08/04/2008
Entertainment Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Check out Jason's Comic-Con Blog for a full rundown of the weekend.San Diego Comic-Con is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. For one weekend out of every year, hundreds of thousands of geeks from across the country (and in some cases, the world) travel to California to marinate in four days of all things pop culture. This is the place where fans are given exclusive access to their favorite comic book artists and movie stars under one roof, and though Hollywood’s recent takeover of the annual celebration has caused mixed feelings amongst some attendees, there’s no denying that while it has resulted in massive overcrowding, it has also raised the event’s profile substantially since its inception. As such, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day (nor the month, really) to experience everything that Comic-Con has to offer, and though this year’s Con initially appeared to be a downgrade from last year, attendees were quickly proven wrong thanks to some entertaining guests and a handful of unexpected surprises. Below, you’ll find my top ten highlights from the event.
“Watchmen” panel
Seeing as how this was the most-anticipated panel of the entire weekend, it’s really no surprise that it landed the top spot on my list. Zack Snyder is a true fanboy at heart, and if anyone was going to take on the seemingly impossible task of adapting “Watchmen” for the big screen, I’m glad it’s him. Still, that doesn’t make performing the actual task any easier, and while many were expecting the best possible version of a “Watchmen” movie to come from Snyder, I don’t think anyone expected it to look as good as it does. The phrase “ripped straight from the pages” has been used a little too often when discussing comic book adaptations, but in the case of Snyder’s “Watchmen,” it couldn’t be any truer. Panels from the novel have been flawlessly replicated, while the few changes that needed to be made don’t seem to have marred the final product. The footage shown was simply unbelievable (so much so that Snyder had to show it a second time just to quiet the crowd), and the fact that the entire cast was there to talk about their experience on the film made it that much more memorable. I’m still not entirely sold on Matthew Goode’s casting as Ozymandis, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s The Comedian should more than make up for it. (MORE: Read what Ross Ruediger had to say after touring the "Watchmen" set.)
“Heroes” panel
I’m usually not a very lucky guy, so the fact that I was able to catch the entire first episode of the new season of “Heroes” almost two months before its premiere date is something of a miracle. Last year, many people complained that the series had lost its magic touch, but judging from the season three premiere, as well Milo Ventimiglia’s claim that the new season will “melt your head,” fans of the show are in for one helluva surprise. Actually, make that several surprises, as the first episode alone discloses the identity of Nathan Petrelli’s assassin, introduces a speedy archnemesis for Hiro, hints at Mama Petrelli’s true abilities, offers a taste of another hero’s electrifying potential, and ends with an original cast member discovering a new power of their own. I’ve already said more here than in my original post, so I’ll leave it at that, but be sure to set your DVRs for September 22nd, because this is an event you most certainly don’t want to miss.
“Wolverine” footage
There’s something about Hugh Jackman’s genuine respect of the Comic-Con crowd that really makes you like the guy (no matter what Dr. Cox may say), but the fact that he personally flew down from Australia to show footage from the new “Wolverine” movie was ten different shades of cool. The trailer was pretty rough (as in, no finished special effects), but it gave everyone a taste of what to expect when the movie opens next May; namely, all those different mutants we heard rumblings about earlier in the year. The most prominent of the bunch is probably Gambit, a character that was included in scripts for “X2: X-Men United” and “X-Men: The Last Stand, but was cut at the last minute. Here, he’s played by “Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch, and he looks just as awesome as you’d imagine. The footage can currently be found in bootleg format all around the web, but trust me, you don’t want to ruin the experience.
“Tron 2” trailer
Last year’s Comic-Con was pretty straightforward. For the most part, what the program guide said was going to be there was there, and that was that. Imagine my surprise (and that of the thousand or so people that decided to stick around for Disney’s “Race to Witch Mountain” panel), then, when only seconds after Dwayne Johnson walked off the stage, the lights were dimmed and a secret trailer began rolling. For anyone that read my original post, you already know the full details of the “Tron 2” teaser that played – something that Disney clearly shot specifically for Comic-Con – but it was one of the highlights of my trip. I’m not even a fan of the original, but seeing those Light Cycles re-imagined with the use of 21st century technology is simply amazing. Plus, the confirmed return of Jeff Bridges is a fanboy’s wet dream, and the fact that most of those fanboys had to hear about it after the fact only makes it that much sweeter.
“Drag Me to Hell” panel
If there’s one movie that had me worried going into Universal’s Saturday afternoon panel, it was “Drag Me to Hell,” the grand return of Sam Raimi to the horror genre. From what I had heard of the project, it just didn’t sound very promising, but after seeing plenty of footage courtesy of Raimi himself, I’m happy to report that fans of the director’s “Evil Dead” series are going to eat this up. The story may sound a little familiar, but the execution should keep things fresh and, perhaps more importantly, funny. Raimi is an ace at blending slapstick humor with cheap scares, and he’s gone all-out this time around, including a scene where an old woman (while trying to bite the protagonist) loses her false teeth and ends up slobbering all over her victim instead. It’s pretty fun stuff (made even funnier with the use of a stapler as a weapon), but the cherry on top was something completely unrelated – official confirmation that while childhood pal Bruce Campbell was unable to appear in a planned cameo in “Drag Me to Hell,” Raimi is working on an “Evil Dead 4” with the actor in mind.
Kevin Smith
For anyone that’s ever attended Comic-Con before, this one is a no-brainer. The cult filmmaker has long been a staple at the annual geekfest – he’s given his own panel every year to talk about whatever he wants – and this time around, he was almost impossible to miss. Though I was unable to make the “Battlestar Galactica” panel that he moderated, I did catch his back-to-back appearance in Hall H on Friday night as part of Entertainment Weekly’s “Visionaries: The Filmmakers” panel, as well as his own 90-minute block dedicated to pimping his new film, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” Surprisingly, it was his appearance in the former that proved to be the most enjoyable. Smith is one of those guys that is incredibly good at speaking off the cuff, and though he probably doesn’t do it on purpose, he often hogs the microphone to the point where no one else on stage can get a in word edgewise. Judd Apatow’s participation only made the proceedings even more hilarious, but it was Smith’s show through and through. Here’s hoping they do something similar again next year, but instead of Zack Snyder and Frank Miller, they could two other guys who can actually hold their own.
“Lost” panel
Okay, so Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof weren’t quite as revealing as most fans were hoping for during their visit, but the “Lost” panel was one of the single-most enjoyable hours of the entire weekend. These guys understand their fans, and while an intro involving the duo in their own flash-forward set the mood (viewable here, where Cuse’s “Obama: Four More Years” T-shirt has been rendered unreadable), the Q&A session that followed brought down the house… on several occasions. What made their Q&A so unique, however, was that they gave away a question-appropriate gift to everyone who came up to ask a question. Therefore, a belated question about the show’s future timetable was rewarded with a “Lost” calendar, a critical fan was given a copy of “Heroes: Season One,” and so forth. The best of the bunch, however, came from Comic-Con regular Bob Stencil, who asked the guys, “Just between me and you, how does the show end?” Stencil followed up his question by asking whether or not they had a gin prize, and when Lindelof asked, “The alcohol or the character?,” Stencil quipped, “There’s a character?” The full video can be seen here and is followed by a Hurley lookalike that will blow your mind.
“Wolverine vs. Hulk”
The only highlight of my trip that I didn’t blog about (mostly because I had originally planned on working during the panel) was Lionsgate’s world premiere of their latest animated Marvel title, “Wolverine vs. Hulk.” To be fair, it probably should have been called “Wolverine vs. The World,” because that’s more accurate, but since the crux of the movie features the X-Man battling the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant, it makes sense. The movie may only be 33 minutes long, but it’s exactly what you’d expect. The animation is sharp and the violence is brutal, and in case that still isn’t enough to perk your interest, how about this? The battle takes both mutants back to the Weapon X laboratory where Wolverine must face off against other famous archenemies like Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and – wait for it – Deadpool, who absolutely steals the show as everyone’s favorite smart-mouthed assassin. This is the first animated Marvel film that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, and though it isn’t exactly long enough to warrant buying when it arrives in stores, it’s most definitely must-see material.
“Terminator: Salvation” panel
Prior to Comic-Con, the verdict still wasn’t out on Warner Bros.’ reboot of the hugely popular “Terminator” franchise. On one hand, the casting of Christian Bale as John Connor seemed to indicate that the studio was serious about the fourth installment, but on the other hand, director McG’s involvement was very worrisome. A style-over-substance kind of filmmaker whose visuals have dazzled, but stories fizzled, McG won over a lot of respect from the fanboys when he talked candidly about his vision for the new film. Still in the middle of production, the footage that he showed received a thunderous applause from the audience, and though it looks like the director’s trademark action sequences will play a huge part in telling the story, his insistence on staying true to the mythology of the first two films should put the cynics at ease. At least until we see another trailer.
Gerard Butler
He’s not quite Hugh Jackman, but after wowing the fanboys (and the fangirls) with his appearance in 2006 to promote “300,” and then again this year to pimp “RocknRolla,” Gerard Butler has carved a following of his own. It’s not very difficult to see why so many people like the guy – he’s talented, genuine, and funny as hell – and though a Guy Ritchie film is probably the last movie you’d expect to see at Comic-Con (even more so than, say, “Pineapple Express”), Butler made for an entertaining panel. Along with telling funny stories about onset high jinks, picking on co-stars, and throwing complimentary candies into the crowd, Butler seemed to be actually having fun; which was refreshing, since most of the actors from the other panels didn’t appear very thrilled to be at Comic-Con promoting their movies. Butler, however, just accepted it for what it was, and when he was asked by one audience member what genre he’d like to do next, the actor grinningly replied, “Halle Berry.”