Mark Millar movies and comics can be highly concerning and dangerous entities. There is an odd status where Millar chooses for his work to appeal to the hate in the audience while simultaneously judging them for liking it. Kickass for example was unrelentingly aggressive towards the people watching the movie and reading the comic. The nerd protagonist was a horrible person with almost no redeeming qualities beyond a skewed view of justice coupled with a penchant for violence. While some of his choices can be seen as Millar sticking to the pulpy roots of comics, there is a point where that adherence to old styles of violence, sexism and racism feels infuriatingly backwards. That is why it came as a surprise that Kingsman: The Secret Service (based on The Secret Service by Millar and Dave Gibbons) is a spy movie that does a fantastic job at avoiding the hatefulness of the genre that Millar’s work commonly holds. Instead we are reintroduced to that original Millar who grew up at the feet of Grant Morrison with a love for comics. This is the Millar that could write decent characters, craft a fun plot and still have some good over the top action. Kingsman: The Secret Service has the better Millar at the heart, or at least some very strong adaption work thanks to writer and director Matthew Vaughn (X-men: First Class, Kickass and Stardust).
Tag: mark millar
Mark Millar Announces Long Deceased CITIZEN KANE Director Orson Welles Will Bring KICK ASS 2 To The Silver Screen
Late last night, Mark Millar answered a question via his Formspring account about the seemingly stagnant state of affairs for the follow-up to the film adaptation of his relatively well received creator owned series, KICK ASS. After months of sequel speculation and worries original director Matthew Vaughn would be too busy charting the ongoing “will they or won’t they” romantic saga of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, there’s finally been a breakthrough.
Orson Welles, most notable for voicing Unicron in TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE, has allegedly signed on to helm the continuing adventures of Kick Ass, Hit Girl, and Hot Topic McLovin’. Welles has been dead for a quarter of a century, having passed away roughly five years before Mark Millar’s first published work. Nonetheless, the always outspoken Millar is still excited about the potential for their collaboration.
“Tupac’s been dead for years, innit?” said Millar in a recent Newsarama interview. “He still releases music every year. Orson made Citizen Kane, for god’s sake. Yer gonna tell me he can’t do this?”
Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see what the man who made Charlton Heston a Mexican in TOUCH OF EVIL will do with an eleven year old girl who likes to stab people.