San Diego Comic-Con 2010: Day 3

The last day of major film panels at Comic-Con came with much excitement and, unfortunately, even a little bit of violence. Yes, there was a delay in programming between the Resident Evil and Paul panels after an altercation lead to several rows of seats being cleared and a couple of attendees being lead away from the scene on a stretcher and in handcuffs. I couldn’t see anything from where I was sitting, so I’m not going to speculate as to what actually went down, as there are already plenty of rumors on various sites with varying stories. Needless to say, it was not the flavor of stimulation we had all come there hungry for, but thankfully the final panels of the day were more than worth the extra wait.

Green Lantern
With three weeks of shooting left to go, the cast and filmmakers behind the launch of this potential new franchise dropped by to show the Comic-Con audience an early peek at next summer’s blockbuster. Filled with lots of quick cuts, it was tough to focus on any one image in the teaser for very long and the most sought-after image—Ryan Reynolds in full Green Lantern costume—was nowhere to be found. While Reynolds graced the cover of the recent Comic-Con themed issue of Entertainment Weekly in costume, director Martin Campbell emphasized that the costume is still a work in progress.

What they failed to deliver in footage, the panel members made up for in the Q&A. Most of the geeky inquiries about whether elements from the comic book would make it into the film were met with affirmative responses and cast members Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Blake Lively and Reynolds displayed a great amount of enthusiasm about being able to explore the many layers of their characters. Sarsgaard had one of the most amusing insights when he described his role as villain Hector Hammond as “the kid that licked the battery.” Reynolds had a few extremely charismatic audience reactions when he recited Green Lantern’s oath to a very young fan who asked what it felt like to say those words and he closed out the Q&A by passing along the Green Lantern ring he’d been wearing to a lucky attendee.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Much was made this morning of the many people who camped out in line for Hall H overnight to ensure seats and, without a doubt, most of those extremely dedicated fans were there to see footage from the final film installments of the Harry Potter franchise. It’s unfortunate then, that the presentation was so lackluster. Actor Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) was there as the sole representative of the film and while he was very gracious, the footage he was there to introduce in now way lived up to the hype. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, it’s just that a fair portion of it was already seen in the earlier released trailer and everything else was pretty snippet-like. For a film that’s going to be released in a mere four months, it might have been nice to see something a little more lengthy in coherent (panels later in the day featured full scenes from films that have only been shooting for days and weeks, while Harry Potter has been wrapped for just as much time). What made the display even more disappointing was that its scheduling meant that many attendees who had wanted to see the Green Lantern footage were left waiting outside in line because of the sheer volume of die hard Harry Potter fans, many of whom left immediately after the footage was shown, causing quite a bit of disruption in the panel that immediately followed it.

Sucker Punch
I love few things more than a good helping of girl power, so I was looking forward to seeing footage from Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch more than any of the other morning programming. I was not disappointed. This is Snyder’s first film to be based on an original screenplay, having previously brought us the remake of Dawn of the Dead and the adaptations of graphic novels 300 and Watchmen. If Sucker Punch is a true reflection of what goes on in the mind of this filmmaker, that is one crowded brain.

Sucker Punch exists in multiple realities. In the real world portion of the film, Emily Browning’s character Baby Doll is committed to a mental institution by her abusive stepfather (Jon Hamm) following the death of her mother. It’s in this place that she meets the other ladies in the film, fellow patients Jamie Chung, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone and Abbie Cornish, as well as a Polish psychiatrist played by Carla Gugino. In this less than savory environment, Baby Doll escapes into a different reality in her mind, taking the other characters in the film along with her to fight her battles there. It’s these fantastical battles that were the source of much awe in the footage. The ladies pack some incredibly heavy weaponry to face off against dragons, robots, biplanes, samurais and World War I-era zombie German soldiers. Sucker Punch looks like no other film, in that it looks like it manages to be almost every film in existence all at one time.

Let Me In
For those not familiar with the Swedish film Let the Right One In, this movie was frequently referred to as “that new vampire movie”; for those like myself, Let Me In was something to be approached with extreme caution. If you haven’t seen it, Let the Right One In is an incredible film, based on a novel, that redefines what a vampire film can be. When it was announced that it would be remade in English, many film fans that adored the original were angry and/or skeptical. A recent trailer released for the film didn’t really help, as much of the footage shown bore a remarkable similarity to its predecessor, bringing little new to the table.

Based on the footage we saw today, this controversial project has finally proven that it is more than just a shallows cash grab. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) stated, from the outset, that he’s well aware of people’s feelings about the film and, as a lover of the original, understood where they were coming from. Reeves spoke very personally about his connection to both the original film and the novel it was based upon, feeling that its story about a lonely, severely bullied boy who makes friends the new neighbor girl who just so happens to be a vampire, reminded him a lot of his own childhood. Because of this connection and the fact that the book is initially set then, Reeves elected to make Let Me In a period piece set in the 80s. We were also treated a lengthy piece of footage involving the caretaker of the young vampire, played by Richard Jenkins that deviates from what was seen in the film significantly and what transpires in that scene looked fantastic. Reeves made it clear that this is by no means a shot-for-shot English-language remake of Let the Right One In, it is an original work pieced together from the film, the novel and the director’s own experiences as a child.

