He had seen the movie and liked it. He said it was a good movie. 

Having never seen it, I couldn’t judge. I simply told him because a friend said it wasn’t true to the comics. As such, I knew I wouldn’t like it.

I recognize my self-righteousness in doing so. And I stand by it.

That said, I’ve loved movies whose source material was clearly modified and adapted to make the movie. Shawshank Redemption, Lord of the Rings, Princess Bride  and Watchmen are just a few examples.  The issue isn’t about just the how good the movie is as a standalone, but also how much reverence it shows towards the source material and the fans, by extension.

Constantine, for example, was probably a reasonably enjoyable movie. I saw it with someone who had never read Hellblazer and he enjoyed it.  Unlike him, I read Hellblazer and LOVED the character of John Constantine, and I just couldn’t help but feel slapped in the face by the producers and the studio.

The problem I have with Wolverine and works like it, is that the source material is extremely easy to translate film - most comic books are. Keeping the “essence” of a comic book is easy - fudge the small details, if needed, but stay true to who the characters are.  I can let the fact that Wolverine towers over Storm in X2 slide because his essence is the same (albeit, without the little man syndrome). Hugh Jackman is a big guy, and he can’t help it. They could have, however, cast someone who could actually speak with a proper Cajun accent instead of some young primetime drama star because he’s handsome, who hasn’t got a clue about what his character should sound like.  Or at least hire a dialect coach. 

Essence matters. Details matter. 

The onus to keeping the “essence” also swings the other way.  Sin City was extremely (even quite literally) true to the source material, which again I loved, but it just felt like reading the comic - it didn’t bring anything new and exciting to the work (and edited some out) and so left me wanting. 

Yes, I recognize I’m hard to please.

I hold these movies to a higher standard because it’s right to; they’re buying these intellectual properties to leverage the existing fanbase; to get fans to create buzz, to move us to drag on non-nerd friends to see the movie, to mobilize us. By failing to show respect to the source material, it exploits us, as opposed to rewarding us for our loyalty.

It’s an ultimate paradox in video games: enemies supermen gifted with X-ray vision, super-hearing and eagle-eye targetting and you’re stuck with bozos who barely know which end of the gun to hold.

And then I played Left 4 Dead. 

Of all the video game’s accolades, nobody mentions HOW BLOODY GOOD the ally AI is. It saves you, covers you, backs you up and follows your lead like no other game AI, without giving explicit orders (Rainbow Six, take note.)

This conclusion came to me while playing Left 4 Dead online, where my allies were playing like complete and utter morons, and I quickly realized that not only was the ally AI in Left 4 Dead quite good, it was smarter than humans. What a revelation.

Now if only games with 4 players on consoles with 4 controller ports would let me decide if I want to play 4 player split screen, instead of limiting me to 2 (I’m also looking at you, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games).

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