Editorials
Dear WB/DC: How to Learn the Right Lessons from ‘Joker’ and Avoid the Wrong Ones
It’s undeniable at this point: Joker is an enormous success. As I write this, its second weekend at the box office is on track to bring in ~$60m, signifying a less than 40% drop from its opening weekend. That is inarguably astounding. People are clearly motivated to check out this movie. And it’s unavoidable that Warner Bros. – and more specifically, their DC Comics film branch – are going to try and figure out how to replicate that achievement.
Now, this is not going to be a critical opinion piece when looking at Joker. You can hear my feelings towards the movie on my GenreVision episode. Instead, I want to examine what WB and DC should take away from Joker when thinking about how best to utilize their comic book stable moving forward. Movie studios rarely learn the right things from their successes, and I think Joker is a great opportunity to showcase what works and what doesn’t with these kinds of projects.
DON’T Make a Bunch of Villain Movies
When Joker was gaining good buzz and increased interest, I saw a lot of reactions clamoring for more solo movies focused on villains. This is the kind of shortsighted desire that is destined to fail.
Joker made sense as a solo movie for a number of reasons. The most important (and financially sound) reason being that the Joker is the most recognizable and influential villain in comic book history. As risky as Joker‘s approach to the material might have been, its subject character has been proven to be an enormous draw for audiences across the world. While there are plenty of other noteworthy villains – just in Batman’s rogues gallery alone – it’s highly unlikely that any of them have the kind of mass appeal to carry a singular film.
That’s not to say villains aren’t interesting from a narrative perspective. As someone who is intimately familiar with Batman stories in all forms of media, there are plenty of fantastic stories that can be told with a villain as the protagonist. But, to feel that Joker worked simply because it focused on a villain instead of a hero is missing the forest for a single tree. And if the DC film banner starts cranking out villain movies, it won’t help but feel like a crass, exploitative, and frankly uninspired maneuver after Joker.
Side note: I do think there is a good Catwoman movie to be made – she could certainly use some cinematic redemption – but that character has become so much less of a villain in modern interpretations that I don’t think she quite fits in with other potential villain movies.
DO Stray Away From the Shared Universe
When the cinematic marketplace is dominated by a single replicated experience, audiences will eventually begin to crave something new. This has happened time and time again over the years: the Western, the musical, the fantasy epic, etc.
For the last decade, superhero/comic book cinema has been overwhelmed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its particular brand of storytelling. This influence caused DC to try and replicate that model with… less than favorable results. Now, we’re beginning to see the DC canon start to embrace singular characters and franchises instead of attempting to create an overarching universal story.
And that is good. Let Marvel continue to do what they do best and let DC offer something different. Now, while the DC universe will continue to have tangential connections to other films, I think Joker proves that these connections alone aren’t what is going to drive people to the theater. Films like Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad will somewhat be continuations of previous DC films, but the impetus to create some grand cinematic universe shouldn’t be what drives the DC stable. Compelling self-contained stories (whether that’s self-contained to a single film or a specific franchise) are something DC can excel at, and Joker has given them the kind of renewed confidence they should have in this regard.
DON’T Try to Go Gritty and Grim for Everything
A stripped-down, bleak take on Joker might not be what some people wanted, but it’s a direction that isn’t without merit in regards to the title character. Doing a downright horror film version of the Joker is something that you can argue makes sense.
However, that shouldn’t be the springboard for the entire DC canon to suddenly turn into a dark and brooding R-rated grimfest. This is my least concerned point regarding the fallout from Joker’s success since it’s pretty certain next year’s slate of films – Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 – won’t be gritty or anywhere near Joker’s specific take and tone.
Still, I don’t want WB thinking that this means Matt Reeves’ The Batman suddenly needs to copy what Joker was doing. The same goes for the rest of their properties. In fact, it would be invigorating to hear that WB was going to do another standalone one-off film but this time it was focused on Superman. And what would be really enticing would be if it was a bright, anachronistic, cheery, corny, and definitive take on the character that was aimed at an all-ages audience.
