Who Would be a Good Alternative Director for Justice League Movie?

So it’s official: Zack Snyder is going to be directing ‘Justice League of America’ (JLA) after he’s done with the Superman/Batman movie. This news is going to make some JLA fans explode with anger and disbelief, but to a vast majority this news doesn’t mean much.

Personally I’m not too thrilled;’ Man of Steel’ was a disappointment to me. It was a good super hero movie but the changes Snyder made to Superman didn’t work for me. The similarities between Superman and Nolan’s Batman were distinctly numerous. In order to make a more brooding version of Superman, he essentially recreated Batman’s persona except with superpowers and a lot less money. Having said that, Snyder does have a good record when it comes to action movies. He burst into Hollywood with his remake of the George A. Romero classic ‘Dawn of the Dead’, and followed that up with the visually exciting if historically inaccurate ‘300.’ He also directed another hotly debated superhero movie that I actually enjoyed: ’Watchmen’. Much like ‘Man of Steel’ Watchmen had its harsh critics; the movie wasn’t a box-office hit but it wasn’t a total bust either, although the fans didn’t receive his portrayal of Alan Moore’s critically acclaimed comic book very well. Zack Snyder is directing the Superman/Batman movie coming out next year so I’m going to reserve my final judgment on how I feel about him directing JLA until I see that movie. He’s a good director with a proven track record so I think we need to give him a chance (much like Ben Affleck as Batman).  

Although not much can be done now but if for whatever reason Zack Snyder is off the project here are few directors that I’d like to see at the helm of JLA:

Christopher Nolan is the most obvious name that comes to mind since he was attached to ‘Man of Steel’ as a producer. I mean come on, who better to do a JLA movie than the man who brought us the ‘Dark Knight’, right? Wrong, while he’s undoubtedly a great director I’d prefer JLA to be a much more upbeat and dazzling than the somber Batman trilogy. Nolan’s Batman was a very grim movie that was somewhat grounded in reality and dystopia. JLA is going to be a supernatural movie and although Nolan can deliver when it comes to sci-fi (Inception), I think we need to move away from his interpretation of Batman and the DC universe. 

Michael Bay: Now hear me out on this one before you reach for your shotguns, I know Bay virtually killed the animated heroes of our childhood but lets look closer at the Transformers Franchise. All 3 movies (however horrible they may be) were box-office juggernauts with movies earning $709,709,780, $836,303,693, and $1,123,794,079 respectively. When it comes to visuals and explosions, it’s hard to beat Mr. Bay. But then again looking at what he did to the ‘Transformers’ and what he’s going to do to ‘The Ninja Turtles’, I guess that’s not such a good idea. Actually forget I even said anything.

John Woo is a famous Hong Kong Director who made his name in Hollywood with movies like Face/Off and Broken Arrow but his crown jewel remains Mission Impossible 2. When it comes to unadulterated action, Woo can deliver and having a Chinese director at the helm of JLA means attracting the second largest movie viewing audience in the world after America.

Speaking of Chinese directors, how about Ang Lee? Lee won the Oscar for Best Director twice, first for ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and for his 3D visual master-piece ‘Life of Pi’. He also has an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So he can deliver the complete package i.e. a story, action, and visuals. Now Lee did direct the universally hated Hulk  movie. It is rumored that CIA is considering replacing the equally heinous waterboarding techniques it has championed with Hulk movie. I’d argue though that Lee made amends for that disaster with the other movies mentioned above.  

Here’s my dark horse pick for the list, Gareth Evans. "Gareth who?" You may ask.  Well Evans is the mastermind behind the best martial arts action movies in my point of view, the Raid franchise. Gareth is a Welsh director who works out of Indonesia and shot to fame with the critically acclaimed Raid Redemption that got him a bigger budget so he could direct Raid 2 (a significant improvement over his first) and Raid 3 in the future. So just imagine what he can do with a multi-million dollar budget and Hollywood resources.

Guillermo del Toro is my best pick for the JLA movie. Del Toro is no stranger when it comes to superhero movies and delivering visual spectacles and mindless destruction. He directed Blade II and the Hellboy series, and is most famous for his Oscar nominated visual masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth . He was briefly attached to direct the Hobbit movies but due to delays caused in part by financial problems at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer he left the project, and Peter Jackson came back to finish the job. However, Del Toro is credited as the writer for the Hobbit movies. Most recently he directed Pacific Rim , a ginormous robots beating up on gargantuan unearthly monsters slugfest that was visually orgasmic and primeval even.

