Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mark Millar vs The Movies



Hi, I'm KalKratos. I admit something. When it comes to Mark Millar, I like the movies based on his work instead of the source material. Wanted and Kick-Ass are some of my favorite movies. The reason is because Mark Millar's original works can get too graphic. I don't mind graphic content, but there is a limit to what I can handle. That is why I like the movies better than the comics of Mark Millar.

Now I know that there are a lot of differences between Millar's comics and the adaptations. Wanted was changed from being a fraternity of supervillains to a fraternity of super assassins. And like I said before the graphic content was toned down to a tolerable point. I didn't mind the change from supervillains to assassins. It makes sense that they did that. The idea of supervillains that killed off the superheroes and now control the world secretly is a very "comic book" idea. The super assassin angle worked better. It connected Wesley better to their world by having him be genetically born to become one. Whereas in the comics, Wesley just inherited his father's role. In the film, they recruit people who have the same abilities as they do. It just makes more sense. Also making them assassins for the greater good makes them more sympathetic to audiences. I'm not opposed to the idea of villain protagonists, but I did like what they did in Wanted. Also the last line in the comics is an incredible unpleasant line to read. Whereas the last line in the movie is inspiring.

Now in Kick-Ass, it stays more true to the comic book. But they did make a lot of changes. They changed the name of the bad guy. The near elimination of racist slurs. Big Daddy's back-story. Kick-Ass and Big Daddy's torture scene. The resolution of Dave pretending to be gay to be around Katie. But you know what, all of those things work better in the movie. The biggest change has to be that last one. In the comics, she calls him a pervert for pretending to be gay and then later sends him a picture of her giving her boyfriend a blowjob. That's a pretty crappy ending to a romantic sideplot. Now I realize it is meant to be realistic, but if I wanted a story to end that way, I would just go live my life. I entertain myself with these types of stories to escape. And the ending to the romantic sideplot in the movie works much better. We're happy that he got the girl, and gives us hope that we too can get the girl.

So how does Mark Millar feel about the movies based on his work? Well, he loves them. He has openly said that he is happy with what they have done. And even works with filmmakers to develop the sequels to those two movies. Which is much better than Alan Moore, who despises the films based on his work, even if they were good but not faithful.


So that is how I feel about movies based on Mark Millar's original work compared to his original work. Now what about the movies based on Alan Moore's work. I haven't seen From Hell. I didn't like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I loved V For Vendetta and Watchmen. I hoped you enjoyed my blog. Comment below.