Finding what the correct tone is for each property is what seems to work for wide audiences, and it’s just the right direction to take when making these comic book properties into big tentpole events. While a grim and gritty version of Joker was the right call, that doesn’t mean it will be the right call for the rest of the DC films.
DO Let Directors Run With a Unique Vision
No matter how you fall in regards to your feelings on Joker, it’s very clear that it is a specific version from a particular creative voice. Jack Giroux of /Film wrote a great piece about how only Todd Phillips could have been the person to make Joker. It illuminates a really fascinating point about the modern-day landscape of comic book cinema.
Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to all line up as part of a greater world, it means that the movies can’t color too much outside the lines with their takes. That doesn’t mean they can’t produce good movies, but there is a reason why a common complaint about the MCU is their samey nature.
On the other hand, DC is often very good at allowing filmmakers to bring a unique style and perspective to their films. Even Zack Snyder’s movies are definitively Zack Snyder movies. The problem that arose for some viewers with that vision was that it felt incongruous to the characters and world that Snyder was playing with (see the previous section).
Allowing creatives to come onto these comic book films and create something that feels distinctly theirs has got to be appealing to filmmakers. That freedom to really play with the material and make it their own is something DC should really lean into. They may not always work, but they will always feel like standout pieces of comic book cinema.
DON’T Turn Everything Into a Prestige Picture
A lot of the fervor surrounding Joker has to do with its position as a prestige picture for the studio. Scuttlebutt about Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was already high, and winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival only made the film look more distinguished. Now, there are plenty of cries for Phoenix to be nominated for Best Actor for the Academy Awards.
That’s all fine and dandy. Awards conversations are often tiresome but it’s always nice to see genre fare getting recognized by the establishment. But, this shouldn’t mean that the DC comics characters should be mined for Oscar bait. The last thing I want to see is DC trying to figure out how best to manipulate their roster in order to garner some kind of high praise from the Academy.
Honestly, this is also something to talk about specifically with the character of the Joker. Thanks to big-screen portrayals by Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, and even Jared Leto, the Clown Prince of Crime is being somewhat pigeon-holed into having to be a Big Deal any time the character shows up in a live-action format. It’d be great to get a supporting turn from someone playing the Joker and it not be touted as some big deal either in terms of performance or how the actor approached the role.
It’s great that Joker is probably getting some folks to watch a comic book movie that might not do so otherwise. If part of that reasoning is because of its critical acclaim, cool. But, I don’t really want to see an Oscar bait take on anyone else in the DC universe.
DO Embrace the Distinct Nature of Your Characters
Much like the section about allowing directors to bring sharp and original takes to their films, DC should also recognize what’s so special about their characters and play to those strengths. Part of the reason Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam! were successful is that they feel like truly representative versions of their characters and their worlds.
The same can be said for Joker. Whether that representation is something you like is up to you, but it’s clearly something that has resonated with audiences and captivated their curiosity. It seems like audiences respond to movies about comic book characters that feel like strong, well-defined versions of those characters.
Instead of trying to make all your characters fit under a tonal umbrella (see the Shared Universe section), let filmmakers find what fascinates them about a particular character and expand upon that idea so that they can shape a version of that character that feels fresh and interesting. If artists are allowed to zero in on the best (read: most compelling) elements of these characters and work outward from there, we’ll get more on-screen heroes and villains that have the chance to become the standards for a certain generation of fans.
It’s been 75 years since The Thing From Another World first warned us to “watch the skies”, and filmgoers have done just that by showing up to multiple instances of extraterrestrial contact on the big screen. This makes sense, as a recent CBS news poll estimated that 63% of Americans believe in intelligent life on other planets, and the ongoing disclosure movement aims to raise that number with each passing day.
