Loved the whole SUV attack scene. Gonzo insane escalating measure, counter-measure, counter-counter-measure exchange in a scene that didn't even involve the protagonist. Helps that none of the characters in this film are massively superpowered - if the Terminator gets to be in an action movie, I don't see what…

The sequels play like Vin looked at everything that made Pitch Black work - the tight narrative focus, ensemble cast, and personal stakes - and consciously decided to keep *none* of it.

If there's any story in the Western canon that you can expect people to have context for, it's this one. But as you said, the context doesn't provide anything besides other stuff the man being tortured did. The whole thing plays out as if Gibson made a "Tusk"-style bet: "Hey, bet I can get church folks to watch a…

Awfully similar setup, and…I have no idea what the actual plot is based on his description. When an accusation of plagiarism lists "hijinks ensue" as a similarity, you don't have a very strong case.

Apparently the film had a few months cut off it's production time, so your guess may be right on the mark.

"Phonetic translation" gets a little sketchy from Chinese to English - historical figure Cao Cao's name is pronounced much closer to "Shu Shu".

Also because I think it lets him avoid the fact that, in terms of popularity, superhero movies have largely surpassed the action movies they evolved from - much the same way action movies surpassed Westerns and war movies in the '70s.

When Gibson made his cameo as the (hand of) the man driving in the nails, I thought it demonstrated a deep understanding of the Catholic interpretation of the Passion, namely: who killed Christ? We did.

And…all movies are Star Wars? I'm confused.

My understanding is that the movie did poorly in Eastern markets for this very reason - it was just another Wuxia film, if on a large budget, and it wasn't anything they hadn't seen before.

Also the lineage of Lee and Chan, given that he violated his only given criterion in order to include CTHD.

I remember being very put off of Romeo Must Die for this very reason - they brought in the incredibly talented Jet Li, and then (frequently and blatantly) spruced him up with CGI. Why bother getting a great martial artist if you're just gonna cover up half his work in post?

Agreed. "Simple" and "dumb" aren't the same thing.

I'm sympathetic to Mr. Breihan's argument that superhero movies are not action movies, especially because he emphasizes that they are *different*, not *lesser*. But the only concrete way I've seen given to tell them apart was the "punch test": does a character getting hit by a punch feel like it hurts? For certain…

I'd argue for the sequels to "hold up", they would need to have been liked in the first place.

"Evangelical" exists as a specific Protestant tradition that counts both Black and White congregations among its numbers. Since the '70s, whatever theological significance it held has been dwarfed by the cultural significance of it as a signifier for White conservative Americans who are nominally Christian…

To preserve the LOM rules of monsters and saints, they'll have to glide over the fact that Kerrigan actually was a pretty hateable person. Not that she deserved to be clubbed, but it's hard to root for anyone in this story.

I think you mean Ladies and Mistresses.

I strongly suspect what market research there was tunnel-vision focused on "what does our new, White audience like" without thinking about how their existing audience would respond.

Seriously, Bain Capital? There's new investors, and then there's Evil Empire folks.