Adaptations (And How Not to Do Them, Maybe) & Comic Con Notes So Far!

Tonight, yebisu9 and I watched The Wolfman, which had a plot that can be best described as "murky". Normally, when this sort of thing happens, I wonder just how many screenwriters were in on the creative process and where the ideas got too mixed up to work anymore. In this case, there were only two screenwriters, but they were basing the script off the Lon Chaney original, and on top of that, there were four producers. Too many cooks syndrome, most definitely. The results were... kind of mixed. The atmosphere that the production cooked up was top-notch: creepy moors with lingering fingers of fog; gorgeous costumes and score; cavernous country houses with dramatic-looking staircases; and a scene set in an "asylum" that sets a new low in the history of mental health care. But the story dragged on and on, and Anthony Hopkins seemed to be phoning his performance in. I swear, in every scene he was in, he was thinking about his laundry, or what he'd had for dinner the night before, or something else other than the action at hand. Done right, this would be scary and psychopathic-seeming, but it just felt distracted/distracting. As usual, with a boring main plot like this, I wanted to focus on the side characters instead, particularly in devising a sequel where the love interest (played with steely propriety by Emily Blunt) and the inspector from Scotland Yard (Hugo Weaving) forge an unlikely monster-fighting relationship after getting a handle on how best to deal with his impending lycanthropy problem. (He's the last bitten.) That would be a movie I'd happily pay to see, and not wait for the DVD from Netflix.

And, speaking of adaptations, there's a rumor afoot of a live-action version of the manga Rurouni Kenshin. I'm very fond of this manga, and its various anime adaptations, but I have my sincere doubts that it could be successfully turned into a satisfying live-action movie. For one thing, there are too many characters to include in a 90-minute movie; quite a few of them would have to be excised to create a workable script. And this is sad, because one of this story's strengths is its ensemble cast and their interactions with one another. (I think this would be yet another movie where the plot would be better served by being carved into a 12-episode mini-series.) Another point of contention would be which arc of the story to turn into the main movie plot. (This is a 28-volume manga epic.) I would like to see some part of the Kyoto arc, but that means we'd have to put up with the villain of that arc, who really, really gets on my nerves. On the plus side, there's the part of the rumor that Watsuki (the creator) held out on offers from Hollywood studios (YAY!) until he got an offer from a company that promised to devote enough $$$/yen to recreate the CGI effects necessary to bring to life the original style of martial arts he created for the manga. Anyway, over on the newsgroup, casting rumors and suggestions are flying back and forth, but I think I won't weigh in on this until there's some actual footage/confirmation from official PTB on this.

In other fannish news, the schedules for Comic Con Thursday and Friday are up. ( Specific Panel Babblery Follows. )