The Sound STC•Vol.2 Issue 01
January 2016
From Reboots to Sequels: Film in 2015 on Review
By Paul Sawchuk
Is 2015 the first year when we really didn’t give
a crap that we were fed sequel after sequel after
sequel, reboot or adaptation?
Were we aching for original properties? There
was no Pacific Rim, and the only original property
to come out this year is The Hateful Eight, which is
original in it’s story, but is a Quentin Tarantino
film, so name recognition alone is going to drive
expectations. It’s arguable that, in such a way,
Tarantino is expanding on his own sort of franchise, so audiences are prebuilt in the same way
they would be for a Harry Potter film.
We’re in love with expanded universes and
long term cinematic engagements; so much so
that we’re seeing our favourite worlds spill over
into our television space. I’ve talked a lot about
this during the year, so what I’d like to focus on
is another shifting attitude with movies and audiences, one I briefly touched on last month with
my piece on fandom.
We’re starting to see the wonder again. We’re
escaping into movies and hopefully some of the
negative fan-boy cynicism is going away. The
world’s turmoil is increasing — or at least the media’s interpretation of that turmoil is increasing
— and filmmakers response is to deliver us our
heroes en masse. Let’s face it, we’re right in the
middle of a “comfort food” phase with entertainment. But we don’t have to approach this with
the same broad cynicism that most people use
when talking about Nickelback or Justin Bieber.
Let’s take a look back and see what actually happened in 2015.
Is The Movie Star Dead?
Stars don’t deliver anymore, unless they’re
known for their craft, at least. Vin Diesel is
huge... if he’s in a Fast and Furious film. Diesel’s
foray into fantasy world-building films, The Last
Witch Hunter was a critical and commercial flop
despite Diesel and other name actors, including
Michael Caine and Elijah Wood. Despite being
a passion project of sorts, The Last Witch Hunter
proved that you need more than just a name to
draw audiences in.
What about Tom Cruise? Mission Impossible:
Rogue Nation was a huge hit, but it could be argued that the M:I franchise favours an ensemble
cast, still led by Cruise, and increasingly larger
and larger set pieces. Even if you haven’t seen the
film, you’ll have undoubtedly heard about the incredible stunt work, including strapping Cruise
to the exterior of a plane in take-off. Matt Damon
oozed charisma in The Martian, but he wasn’t the
only one holding that movie on his shoulders, it
was again an ensemble effort and a great film.
This has been happening for a while. Box office
results of the last few years show that we need
more than a star’s name on the marquee to draw
us into a movie, and we hold higher standards to
actors. This is not a climate where we would see
Ben Affleck in Paycheck, such obvious cash-ins
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are (mostly) dead. The stars we go to have to deliver in talent, not just looks. Jennifer Lawrence,
Bryan Cranston, Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy,
Emily Blunt, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy,
even Chris Pratt, these are actors who we turn to
because they have a decent amount of talent and
versatility. Conversely, franchise films are the top
of the box office despite former actors names.
You can’t just dress up Johnny Dep [