When historians look back on this era of filmmaking, I have a feeling one thing is going to stand
out to them, the remake reboot sequel obsession of the day.
Now I know you’ve heard a thousand times people complaining about how nothing original
comes out nowadays, but today I want to focus on a specific type of unoriginality that is
everywhere that coincides with the reboot sequel trend, and I like to call it the “I’m
back but also I’m old now” trend.
Think about it, how many movies have you seen in the last 5 to 10 years that have featured
a film protagonist from the 70s or 80s making their grand return but just with a few more
wrinkles.
Now there are a lot of reasons this is done, one of the big ones is, you guessed it, money,
and the thing is there are ways to do it right which we’ll get to.
But more often than not, these things aren’t done for the right creative reasons, they're
done for the financial marketing recognizable faces reason, and that can lead to these movies
suffering as a result.
Let’s start with the most obvious one, the nostalgia play.
This is nothing new, nostalgia whether it be for a specific character or just a time
period in general has been heavily exploited for a while now.
Where it becomes a problem though is when it doesn't fit with the story at all and becomes
a distraction from the rest of the film.
Take the most recent Ghostbusters for example, which for 70% of it or so I didn't think was
that bad, it wasn’t brilliant but it was a fun soft reboot with some familiar elements
and some new ideas sprinkled in, solid kids movie.
And then they throw in the old Ghostbusters seemingly out of an obligation to please a
fan nostalgia and it totally halts the momentum that the film’s actual story had going.
It feels forced into the finale, it takes away from the agency of the new characters
that have been introduced, it just doesn't fit in an otherwise ok story and was thrown
in for that cinema applause moment.
This can be seen in other films as well, hell even the MCU has been doing this a lot recently
but at least in that type of film, with it being a comic book universe with tons of characters
already and this expansive interdimensional insane plot, they have more wiggle room to
write a better story for older characters from other franchises to make cameos.
But a lot of the time now it feels like a checklist item that is incongruous with the
story.
Also just gotta say, this isn’t as much of a problem with some of these, but with
Ghostbusters it especially stood out because it was like a kids movie, made for a new generation
of kids to go see, like aren’t kids gonna be confused when these old guys show up and
take up a big part of the finale?
Like it's such a weird mix cuz you’re trying to rebrand this for a new generation and a
new audience but you still can’t resist the urge to throw in that nostalgia which
again, I have to imagine a lot of children were puzzled by seeing this movie that was
made for them.
Another way it can be done is just making a franchise movie “the old characters exhibition
show”, and nothing exemplifies this better than the latest Jurassic World movie, where
they were just like, yeah these new characters we made actually don’t have anything that
interesting going on, let’s just bring back all the characters from the 90s.
And in that sense it also feels like a cheap get-out-jail free card, get-out-of-writing-new-interesting-characters
card.
You can have a passing of the torch type of story, type of moment, to it's credit at least
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seemed to have an attempted passing of the torch style film
even if it didn't go so well, but there was no element of that in Jurassic World, it was
really just like the characters were another piece of CGI spectacle, like look here’s
the person you recognize, without much more point in bringing them back.
I know you can say that's a problem with a lot of Hollywood films now, it's just sort
of mindless spectacle with no deeper meaning, but it feels especially egregious when it's
done with people and characters that have had more meaning in the past that's not explored
in the way it could be and instead are just brought back to be on a poster.
Their part in a movie feeling inorganic can also oftentimes lead the movie’s to feel
kind of confused and overstuffed and crowded, again, see Jurassic World 3.
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Another problem with this trope, seen in lots of these but specifically Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull, is that it can sometimes be kind of sad to see your childhood hero as an old person.
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being old, I know plenty of super
badass old people, including this guy.
But with some characters, unless done in a pretty specific way that takes a darker, more
interesting look at the character, this just doesn't work.
The Plinkett review of Crystal Skull sums this up pretty well, but Indiana Jones isn’t
really that fascinating of a character, like there are some interesting details but in
general he’s there to be the perfect action hero, you wanna be him, you wanna be with
him, I don’t judge.
But the main point is, when he’s old and still trying to do the same things and it’s
not as exciting or as fun or as cool, it can be kind of depressing.
I don’t wanna see Indiana Jones dealing with back problems, save that for Tobey Maguire.
And ultimately yes, there is a lack of originality that is more seen in just the films being
made in general rather than the characters coming back, but still.
I wish we could get more new things, don’t get me wrong, I love a good sequel, I love
a good franchise, there is a place for them for sure.
But could we have on top of that new original stuff, new stories to fall in love with, new
characters to get attached to.
