Oh boy. If there's one thing I know about comic book fans, movies based on adaptions on them can be very polarizing. This movie, a sequel to last year's The Amazing Spider Man, isn't even close to being out yet, and now even the confirmed cast list is pissing people off.
So, here's the basic arugment: Jamie Foxx, an actor known from recent works like Django Unchained and the upcoming White House Down, is cast as the villian Maxwell Dillion, better known as Electro, one of the most prominent bad guys in the Spider Man rouges gallery.
Now, since this is a movie based on a comic book character, not everything is going to be straight from the mind of the person who created the orginal storylines of the comic book itself. That much can be said from Foxx's portrayal in this movie.
First off, Jamie Foxx is African American, which already sets a big standard, at least to comic book elitists, considering Max Dillion has always been white in the comics and in pretty much every other adaption of Spider Man until now. There alot of people whining that this is going to throw off the character and ruin his personality and all this.
If you ask me, it's just like the King Of Pop said: "It don't matter if you're black or white". We've seen this kind of thing happen before: Micheal Clarke Duncan (RIP) was cast as the Kingpin in the Daredevil movie. I won't say that movie was five star, but I still think Kingpin gave a good performance overall. And, of course, everybody knows that Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in the Marvel movies. This is actually the Ultimate incarnation of the character, so both comic book fans and casuals alike can rest easy, the comic fans being because the character stays pretty much the same in all his roles and adaptions, and the casuals because... well, it's Samuel L. f**king Jackson, people. Nuff said. All in all, it shouldn't matter whether or not the character being adapted changes his race, his hair color, his eye color, or whatever. As long as the tone and characterization of the original is still there, we should be just fine. There's a difference between favoring the source material and being flat out racist.
Second, the look of Jamie Foxx's portrayal is being put into question: he wears all black clothes, with a hoodie over his head, and has sickly blue skin. Some people are even comparing this look to Darth Sidious, all of people. And, yes, some people are also making more jokes about it, mostly because they think the design is God-awful and they think that Foxx looks like a blue zombie or something.
My take: this is actually staying close to the comics, believe it or not. The look that Foxx is sporting obviously isn't the cheesy green and yellow look most of us think of when we think Electro. BUT, it IS what he looks like in the Ultimate series for the Spider Man comics. This is because of the direction that Marc Webb, the director of the blooming ASM franchise, which is a more "modern, futuristic" look. This is actually a good reason, because the Ultimate incarnations of Spider Man and the other comic book series strive to do just that; take the formula presented in each series, including characters, themes, and such, and take it to a more modern setting. I actually think Foxx looks even more badass than he did in Django Unchained. And again, we haven't even seen the movie yet, so maybe we should leave this type of thing to judge after we all see the film and every plays out.
Newest Bit Of Info (Costume Reveal): http://www.nerdist.com/2013/04/jamie-foxxs-amazing-spider-man-2-electro-costume-revealed/
Oh boy. If there's one thing I know about comic book fans, movies based on adaptions on them can be very polarizing. This movie, a sequel to last year's The Amazing Spider Man, isn't even close to being out yet, and now even the confirmed cast list is pissing people off.
So, here's the basic arugment: Jamie Foxx, an actor known from recent works like Django Unchained and the upcoming White House Down, is cast as the villian Maxwell Dillion, better known as Electro, one of the most prominent bad guys in the Spider Man rouges gallery.
Now, since this is a movie based on a comic book character, not everything is going to be straight from the mind of the person who created the orginal storylines of the comic book itself. That much can be said from Foxx's portrayal in this movie.
First off, Jamie Foxx is African American, which already sets a big standard, at least to comic book elitists, considering Max Dillion has always been white in the comics and in pretty much every other adaption of Spider Man until now. There alot of people whining that this is going to throw off the character and ruin his personality and all this.
If you ask me, it's just like the King Of Pop said: "It don't matter if you're black or white". We've seen this kind of thing happen before: Micheal Clarke Duncan (RIP) was cast as the Kingpin in the Daredevil movie. I won't say that movie was five star, but I still think Kingpin gave a good performance overall. And, of course, everybody knows that Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in the Marvel movies. This is actually the Ultimate incarnation of the character, so both comic book fans and casuals alike can rest easy, the comic fans being because the character stays pretty much the same in all his roles and adaptions, and the casuals because... well, it's Samuel L. f**king Jackson, people. Nuff said. All in all, it shouldn't matter whether or not the character being adapted changes his race, his hair color, his eye color, or whatever. As long as the tone and characterization of the original is still there, we should be just fine. There's a difference between favoring the source material and being flat out racist.
Second, the look of Jamie Foxx's portrayal is being put into question: he wears all black clothes, with a hoodie over his head, and has sickly blue skin. Some people are even comparing this look to Darth Sidious, all of people. And, yes, some people are also making more jokes about it, mostly because they think the design is God-awful and they think that Foxx looks like a blue zombie or something.
My take: this is actually staying close to the comics, believe it or not. The look that Foxx is sporting obviously isn't the cheesy green and yellow look most of us think of when we think Electro. BUT, it IS what he looks like in the Ultimate series for the Spider Man comics. This is because of the direction that Marc Webb, the director of the blooming ASM franchise, which is a more "modern, futuristic" look. This is actually a good reason, because the Ultimate incarnations of Spider Man and the other comic book series strive to do just that; take the formula presented in each series, including characters, themes, and such, and take it to a more modern setting. I actually think Foxx looks even more badass than he did in Django Unchained. And again, we haven't even seen the movie yet, so maybe we should leave this type of thing to judge after we all see the film and every plays out.
So, that's my two cents. How about yours?
Edited by Firaga Sensei