I realize that I
haven’t been faithfully reviewing articles for a while, and for that I
apologize. With my exit from the military, my ratings coming through, and my
relocation to Colorado, my life has been hectic, but I promise I plan to return
to regular film reviews in the near future. In the meantime, contemplate this
article while I plan my return.
Be warned, this
article is VERY spoiler heavy.
A lot of people are angry at JJ Abrams, there’s no way
around it. Strangely, this anger seems to stem from a very unlikely source, lying
about a character in his film.
Let’s start from the beginning. The world was greatly
anticipating the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness (STID) this last
summer, so much so that when nerd favorite Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as “Main
Antagonist” the internet went into a fizzy about who he was going to play. The
big theories were that he was going to play Trek favorite Khan or Gary
Mitchell, which would have been the first time in the new Trek universe that
these famous stories were explored from the new universe standpoint.
So imagine everyone’s surprise when JJ Abrams announced that
Cumberbatch would be playing… some guy named John Harrison. Everyone scratched
their head, called Bravo Sierra, and were treated to Abrams swearing up and
down the spectrum that this new villain would NOT be Khan. Eventually everyone
moved on and saw the film, only to have Abrams “surprise” us all with a big “AHA!
Gotcha!” reveal that this was indeed Khan after all. Nerds were up in arms
about this reveal, and eventually Abrams issued a flat out apology saying that
he was wrong to lie and he should have just said who it was from the beginning.
But... should he have had to apologize?
Let’s face it, the world of film has changed a lot in the
last twenty years. It used to be that the announcement of a big film, be it an
original work or a sequel, warranted a complete blackout of information on all
the details of the film, since there was no medium to spread speculation or analysis
of the film on a worldwide basis. Fast forward to today and it’s nearly
impossible to keep all the details of a movie a secret. All the non-disclosure
contracts and script control in the world can’t stop a teenager from emailing
aintitcoolnews.com to say that the new Avengers is filming by his
apartment complex and he overheard one of the sound guys mention Deadpool.
The point is that STID was Abrams child, his
creation, and if he wanted to keep the reveal a secret, then he shouldn’t have
had to apologize later for lying about the big secret. Keep in mind that this
actually happened in The Dark Knight Rises as well this year when Nolan lied over and over that
Miranda Tate was NOT Talia Al Ghul, and this reveal actually DID bug me because
her last minute plot reveal kind of tarnished the character of Bane for me. The
big difference however, was that no one seemed to care about this lie.
So where is the middle ground in all of this? Personally I
believe that lying to keep a reveal secret should be fine, especially
considering that just a few years ago trailers seemed to be giving away massive
plot points left, right, and sideways. Remember the trailer to Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers that totally showed the biggest surprise of the book
by having Gandalf front and center through the whole trailer? Or how about the
trailer for Even Almighty, a film that revolved around whether or not
there would really be a flood, showing a flood tearing through the city?
Now obviously I have a problem with trailers lying about
what TYPE of film you were going to
see, like when Watchmen was advertised as an action heavy comic film
when it was actually a commentary about the Cold War and the Human Condition.
Or how about Sweeney Todd, a grisly film about a serial killer, being
touted as a lighthearted musical about a misunderstood weirdo? But when it
comes to keeping a secret, DKR and STID were just trying to keep the
main twist of their movies intact. Could you imagine how awesome a film could
be if it had been able to keep a plot twist that completely surprised the
audience?
Imagine seeing trailers for a film called Prey, which
focused on a group of soldiers and mercenaries waking up in a forest and being
picked off one by one by some unseen force. You don’t think much of it, but you
decide to give it a chance since it looks like a decent action romp in the vein
of The Deadliest Game. You go with some friends to see it, thinking it’s
pretty entertaining, when halfway through the film you find out that the characters have actually been transported to an alien planet, and that the unseen force hunting
them down is actually this love-able feller.
This was Robert Rodriguez’s original plan when he began
working on his film Predators, but he had to abandon this entire
marketing campaign because as soon as he acquired the license the internet was
abuzz with the news that “Robert Rodriguez is making a new Predator movie!!!”.
Love or hate Predators, you can’t deny this would have been one hell of
a surprise for the movie going audience. Luckily, there’s hope on the horizon
in terms of secrecy. Against all odds, Shane black was able to keep the big
Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3 a secret, and Joss Whedon has stated that
while the audience is all but right about Coulson being a Life Model Decoy, he
has also respectfully been tempting us with the real story behind this plot
point.
It’s understandable to be upset about being lied to,
especially when it involves a film franchise as recognizable and beloved as Star
Trek or Batman, but remember that the directors are trying to keep the surprise
a secret to convey genuine shock to the audience. Instead of thinking that the
trailers and directors are lying to you, try adjusting your brain into thinking
the director is keeping the plot a secret the same way a parent is trying to
keep a child’s Christmas present a secret.
