Comic Book: The Movie - Review

Given the popularity of superhero films in recent memory and my personal association with the comic book medium altogether. I couldn’t resist choosing Comic Book: The Movie as a mock documentary to write about, as I am the obvious demographic. Directed by Mark Hamill (known as Luke Skywalker and the voice of the Joker), this film documents the experience of Donald Swan (Hamill) being brought in as a technical director for a Hollywood adaptation of his favorite comic book character. Like any purist though, Donald is unhappy with the film’s direction, as it is adapting a darker, modern iteration of the character, and Donald slowly tries to conver the producers to his way of thinking, vain or not. As expected, what follows is a silly, geeky, enjoyable (to the right person) little journey that knows when to pay respect and knows when to laugh at itself.

Without retreading too much of the aforementioned description, I feel like this film was made for me. Being an avid comic book fan myself, the idea of Hollywood “distilling” or “bastardizing” the source material is a worry I go through whenever a new comic book film is released, since some have been satisfactory and some has been less so. On the other hand though, there is also the semblance of purism and looking at things through rose-tinted glasses, which Swan quite literally wears throughout the majority of the film as a clever touch. The majority of the film takes place during a comic book convention, which allows for some cameos by well-known voice actors, which also make up the entirety of the major cast. The casting is effective in this regard because these actors know the crowd, and are all in on the joke.

Over time, the plot seems to devolve into absolute mayhem when Donald becomes closer to the production and derails the producers’ intent. The conflict between nostalgia vs. topicality over the character’s past and current incarnation relates to a similar commodity in cinema all the time, adaptation. Whether it’s a book, or a comic book/graphic novel or an old television program, someone somewhere will cry foul if it’s not word-for-word when adapted into another medium, regardless of what merit the adaptation may have in its own right (e.g., The Shining, V for Vendetta). Until the ending, no side is necessarily right or wrong, considering both Donald and the corporate executives are almost cartoonish in their actions. What draws the line? When do you need to let go of something? Should fans oversee these kinds of endeavors? Can it become better when the attachment is diminished? In some cases, the source material wouldn’t be nearly as well-known as it might’ve been without a film.

I find this film to be a lot deeper than someone else might see initially, considering it is very much a comedy, and has plenty of in-jokes to back up that fact. But, I’ve always felt you can unearth genuine drama from exaggeration if the execution is right, the same way something like A Clockwork Orange demonstrates an ironic sense of reality through hyper-reality and bizarre settings and archetypes. Although, that’s the closest you’ll get to these films being even remotely comparable. 

Also enforcing its assumed legitimacy, like any effective mock documentary, is the intentional (or permissible, depending on how you interpret it) technical prowess of Mark Hamill’s character. Donald Swan is filming a documentary on his experience during the preparation prior to the making of the Commander Courage film and a lot of the convention happenstances. Everything is handheld unless it’s an interview, and sometimes the quality can falter depending on the situation, which only aids the illusion, albeit somewhat in vain considering the audience knows from the start that this is meant to be a farce. So, whether or not Mark Hamill can direct even remotely well is almost irrelevant as it’s supposed to look unprofessional and he can use that as an advantage (or a crutch).

I think it’s good that we have a film like this considering the age of The Avengers and the Christopher Nolan Batman films, since the medium does have a stake in the general public these days, and superhero films are the latest fad (much to my delight). Even though it was released in 2004, prior to Batman Begins, it holds relevance before and after this particular boom. Now we all sit and wonder how long it will last. Love them or hate them, denying their spotlight is futile. Donald Swan is an archetype, and there are plenty of those like him out there to either placate others like him or moan about their favorite character when Hollywood strangles the Easter bunny. 8 out of 10.