New Pics from Justice League, Pirates 5, and Pacific Rim 2 Remind Us They Still Exist, Not Much Else
Ah, the production still. The carefully curated peek studios send out to the glossy entertainment magazines and trade websites. They are overt bits of marketing designed by committee and often photo-shopped into oblivion. To put it more bluntly, they usually suck.
As 2017 has kicked into gear and the studios fall over themselves attempting to convince you to plunk down your clams on their polished big-budget toy commercials, we have gotten a bunch of new looks at the big tent-pole action flicks that will prop up the summer. For some reason, these stills are working me up like a Valium cocktail followed by an Ambien chaser.
The first picture, featured above, shows most of the Justice League standing around like they are posing for their new boy band album cover. The shot raises interesting questions like: Where is all of that poorly rendered smoke coming from? Why is there grass in the foreground of this industrial-style room? Are they just under some high school bleachers? Why does it look like Cyborg is actually a little person? I know we are supposed to be asking where Superman is, but I can't bring myself to begin care about that manufactured nonsense mystery set up by Batman V Superman's ending. Of course Superman will be in this movie, and of course finding him is the driving force behind Batman assembling the team in the trailer. Warner Bros., please stop treating us like we're idiots.
This next picture is from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
So, I guess they're still making these movies. Johnny Depp gotta eat, especially after his costly and painfully public personal issues last year. And look, Disney got another half-dead CGI'd name actor as the villain. This time it's Javier Bardem. I'd honestly be surprised if any part of this picture wasn't rendered in a computer. Even Bardem's face seems like a digital scan rather than a photo. That said, the pic is certainly very piratey, so I guess it has that going for it.
Lastly, we have a picture of Rinko Kikuchi in the Pacific Rim sequel that once again proves America's once unimpeachable dominance in the global film market is dwindling.
This movie exists thanks entirely to the foreign markets. That's not necessarily good or bad, it's just a fact. On the creative side, this picture could've easily been a leftover still from the first movie, and I think that's pretty disappointing. After losing Guillermo Del Toro as director, it seems the studio blew any chance of aesthetically differentiating this film from his simplistic but stylish original. It's a darn shame, too, because I was hoping the sequel could aspire to being something more than just a candy-fueled 11 year old boy's cinematic fever dream.
