hasn't he read Transmetropolitan or Sandman (or, god forbid, Preacher)? He apparently used to work at 2000 AD which certainly has a grip on Genuinely Unpleasant from what I've read of it.
I couldn't enjoy as cheerfully cartoonish "badness" (like "The Adams Family") thanks to a nasty undertone of racism and misogyny. The "slutty" female character is afaict 100% monogomous, while the male main character seems to have absolutely no qualms raping random women (off screen, wouldn't want to make him too unsympathetic) And there isn't a single reference to men being raped, of course. Part of me feels the "Feel sorry for the poor white guy who has mean nasty latinos be vaguely menacing on the train, while none of his non-white peers appear to have any race-related issues at all" thing had to be a parody, but if so it lacked make-the-audience-think sting.
I know, I know, whenever I do a rant about something like this it blows up in my face and I turn out to be 100% wrong, but the catharsis is enjoyable while it lasts :) And hey this (mildly spoilery) review I found seems to agree with me.
I read it this morning and..blah. Not impressed. Before the cut I'll just say that the movie looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. So I may like it, who knows :)
It's trying to be a dark, somewhat shocking (yet engaging and seductive) depiction of life at the top in a world where the supervillains won and evil reigns. Except that Mark Millar appears to be a dull, rather unimaginative man so "evil" means having consensual sex with prostitutes who are..barely overage! OMG! (I'll admit, it's left open as to whether or not he leaves a tip) Randomly killing people is, yes, pretty evil, but there doesn't seem to be any malice in it. Hasn't he read Transmetropolitan or Sandman (or, god forbid, Preacher)? He apparently used to work at 2000 AD which certainly has a grip on Genuinely Unpleasant from what I've read of it.
I couldn't enjoy as cheerfully cartoonish "badness" (like "The Adams Family") thanks to a nasty undertone of racism and misogyny. The "slutty" female character is afaict 100% monogomous, while the male main character seems to have absolutely no qualms raping random women (off screen, wouldn't want to make him too unsympathetic) And there isn't a single reference to men being raped, of course. Part of me feels the "Feel sorry for the poor white guy who has mean nasty latinos be vaguely menacing on the train, while none of his non-white peers appear to have any race-related issues at all" thing had to be a parody, but if so it lacked make-the-audience-think sting.
I know, I know, whenever I do a rant about something like this it blows up in my face and I turn out to be 100% wrong, but the catharsis is enjoyable while it lasts :) And hey this (mildly spoilery) review I found seems to agree with me.