Speaking of Peter Jackson I think he should be directing everything, but knowing his record he’d send the JLA on an epic journey that somehow ties into Lord of The Rings mythos. Peter Jackson presents JLA: Fellowship of The Green Lanterns, an epic journey of Frodo and the JLA to destroy the Yellow Power Ring of Sinestro Corps.  Hey that actually sounds pretty cool!

Essentially, I say we wait till Superman/Batman before marching to Mr. Snyder’s house with pitchforks, fire torches and tons of Kryptonite but in the mean time lets sharpen our pitchforks and pray vehemently that we only be obligated to use them on Michael Bay. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

Peter Jackson takes us back to the valleys and burrows of Middle Earth with The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey, part one of a trilogy. The events of movie takes place about half a century before the events of The Lord of The Rings. This time we are back at the Shire with good old Gandalf the Gray who recruits Bilbo Baggins to accompany a band of 13 dwarves on their way to reclaim their lost home and treasure taken over by Smaug the Dragon.

The Hobbit though a great movie on its own has the misfortune of having Lord of the Rings as its big brother.  Much like Faramir if you must. He is a great fighter who wins several battles for Gondor, yet his father prefers Boromir over him. No matter what he does and how hard he tries he will always be compared to his older brother, and somehow fall short simply because Boromir came first and was so damn amazing.  So the question on everyone mind is that “is it as good as The Lord of The Rings?” and the answer simply is no. That’s simply because the source material doesn't compare to the Lord of The Rings.  Lord of The Rings is a dark epic adventure spanning 3 books while The Hobbit is based on a single book that was written for children. So you simply can't expect the same level of excitement and danger as you did from the original series even though Jackson transforms this one into one murky and fierce saga. 

So does that mean The Hobbit is a bad movie? Far from it, although the movie starts off a little slow but when it picks up it’s a roller-coaster ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I for one didn’t find a single moment of the movie boring, although there were scenes where I felt that the movie could have done without. The overall experience was that of pure excitement and satisfaction. I had very high expectations going into the movie and I have to say that Peter Jackson once again delivered a fulfilling movie going experience. 

The acting in this movie was expectedly delightful: Martin Freeman, as Bilbo was outstanding. I was fortunate enough to read the book before watching the movie and I have to say that he has Bilbo down to a T. Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis return as Gandalf and Gollum, and both do an absolutely amazing job. The scene where Bilbo and Gollum riddle it out was probably one of the best scenes in the movie both for enjoyable wit and exceptional dialogue delivery. As for Gandalf he excels again as a wise and dangerously skilled wizard who must both mentor and parent the Dwarves while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. We were also treated with few other characters from the original series Saruman, Galadriel, and Elrond played by Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving all of who played their part well enough to bring back some nostalgia. The score in the movie was uniquely folk lore-ish and oh so befitting the landscapes of Middle Earth.

That’s not to say that the movie was without its flaws; I found that the movie overdid its use of CGI. It gave the movie a cartoonish feel to it. I remember in the original the orc,s goblins and uruks were actors and it gave the characters a human touch. The movie is 169 minutes long that’s almost 3 to 3 and half hours in the theater depending on when you go in. That’s quite an endurance feat and if you’re not a fan of Lord of The Rings it could feel like an eternity and very tedious indeed. I also felt that the movie didn’t utilize all the dwarves, you have 13 dwarves and more than half are just background characters. Although it must be pointed out that Ken Scott, Graham McTavish, and Richard Armitage playing Balin, Dwalin and Thorin did an amazing job playing their roles and complemented each other and Bilbo fairly well. Thorin is a nice substitute for Aragorn, a total badass who is not just a great leader but also an admirable warrior. I would like to see more from each dwarf in the coming two movies. 

In the end I’m going to highly recommend this movie. It’s a must watch if you’re a Lord of The Rings fan, and if you haven’t seen the movie or you didn’t like Lord of The Rings please don’t waste your time and mine by complaining how boring the movie was. Lastly don’t go in expecting a replica of the Lord of The Rings, this is a standalone movie and is distinguishable both in its saga and viewer experience from the Lord of The Rings. 

And as always special thanks to Ammad Wajahat.