Ok I start watching a film on TV, but the cuts and commercials piss me
off, so I pop the DVD, with wide screen and dolby sound, in the
player. In this case, it's Matrix Reloaded. Actually I've never even
opened the package until now. Anyway I decide to try the
commentaries, and I picked the one which claims to be "By the
critics".
Oh wow, these three guys are pretty unforgiving. This is a huge
surprise, Warner Bros.
could have pick so many different people to do commentaries but they
picked film critics.
They are very knowledgeable of films and can pick apart a scene like
it's back to film school. I highly recommend everyone who have seen
the Matrix films to sit thur their
commentaries for Reloaded and Revolution.
They articulated very clearly what makes the sequels so pale compared
to the first film. The few praises they have are reserved for strong
acting and interesting characters, e.g. Melovingian and Persephone who
like the Oracle don't even raise a hand in the whole trilogy. The
most important factors is something that related to Gundam and mecha
shows: the problem of human narrative vs. splashy action scenes. This
is the point I want to bring up on GML.
Nowadays, the big action scenes brings in the record-breaking first
weekend revenues. But films that leave an impression with the
audience are not necessarily the films that has
the biggest action scenes (e.g. SW3, X-Men 3) but films that resonate
with the audience on the character level. LOTR, Spiderman,
Bladerunner, sticks with the audience for many years because of the
human (or hobbit or replicant) characters. Even pure action films are
not all created equal. Diehard 1 stands out against the rest because
the character story of Bruce Willis and others (esp. the slimey
reporter) was told so well.
Now take this analysis to mecha shows and I can understand better why
MSG sticks out against its sequels and the many many other shows that
are superior in one aspects or another. On mecha-realism, battle
scenes, scope, philosophical depth, animation quality, music and
sound, pretty much anything you can think of, Gundam has been
surpassed many times over. But MSG is one of the few shows I could
still just pop a disc in the player and immerse myself in it again.
As for the rest, I have fond memories of them. E.g. I like Patlabor,
Nadesico, Macross etc, but I don't feel like I could sit thru them
again. I have a MG Patlabor standing on the shelf, and that's all I
need to relive that franchise. It really reflects Chris' comment
about Transformers, what really matters is only the toys. Next to
MSG, I could say the original Ghost in the Shell movie and Cowboy
Bebop are comparable. In fact, now I feel like re-watching them and
fast forward every action scenes and only watch the characters scenes
with Spike, Fay and Major.
In that way I am the polar opposite from many US mecha fans. I am not
trying to pick fight with 0083 fans or MADOX-01 fans. I mean I do
enjoy good action scenes. I might even admit enjoying MADOX-01 as I
was watching it. But as soon as the credits roll, I immediately felt
dirty about it. Did I just watch 50 non-stop minutes of fan service?
Even the purely commercial aspect is controlled by this too. On a
purely mecha and/or toy design level, almost every mainline Gundam
starting with Mk-II has been superior to the original RX-78-2. But
why is the original Gundam/Zaku combo remains the headline choice for
every single toy line? I argue that it's not because it's the first
Gundam for Japanese fans, it's because Amuro, Char, Sayla, Lalah etc
are still the best characters in the whole mecha genre.
Every few months or so, there would be a new call for a Gundam
re-make, and invariably the concensus is to get rid of the "angst" and
kiddie components of Gundam. Ok perhaps cutting out some flaws of the
old series is a good idea. But what's being suggested to replace
angsty kid stories? I've never heard of anything promising besides
more realistic mecha or more mature soldiers. To that I can only say
"good luck, I'd have more confidence in a live-action TF movie".
--
Dr. Core
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