C’mon Hollywood #136

… drop the JLA movie!

by Sturdy

I have to say from the very beginning that I was never the biggest Justice League of America fan. I always felt that it was a lame excuse to get all of the biggest DC characters together because the writers had basically ran out of individual comic ideas. But that’s another argument for another day. The point now is that all hopes of a decent JLA movie have completely vanished and I have this sneaking suspicion that it’s going to end up like the FANTASTIC FOUR, as in, very bad.

Say what you want about the film, but Brandon Routh was great.

The first problem with the proposed new JLA movie is no Brandon Routh as Superman. It’s funny, because he’s the one I figured would be a shoe-in to play Superman in any medium since he’s not exactly tearing up the big screen without the cape. Heck, I halfway expect him to pop up on American Express commercials. I also find it odd that the one thing critics agreed on after watching SUPERMAN RETURNS was that he did a great job and “is Superman”. It was hard enough for the public to get used to seeing someone other than Christopher Reeve in the blue tights, now we have to get used to someone else. This was the first mistake, but not the last.

Of course, Christian Bale is great in everything.

So aside from associating the JLA with Superman, a lot of other people associate it with the on again, off again Batman membership. So it would make sense that Batman should appear at some point in the film. Although that’s to be determined, you can’t have Batman without Christian Bale and he’s already said he ain’t gonna do it. So we finally find a great Batman to replace Michael Keaton, and now we either have to get used to someone else, or do without him. Something doesn’t seem right there.

But of course, there are other characters in the JLA other than Supes and Bats. Most notably, there’s Wonder Woman. My feelings on whether or not she can make it on the big screen are mixed, but you need her established before throwing her in with the JLA (in my humble opinion). To do that, you need a stunningly beautiful, talented actress and the most obvious choice has respectfully declined.

I’ll admit, sometimes her ab muscles scare me.

So what does this mean for director George Miller? This means he’s going to have to hire a bunch of no-name or second rate actors. I have nothing against the cast of The O.C., but none of them should be cast as superheroes. Superheroes of this magnitude need famous, talented faces and you’re not going to find anyone to take these roles. No decent actor is going to play Supes, Bats, WW, or any other superhero without their own movie first. So like I said, Mr. Miller is going to have to resort to unproven actors and rejects from the WB network.

A boy can dream, can’t he?

So c’mon Hollywood, drop the JLA movie. The best bet at this point is to can the whole thing. Take it on the chin and move on. Or, push hard for a Batman vs. Superman movie that Wolfgang Peterson was working on a while ago. Give Routh and Bale a reason to come back and of course, pay them a lot of money.