I’m prepared to go to war with you guys – but I feel strongly in my belief that Robert Rodriguez isn’t a good filmmaker. And I’m not excited for anything he does.
Other than his indie debut, El mariachi, and the sci-fi horror The Faculty, he’s never done anything good (or right) by himself – he’s always had Quentin Tarantino to lean on. Seriously, go take a look. Here’s a small list: From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City, Grindhouse and even Four Rooms. And Desperado can’t be included because the entire third act was missing because they went over budget (a lot of people don’t know this, but it’s true). What about the Spy Kids and Machete franchises? Garbage. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D? Pa-lease.
If the 1998 The Faculty was his last good movie (without Tarantino), that would mean it’s been 15 years since he’s done anything worthwhile. And I’m not expecting anything anytime soon.
Sony Pictures thinks they’re getting a franchise with a live-action version of the 1983 animated film Fire and Ice, which Rodriguez will direct, but I’d be willing to bet this movie never even happens.
It comes from a good place, at least, being that it’s Rodriguez’s homage to his friend, the late legendary animator Frank Frazetta, on whose works Frazetta and Ralph Bakshi based that original film.
The intention is for Fire and Ice to be the birth of a fantasy adventure franchise, informed by the dreamlike worlds Frazetta poured into his paintings, says Deadline.
In the original film, a small village is destroyed by a surging glacier domain for the evil Ice Lord, Nekron. Sole survivor is a young warrior who vows vengeance, and when Nekron’s subhuman, apelike creatures kidnap a king’s daughter, the warrior becomes determined to track down and free her.
If the latest Sin City sequel and Machete Kills are any indication of the quality of cinema we should expect from Fire and Ice, man, this is going to be disastrous.
