Friday, January 24, 2020

Today in walking right into it:

Walking right into what? You ask. Why the crosshairs of internet ire, of course. What with Mega Man the movie and the recent announcement that it's going to be written by Mattson Tomlin, the screenwriter for the Batman reboot imaginatively titled The Batman. 
Pictured: The Mattson Tomlin, seen here realizing what his life will
be like now that he's now writing two things with fans that have opinions.
This guy has a fan in his chest and so
is vulnerable to leaves. Obviously.
The news is surprisi-wait, you don't suppose they'll call it The Mega Man do you? Usually this is the part where I pretend you don't even know what it is I'm on about and explain. And this time is no different. What's a Mega Man? I pretend you ask. Here, allow me: I reply. So Mega Man, for the uninitiated is a long-running-and I mean, very long running. Like thirty years. They're action/platform games but the key gameplay gimmick is that you can steal the level boss' powers to use against the next boss. It's sort of a rock-paper-scissor thing. Ice Man's weapon defeats Fire Man, Needle Man's defeats Snake Man, and so on. What? Snakes hate needles. Fact.

I'm not saying the internet rage was
misplaced, I'm just saying it happened,
and now Sonic is a cartoon again.
Anyway, look, I like Mega Man and all, and I'm sure Mattson Tomlin is a great screenwriter, but still, is this a good idea? Video game movies are, traditionally, terrible. And even more unnerving is the fact that the last time anyone was talking about a Mega Man movie, it was going to be live action. Is that still the case? Because I'm just not sure the world is ready for photo realistic takes on video game characters. Remember that time realistic Sonic was instantly murdered by internet-based nerd rage? And all we saw was one trailer. One.

And when did playing the Joker
become everybody's Hamlet?
And is this going to be a serious take on Mega Man? I mean, Tomlin doesn't have a ton of credits yet but he is co-writing The Batman. And I have no idea if it's another grounded grim dark interpretation á la the Christopher Nolan films, but given that series success and the fact Joaquin Phoenix is being nominated for all awards ever for playing the Joker as a grounded grim dark serial killer/clown, I'd say the likelihood is high. So is Tomlin is working on a gritty and grounded version of Mega Man?

The mind reels. Whatever the approach, the movie is almost certainly going to attract the attention of Mega Man fans and I just hope Mattson Tomlin is ready for the inevitable criticism that comes with adapting something that has a fan base. After all, the story of a scientist who builds a robot son to battle some other scientist and his evil, yet adorable robots is a tale that must be-oh, and sometimes the robots play soccer together. Is that going to be in the movie?
Because if it's not, I'm starting an internet petition.

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