Millarworld: The Proving Ground for Superheroes

With Spider-Man recently finding his way back home to the MCU (well joint custody at least between Marvel Studios and Sony), talk has turned to who will play Spider-Man in the upcoming film Captain America: Civil War in which the character has a pivotal moment in the comic written by Mark Millar.

One of the names mentioned has been Taron Egerton who recently starred in Kingsman: The Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn which is also based on a comic book series by Mark Millar.

If they do go with the character of Peter Parker for the latest reboot of Everyone's favourite neighbourhood Spider-Man (rather than Miles Morales) then Egerton stands a very good chance of landing the role.

It's not just because he is British. Lots of America's top superheroes have been played by Brits (Batman = Christian Bale, Spider-Man = Andrew Garfield, Superman = Henry Cavill).

It is actually due to an interesting trivia fact that proves that Mark Millar comic book adaptations are the proving ground for future Marvel and D.C. Heroes.

Example 1) Wanted (2008)

Millar's first comic to be adapted for the big screen was Wanted which starred James McAvoy in the lead role of Wesley.
McAvoy would go on to play Professor Charles Xavier in X Men: First Class and X Men: Days Of Future Past.

What people might not remember is that Chris Pratt aka Star Lord in Guardians Of The Galaxy played Wesley's friend in the film...

Which led to this incredible moment where Professor X knocked out Peter Quill with a keyboard!

Example 2) Kick-Ass (2010)

The first Kick-Ass film was directed by Matthew Vaughn (who would also go on to direct McAvoy in X Men: First Class) and starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave Liewiski and Evan Peters as his friend Todd.

In a very strange coincidence, both actors would later be cast as the same comic book character.
Evan Peters would play Pietr Maximoff aka Quicksilver in X Men: Days Of Future Past and Aaron Taylor-Johnson would play Quicksilver aka Pietr Maximoff in the upcoming Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

Taron Egerton should keep his webbed fingers crossed because starring in a Mark Millar based comic book adaptation directed by Matthew Vaughn can lead to great things as a quick look through his back catalogue further exemplifies.

Vaughn's 2007 film Stardust starred then unknowns Charlie Cox and Henry Cavill...

Who would go on to play Daredevil and the Man Of Steel himself Superman.

And let's not even get into Vaughn's directorial debut Layer Cake which featured Tom Hardy aka Bane in a small role but is even more bizarre for featuring a scene where James Bond steals Q's girlfriend!

If comic book movies operated in the same terms as Scottish Football, Marvel and D.C. would be due Millar and Vaughn several large Bosman-style payouts for scooping up the young talent nurtured by them on previous projects.

It would be fair to say that based on the evidence they have that adamantium touch when it comes to spotting superhero potential.

HANNA - Hit Girl? More like Sh*t Girl!

I had mixed feelings going into this action film by the director of Pride and Prejudice.  Following in the footsteps of Mathilda in Leon and Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass, would their be room for Hanna in the crowded marketplace of teenage girl assassins?

"Screw you Portman and Moretz, I'm the Daddy now!"

Hanna lives in the wilderness being trained by her father until she is ready for her purpose, but what is it?  Hunted by the CIA she goes on the run to try and discover details about her past.
It should play out like a teenage Bourne movie but unfortunately it is lacking in that sense of urgency that drove the trilogy.
Apparently the script for Hanna had twice appeared on the 'black list' which is an industry list of the best unproduced screenplays, but from the results I wonder how this could be the case.
One of the problems I had with the film was that everything felt rather underdeveloped, particularly the characters.  Whilst Hanna herself gets to go on a voyage of self-discovery and awakening (well played by Saiorse Ronan) certain interesting aspects are hinted at but then forgotten, and the supporting characters seem like mere one-dimensional sketches:  Bana is solid but seems to have walked staright off the set of Munich.  Cate Blanchett's CIA operative has a wicked nature, wicked Texan drawl and is obsessed with dental hygiene but we never get to understand her true intentions for Hanna, but the biggest disappointment is Tom Hollander's tracksuit wearing killer.  This could have been a scene-stealing performance but he doesn't get the opportunity to break out from an underwritten part.  Blanchett comes to him because he is apparently very good at his job but we never get to see how vicious he can truly be.
I don't know if this is the fault of the script or the director who might have ditched characterisation in favour of super cool cinematography.  Hanna must be up there with 127 Hours as the most over-directed film of the year, to the point of distraction!
Since this is a Joe Wright film, we get the obligatory "look at this really cool extended Steadicam tracking shot" as Eric Bana heads underground from a train station into a fight with four armed men.
However the biggest problem I had with the film concerned a scene where Hanna and Sophie, the young English girl who befriends her, are lying in a tent talking to each other face to face.  Yet for some reason their heads are at alternate sides of the frame which started me thinking about whether Wright has done this for some unknown stylistic reason or whether it was a massive cock up?!  Any time that an element like editing, cinematography, music, etc makes you come out of the story and start analysing the film is never a good thing.
But I'm being very negative, there must have been some good points right?  Right?  Yes there was actually, in the form of the score by The Chemical Brothers.  This rather slow paced film really bursts into life when their music kicks in and is the driving force behind the film's best action scenes (the highlight being Hanna's escape from the military base).
The Chemical Brothers have continued the now worrying trend set by Daft Punk of having cool bands provide the soundtrack for crap films.  I sincerely hope that Basement Jaxx don't make it a hat trick with Attack The Block.
Hit Girl set the bar high last year when she burst onto the scene asking "OK you C*nts, le't see what you can do now?".  In Hanna's case?  Not enough!

2 stars