Comic Con 2009 Review
We visited Pandora, entered the Imaginarium, saw a New Moon, had an expo with Stark Industries and actually entered Flynn’s Arcade. Nerd Fest 2009, also known as San Diego Comic Con International 2009, has come and gone and the experience has been one for the ages. In terms of what was on display and what the studios brought, it was a slam dunk. Stuff might have underwhelmed, but this attendee didn’t hear rumblings of anything being negative except for the obvious, like Twilight Saga: New Moon (assuming you’re not female and twelve or under.) Comic Con 2009, for the most part, was a win for all parties as they catered to their audiences well and generated the hype necessary for the coming year.
The big buzz surrounding the Con, and was the show piece for this year, was Avatar. Little was known about the project other than it was going to be a “game changer” for visual effects and push them to the extreme. What we saw was a nice throwback to Aliens (the King of the World’s best work) followed by a glimpse at the story which involves Sam Worthington’s character wanting to walk again by using an ‘Avatar’, a mix of a Navi (the blue creatures in the film) and human DNA. This what enables us to explore Pandora, and how amazing it is to behold. When August 21st rolls around and the general audience gets to witness the footage it will be believed James Cameron really did fly everyone to an unknown planet and film there. The effects here are unparalleled and (as Devin Faraci put it) evolutionary which has to be seen to be believed. For me, this took the cake as the Best in Show as it delivered what I wanted. In addition, it was nice to see two sci-fi legends in Cameron and Sigourney Weaver together again, and in person.
Unfortunately though, this isn’t about what pleased me but rather what did the general audience react to. While Avatar played strong, some were let down that it didn’t live up to the high expectations beset on it. There was one panel that stole the show from the Na’vi and declared itself the true winner, and undoubtedly it’s Iron Man 2. The footage seemed to have shown off that Jon Favreau kept everything that worked about the first picture and improved upon the action. Nick Fury was there, asking Stark to join his ’super secret boy band’ as was Whiplash who took out a car in true villainous fashion. Rhodey was right when he said ‘Next time baby’ as we get our first glimpse at War Machine. In a word, all of this was awesome. While I missed out on it, Melissa caught it and described it as an orgasmic experience. Apparently so did everyone else who sat in Hall H Saturday as you couldn’t go five feet without seeing a blue Stark Expo ‘74 on someone. Bottom line, Iron Man 2 blew away everything else there as evidenced by the loud roar that came from Hall Hell Saturday and the fact they played the footage twice. Where’s that SDCC 2009 Champion belt for Favreau?
Runners-up would be Kick-Ass and Jonah Hex, or Warner Bros. in general. They showcased all of their upcoming pictures, five in total. Where the Wild Things Are just looks all the more great and tugged at pretty much everyone. The Book of Eli is just going to be Denzel kicking ass for two hours, complete with a great, dynamic panel from Mr. Washington and Gary Oldman. We need a buddy cop film with these two as they play off of the other incredibly well. A Nightmare on Elm Street finally showed off it’s stuff and for the most part was impressive. The trailer was slick and gave us a tiny glimpse at Jackie Earle Haley in full Freddy make-up. Indeed, he’s perfect for the part and the footage left everyone wanting more. The Box was likely the weakest of what Warner Bros. brought as Cameron Diaz gave it away. It didn’t matter, as that was just the calm before the storm of Jonah Hex came through. On a side note, Megan Fox on photos is one thing. Megan Fox in person makes you forget her toe-thumbs and is just dazzling with beauty. Oh, the footage…right. It looks like everything Van Helsing wanted to be, and wasn’t. The dual machine-guns where the real kicker and even evoked me to applause. The WB closed with Sherlock Holmes and while it pumped me up for it in a way the trailer didn’t, it was clear Jonah Hex was the movie that everyone was going to champion. As far as Kick-Ass goes, let’s just say it looks to be a fun, ridiculous actioner complete with a ten year-old firing off the big C-word. Oh, she also reloads her weapons mid air. You may want to throw Disney in here too, but mainly for Tron Legacy and Flynn’s Arcade which was next to only Tony Stark for the Greatest In Show.
Which leaves us with the real losers, bringing us back to Avatar. To be fair, nothing really lost as everything that was played received generally favorable buzz but Avatar had to be something special. With all the hype, this had to do better than Iron Man 2 did and at the end of the day no one really discussed it like they were with some other heavy hitters. It wasn’t bad footage at all, but it wasn’t captivating. It would still be in the discussion for top five of the Con, even if that number IS five. This was like a the last few Super Bowls before XLII wherein there’s a ton of build up that doesn’t end up on everyone’s lips like it’s hailed to do. Maybe the fifteen minutes will help, maybe they won’t. It might seem like I’m doing a 180 on my thoughts, but I’m not. Here, I’m speaking strictly from how the buzz was after and what it was planned to be, not my personal thoughts.
Overall, Comic Con 2009 was a success. Nothing really disappointed and on display was some terrific footage for all parties. The coming months for film should truly be spectacular from an entertainment standpoint and an early prediction; Green Lantern wins Comic Con 2010. That’s my fanboyism talking.
Top 5 Comic-Con Events
1. Iron Man 2
2. Flynn’s Arcade
3. Kick-Ass
4. Jonah Hex
5. Avatar
Oh, and what of New Moon? Well, this guy will explain it:
