Artemis Fowl: The Movie
- Thread starter CornyBones
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asphaltus
Never bought a physical comic book
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- New Delhi
I always liked the Artemis Fowl books as a kid - the fact that leprechaun was a bastardisation of LEP_Recon - it makes me smile even now.
This movie made me sad 15 minutes in. That's all I'm willing to say, and all you need to know.
The faster you put this behind you, the better.
The only saving grace is atleast it didn't have to flop in a theater. I think it is a contender for worst YA adaptation - it sucks harder than eragon, avatar or even the Percy Jackson films.
Though atleast Percy Jackson is getting a second chance. This one though, being Disney, will be dropped in the trashcan along with the other things they've killed over the years.
This movie made me sad 15 minutes in. That's all I'm willing to say, and all you need to know.
The faster you put this behind you, the better.
The only saving grace is atleast it didn't have to flop in a theater. I think it is a contender for worst YA adaptation - it sucks harder than eragon, avatar or even the Percy Jackson films.
Though atleast Percy Jackson is getting a second chance. This one though, being Disney, will be dropped in the trashcan along with the other things they've killed over the years.
TURBODERP
aptly named
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- why would I tell you
IIRC he didn't actually poison her but tricked her into thinking it was-and Butler didn't know until afterwards.
Still, pretty ruthless (older Artemis even says as much).
Meh
Rather Outraged
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- Philippines
No, he really did poison her.
The trick after was that when he also included an amnesiac into the detoxification shot he gave her in exchange for being able to take pictures of the book.
He also later lied to Holly about drugging her and using that as an explanation for how he knows so much about the People.
Triggerhappy
Stick with Trigger and You'll Make it Through
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- SoCal
If you take the Author's comments as fact, Light turns into such a megalomaniacal monster when given the Death Note specifically because he was so pure to begin with. Not being a reader of Death Note and knowing Light's character and actions mostly by osmosis, I'm not sure how true that is or how the Author was defining purity . . . But Artemis is typically much more pragmatic than Light ever was.
To be fair, many characters, hero and villain, are more pragmatic than Light Yagami ever was.
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Meh
Rather Outraged
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- Philippines
I think you focused on the mastermind too much since the whole criminal thing should've been a giveaway considering that Light's thing is mass-murdering criminals.
L on the other hand is completely willing to work with con-men and thieves.
I think the thing there was that Light was very much convinced in his own righteousness and goodness even before becoming Kira. Becoming Kira was more or less him diving deep into sunk-cost fallacies and self-rationalizations after killing two people testing the Death Note
"I couldn't possibly be just another murderer. What I did was right, what I did was just. I should keep doing it. I'm just. I am justice. I am god."
He's pure in the sense that he's utterly convinced that he's in the right.
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- USA
I believe "deluded" would be a more appropriate descriptor than "pure."
Anyway, we're wandering a little too far afield from Artemis Fowl: The Movie. Although I suppose "deluded" can be applied to the notion that this is a faithful adaptation of the book.
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- He/Him
Simon Mayo interviewed Branagh (available on YouTube) and I find it all the sadder given that Branagh seems to have liked the source material and corresponded with Colfer.
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- The Usual Room
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- He/Him
Now I have an image of Bruce Willis fighting a Pixie Hans, while bagpipes play Amazing Grace in the background.
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- He/Him
The other bummer is that fantasy cinema needs an injection of something new and weird. What's the genre had in the last decade? Not much except The Hobbit bringing in a load of stuff which didn't gel with Middle-Earth (I think it's much like the SW prequels where I'd have readily bought those aesthetics in a different property but worm monsters and battle-pigs feel wrong in Tolkein's world) and Game of Thrones aggressively diluting the fantasy elements (D & D have gone on record saying they deliberately did so).
The appeal of the Artemis Fowl book series, in a lot of ways, is that it gets away from the Harry Potter aesthetic without going straight to dark'n'gritty (a la The Power of Five which I did enjoy immensely as a teenager and would be up for seeing adapted) and has a distinctive style and verve of its own. But that needs far more style than someone like Branagh can bring to it.
Which I suppose leaves the question of: what's left for our big YA fantasy hopes? I find myself thinking of the Mister Monday books but to a much greater extent, the Edge Chronicles. But for the love of god, get a really good and distinctive director on that.
The appeal of the Artemis Fowl book series, in a lot of ways, is that it gets away from the Harry Potter aesthetic without going straight to dark'n'gritty (a la The Power of Five which I did enjoy immensely as a teenager and would be up for seeing adapted) and has a distinctive style and verve of its own. But that needs far more style than someone like Branagh can bring to it.
Which I suppose leaves the question of: what's left for our big YA fantasy hopes? I find myself thinking of the Mister Monday books but to a much greater extent, the Edge Chronicles. But for the love of god, get a really good and distinctive director on that.
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- Mons Regius
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Percy Jackson will get a TV show, but with Riordan's imput this time.
asphaltus
Never bought a physical comic book
- Location
- New Delhi
Yeah, after the main series was over, the sequel series was over, the two different mythology spin-offs were over. It can't be riding the coattails of the books; and the middle-age teens are all grown up. Perhaps it might bring forth a resurgence, but we'll have to wait and see. While any number of books can be bestsellers, it all comes to a dice roll for the movies/tv-series. And everything's about super-heroes now; there's no mainstream new fantasy/sci-fi in the works that's guaranteed to be a hit; it all comes to execution. My personal picks in increasing order of interest are -
1. Dune - that's a coming-of-age story... but it's also Dune. Have to wait and see.
2. Locke and Key was good - but that's Netflix, and needs a few more seasons before the buzz kicks in.
3. Dark One - Sanderson's coming of age about evil overlord is getting a treatment (8 episodes) co-written by JMS. There's also a graphic novel - I've heard about the draft, and read the preview - it's very interesting. And Sanderson is due a breakout - this might be it.
4. Red Rising - Roman empire in space, School setting, swords and intrigue, GRRM but also YA - this could be it. I'm really hoping they don't fuck it up. Which they could. But still.
What else is there? Amazon's LOTR remake doesn't interest me; neither does Netflix's live adaptation of Avatar. They're banking on IP and remakes - and Disney's already burned me out on that one.
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Yep. I feel like fantasy and sci-fi are in a precarious place right now. Adventurous adult sci-fi is seen as an enormous risk, Arrival notwithstanding - and yes, I'm still a bit sour that I didn't get to see Annihilation in the theatre. The last space opera attempt was Valerian and I don't know anyone who saw it.
And when Marvel does sci-fi, it tends to be quite diluted with the exception of Guardians leaning hard into the weird. Perhaps DC will continue their new approach of being adventurous and we'll get a good Green Lantern. If Disney do bin Rian Johnson once it's quiet enough to do so, I'll be hoping that DC offer him that job.
And when Marvel does sci-fi, it tends to be quite diluted with the exception of Guardians leaning hard into the weird. Perhaps DC will continue their new approach of being adventurous and we'll get a good Green Lantern. If Disney do bin Rian Johnson once it's quiet enough to do so, I'll be hoping that DC offer him that job.
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- Mons Regius
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I thought this was just about YA stuff, not larger speculative fiction? Because I would have just pointed at the success of The Witcher otherwise.
Blade Runner 2049 and Ad Astra did really well.
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I thought 2049 was a box office disappointment - I loved it, admittedly. Ad Astra on the other hand left me very cold.
Yeah, I got a little outside of the conversation once I'd dropped my Power of Five, Mister Monday/Grim Tuesday/etc and Edge Chronicles suggestions.
Yeah, I got a little outside of the conversation once I'd dropped my Power of Five, Mister Monday/Grim Tuesday/etc and Edge Chronicles suggestions.
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- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
Wait, we're getting a Red Rising show?
There's been talk of both a film and a show for a while now. Frankly the first book is pretty perfect for either.
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- Texas, US
Even in the first book, Arty is absolutely committed to others and his family. I think I've mentioned it here before but there's a part in the first book I always skip. It's when his mom, who is traumatized and delusional, says his father has come back and Arty rushes up to see his "father" is a pillow with a face on it.
That part kills me because, however ruthless Artemis was in Book 1, he's still just a little boy who wants his mom and dad.
But the point is, Light Yagami might have loved his family at one point but he loved himself more and by Part 2 he feels nothing for anyone. Artemis was redeemed by the fact there was always a pretty sizable chunk of goodness in him that, with proper nurturing, helped him become a genuine hero. I'd say he becomes much more heroic and noble than L was. There aren't many very good people in Death Note. Maybe Soichiro and Naomi.
That part kills me because, however ruthless Artemis was in Book 1, he's still just a little boy who wants his mom and dad.
But the point is, Light Yagami might have loved his family at one point but he loved himself more and by Part 2 he feels nothing for anyone. Artemis was redeemed by the fact there was always a pretty sizable chunk of goodness in him that, with proper nurturing, helped him become a genuine hero. I'd say he becomes much more heroic and noble than L was. There aren't many very good people in Death Note. Maybe Soichiro and Naomi.
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- USA
I buy more into Artemis's self-rationalizations: he protects himself and those he considers his--"his" family, "his" friends, etc. He lies, he cheats, he tricks people to their own doom and walks away laughing. Saving the world just tends to be a useful if unintended and oft-repeating consequence.
On a completely different tangent, there are some rumors (after a single weekend...what is this crap?!) of a brand-new adaptation/reboot of the movie "franchise" that excises all mention of Artemis and instead centers around Myles and Beckett.
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- Cardassia Prime
Valerian was terrible, with the two most unlikeable sociopathic leads I've seen outside of fanfiction, and an unimaginable criminal waste of a rich setting and visuals.
Triggerhappy
Stick with Trigger and You'll Make it Through
- Location
- SoCal
I believe the sentiment was that the voiceless murderbots were the film's best characters.
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Just as I feared.
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- Mons Regius
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Mechasaurian
Big Bossu
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- Lost among fields of history
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- They/Them
It seems they really fowled this one up.
Eh? Eh?
Eh? Eh?