Tuesday, August 20, 2013

"Truth in Journalism" AKA How to Do Venom Right

I'm really late to the party in discussing this stellar short film, but it took me awhile to have the time to get around to watching it, so please excuse me talking about this well after the rest of the internet has.

In case you missed it also and like super-hero movies or comics please do watch it right now and then scroll down to read my thoughts:

That was pretty damn cool, wasn't it?

Ryan Kwanten has always been a hoot on "True Blood" (which I honestly haven't watched since the 3rd season but want to get back into) and here he plays Eddie Brock with just the right mixture of egotism, sleazy charm, and psychosis. The black-and-white style with the French titles is not just an homage to the famous faux-documentary "Man Bites Dog" but also fits with the dirty and raw feel of the flick. Adi Shankar has been involved in some dimension with a variety of movies, but this short (and his earlier Punisher one, "Dirty Laundry" are just delightful, and I think myself and other people know why--the man is a fan.

Super-hero movies can be great when you have people who don't know much about comics or the characters, but if you can get a huge fan to do something, you have that passion injected into the project too. It helps to have someone who truly loves comics and their characters. This can be dangerous because if you just do something from a purely fan-standpoint it can be too enmeshed in comics lore, or obsessed with being like the comics. If you can take that fan-love and still do things with an objective eye however you might get yourself something startlingly delightful such as this.

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