Resident Evil: Afterlife
This definitely seemed to be the panel that the Hall H crowd had the least enthusiasm for, but star Milla Jovovich did her best to substitute her own. This fourth installment of the Resident Evil franchise was shot entirely in 3D, using the cameras that were created to shoot Avatar. Well, Avatar this ain’t. What can I say, if you’re a Resident Evil fan, you’re probably going to love this movie. Apparently, there’s a portion of the film that will include an army of Alices (Jovovich’s character)...and they’ll be in three dimensions, too. What more could you ask for?

Paul
The other night I said that I wasn’t certain a film could be more suited to the Comic-Con crowd than Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Well, it seems Pilgrim director Edgar Wright’s buddies and frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are trying their level best to meet that challenge. In Paul, Pegg and Frost play two British nerds who go on a road trip in America and end up meeting an alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) when they get into an accident near Area 51 and he joins them on their trip. In case that wasn’t Comic-Con friendly enough, the buddies journey actually begins at San Diego Comic-Con, where they meet their favorite author (Jeffrey Tambor). That’s right, Pegg and Frost play nerds just like all of us. Rounding out the panel were cast members Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Jo Lo Truglio as the people trying to track Paul the alien. Paul looks to be for geeks what Pineapple Express was for potheads.

Cowboys & Aliens
Jon Favreau has spent a lot of time at Comic-Con in recent years at the helm of the Iron Man franchise. His presence today proved that the man has clearly been taking very good notes on how to please this audience, because he knocked it out of the park. Favreau first came out on the stage alone, explaining that Cowboys & Aliens has only been shooting for four weeks and that this would be the first trip the film would be taking to San Diego, returning next year prior to the film’s release. See, right there, he was lowering our expectations. He did take a moment to explain that Cowboys & Aliens will definitely be a 2D movie as shooting it in 3D would require doing it in digital and since he’s trying to shoot a western, that wouldn’t be appropriate and he has no interest in adding 3D after the fact. After a wee bit more hedging, he began to introduce cast members Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Adam Beach and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Then, after a slight pause, he broke out the big fish: Harrison Ford in his first ever Comic-Con appearance. Riffing on the stabbing incident that had delayed the panel’s start, Ford was ushered onto the stage in handcuffs by two large security guards.

When Ford came out on the stage, the entire hall leapt to their feet, exploding with cheers and applause. It was apparent from the look on his face, he had not been anticipating such a reception. Favreau joked that he tried to prepare him for what was to come, but that it was impossible to do so. The panel began taking questions and after only a few, Favreau dovetailed his answer into the introduction of some footage. After the explanation that shooting for the film only began four weeks prior, we were in no way prepared for the several minutes of epic footage that followed. Favreau had explained that his approach in bringing this property to screen was to film it in the style of a classic Western and to approach the alien elements in an old-school fashion akin to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This was incredibly evident in the extremely impressive clip package which looked very much like a classic western (Daniel Craig makes a very good cowboy, indeed). It was only several minutes into the final scene, when a bright strip of light shone off in the distant sky that this was clearly not your average western. Kudos to Favreau and his post production team for putting together such an amazingly stunning display for all of us to see. It’s hard to imagine we’re going to have to wait more than a year to actually see the final film.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Between Paul and Cowboys & Aliens, Universal left Marvel with a tough act to follow, but they stepped up to the plate. The Captain America team has only been filming for eight days, but they dropped what they were doing and flew out to pay us a visit. A teaser offered nothing in the way of footage, just a little hype for the character and brief glimpse of Chris Evans suited up, taken from his wardrobe test. In fact, it seems they don’t even have a final version of the Captain America costume yet. So then, it’s not surprising that when they finally stop teasing us and show us a bit of raw footage from the previous week’s shoot, it’s not of Evans, but of Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull and features a tie-in to Thor. The film will feature Cap’s origin story and will be a period piece set in the early 1940’s.

Thor
Promotional photos of the more elaborate costumes in Thor have set in the Internet afire recently with negative chatter about their cheesy appearance. As with some of the other panels, director Kenneth Branagh and company were here to prove the naysayers wrong. The extended 3D trailer we were shown was very impressive, showing Thor (Chris Hemsworth) kicking major butt and getting a good dressing down from his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Hemsworth looks really great as Thor and the action scenes that open the trailer are just phenomenal. Also, fans of the comics will be happy to see The Destroyer make an appearance at the end. The 3D didn’t really add a whole lot to the experience. There were a few moments where you got a little bit of a sense of depth, but nothing that made it seem particularly useful.

The Avengers
It might not have been on the program, but we all knew it was coming. A teaser trailer narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, featuring only an animated Avengers logo played first. Afterwards, Jackson came out in the flesh to introduce the Avengers cast members that, in addition to his own Nick Fury, we’re already familiar with: Clark Gregg, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and, to introduce the new members of the team Robert Downey, Jr. Downey unveiled Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and demanded that we give our respect to Mark Ruffalo in taking up the role of The Hulk. Last but not least, Downey welcomed writer/director Joss Whedon to the stage. Whedon was clearly very humbled stating that “I have had a dream all my life and it was NOT THIS GOOD.” Then we all got a nice glory shot of all the Avengers onstage with their new leader. Quite an impressive and exhilarating note to end the day on for any geek.