With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day leaving many genre fans hungry for more alien footage (preferably of the spooky variety), today I’d like to share a list recommending six underrated alien invasion thrillers for your viewing pleasure. After all, regardless of whether or not you believe that we’re alone in the universe, it can be fun to dream about the worst-case scenario if our cosmic neighbors ever decide to visit.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on lesser-known invasion stories rather than the popular extraterrestrials of franchises like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third (or even Fourth) Kind. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own alien favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling movie.
While it won’t be featured in this article, I’d highly recommend checking out Dean Alioto’s UFO Abduction/The McPherson Tape if you’re up for some ufology-inspired found footage thrills.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. The Arrival (1996)
Not to be confused with Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-winning Amy Adams vehicle about learning to communicate peacefully with extraterrestrial life, David Twohy’s The Arrival is a much more straightforward (but no less entertaining) genre romp where Charlie Sheen faces a global conspiracy involving hostile alien invaders.
It’s not exactly up there with Close Encounters or even Independence Day, but Twohy’s conspiratorial thriller plays out like an exceptionally fun episode of The X-Files that I’d recommend to sci-fi/horror fans who don’t mind a little bit of wonky CGI and 90s excess alongside their alien thrills.
5. Extraterrestrial (2014)
The Vicious Brothers made a name for themselves with the success of 2011’s Grave Encounters, but that was far from the Canadian duo’s only collaboration. And while it’s not exactly a fan favorite, I always point out 2014’s Extraterrestrial as one of their most underrated projects simply because I agree with the filmmakers’ opinion that there aren’t enough ‘cool alien abduction movies’ out there.
Admittedly, the majority of the picture functions like a run-of-the-mill creature feature with paper-thin characters and familiar horror tropes, but I’d argue that the cosmically-terrifying final act elevates the experience to new and memorable heights. The movie also boasts great performances by both Michael Ironside and Emily Perkins – a combination that more than makes up for the occasionally janky CGI.
4. Alien Raiders (2008)
Director Ben Rock has gone on record lamenting how his John-Carpenter-inspired creature feature was forcefully renamed from Supermarket to the painfully obvious Alien Raiders (a change which likely resulted in many potential viewers skipping out on the experience), but the new title doesn’t change the fact that this single-location thriller is something of a hidden gem.
Taking place entirely within a supermarket, Alien Raiders tells the story of an ensemble of customers and employees who are taken hostage by a group of armed men looking for something far more dangerous than an easy payout. I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoiling the experience, but I’d highly recommend this criminally underseen flick to fans of John Carpenter and the Resident Evil games.
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
You’d think that a Ridley-Scott-produced retelling of one of the most infamous real-life UFO sightings of all time would have a bigger following, but I rarely see Justin Barber’s Found Footage period piece brought up during discussions about extraterrestrial-focused horror movies.
This is a huge shame, as Phoenix Forgotten is just as spooky as it is convincing, with this well-researched dive into the Phoenix Lights incident benefiting from surprisingly believable special effects as well as an appropriately horrific finale.
2. Communion (1989)
I wouldn’t blame you for disregarding Whitley Strieber’s controversial book about his alleged close encounter as sensationalist slop, but I’d argue that Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of these events is much better than the source material. After all, the movie works as a standalone piece of speculative fiction while also benefiting from an incredible performance by the one and only Christopher Walken!
Mora’s take on Communion may not be particularly scary, but the film is still an unforgettable character study regardless of whether or not the abduction really happened. Not only that, but the flick also paved the way for plenty of future sci-fi stories where the extraterrestrial invaders aren’t as evil as they initially appear.
1. Altered (2006)
Originally envisioned as a Sam Raimi-style horror-comedy titled Probed, Eduardo Sánchez (of The Blair Witch Project fame) eventually realized that it would be much more interesting to turn the film into a serious exploration of the emotional aftermath of a traumatic abduction incident.
That’s how we got Altered, a clever inversion of the standard abduction narrative that follows a group of troubled friends as they capture and experiment on an alien in order to enact revenge for their own abduction years prior.
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