Like sidenote, what does Hollywood do in 20 years when, I hate to say it, a lot of these
actors may not be around anymore?
They’ve built up so few memorable and original characters in this time, l hope it means we’ll
see a resurgence in original films, or maybe they'll just bring back the characters that
no one cared about, like look it's old Chris Pratt from Jurassic World, you remember him
right, he was kind of a renegade, except then he wasn’t really and then just didn't do
much of anything for two movies, anyway he’s back and old now!
But yeah also now that this has been done so many times, it's lost its novelty and I
don’t get as excited anymore.
Like the first time you do this it's like wow that's crazy I’d only dreamed of seeing
that character back again, but now everyone's done it and without a proper story or reason
it is purely based on the novelty of the spectacle, and when the novelty of the spectacle wears
off, what’s left?
Even Wolverine coming back, sure I’m of course excited to see this actor and this
character I love again, but more because it's in a Deadpool movie and they can maybe do
something creative with it, because just on it's own, we’ve gotten so many of these
that they just don’t do that much for me anymore.
Even in the cinema watching Multiverse of Madness,
it was fun, but that shocked oh my god feeling wasn't really there anymore.
For these to work going forward they need to be part of a well thought out, fun story.
Now finally here, I don’t wanna just be the angry old guys from the Muppets, jeering
and complaining and finding myself hilarious, I also wanna look at the other side of the
coin which is how this can be done right.
The four I’d say that have done this very well would be Top Gun: Maverick, Creed, Blade
Runner 2049, and I guess Logan?
I don’t know if you can count Logan cuz yes he is older but he was in a movie literally
the year before this one so he wasn’t really being brought back.
Top Gun works because the whole movie plays as a loving tribute while still bringing new
things to the table, Maverick’s age and character play into the film’s story and
themes, also Cruise hasn’t aged literally at all which I suppose doesn't hurt.
Blade Runner 2049 again works in that it isn’t focused on creating a nostalgia show, it’s
expanding on what was already an interesting world with its own story and own ideas, and
Deckard’s character returning fits into that story organically without the film desperately
needing him to keep it afloat, it has its own story going on and he just works as a
part of that story.
And the best example of this I would say is Creed, which does have its own story and characters
that are compelling and clearly have effort and love poured into their creation but interestingly,
not only do the nostalgic elements work with the story, they're instrumental to it in a
really clever way.
Carrying on this franchise’s legacy and spirit with a modern update to the style,
using Rocky in a supporting role that doesn't feel like he’s stealing the spotlight nor
like he’s been relegated to some weird half-cameo, and having the expectations of this franchise’s
world being one of the main parts of the protagonist’s journey, it’s honestly the most creative,
genius way of doing this kind of film I’ve seen.
And again, Rocky as the old hero returning element of this is handled perfectly, he carries
the weight of the past films with him but he has his own arc, learns something new,
grows in ways that couldn’t be done any other way than in this film, and all of that
combines to have some of the most emotional moments of any Rocky film.
Brilliance.
Also Rocky Balboa, just thought of it off the top of my head, I guess falls into this
category and also works really well in its own way of being very self-aware of the older
characters' return and making it a big part of the story.
The whole he's back and he's old and it's kind of sad isn’t awkwardly there and you
have to try to get past it, it's a big part of the character’s journey.
21 Jump Street did also do this well, in a small way by having it be a self-aware funny
cameo, even Vacation which isn’t great did this ok, if you’re doing it in a comedy
movie in a cameo-sense I think it’s easier to make it not feel forced.
And speaking of movies that aren’t great but did this ok, I think Glass is quite a
bad movie, but in terms of bringing back older characters this is one of the more fun creative
ways of doing it, thanks to M. Night having to have that twist in Split.
Creating a film that is genuinely compelling on it's own and then tying that into another
compelling film from years ago in a way that doesn't feel super stupid and is kind of believable,
fair play M. Night, conceptually that was a pretty good way of doing this.
So, that was my hot take on the old heroes returning trend.
I’d like to say now by the way I guarantee you we will be seeing Daniel Radcliffe as
Harry Potter in the next 10 to 15 years and a Robert Downey Jr.
Iron Man return for sure, hell we might get Chris Evans as Cap where they don’t need
to do any makeup in the next few decades.
Anyway, clearly this trend can be done well, earning it's nostalgia play by actually writing
a fitting story for these characters and putting in the effort to develop new characters in
that world, but when it's thrown in clearly for the quick nostalgia adrenaline hit, it
usually doesn't makes for a very compelling watch, and once that quick hit wears off you’re
left thinking, well nothing much really cuz the movie’s aren’t that interesting.
Here’s to hopefully seeing these types of films either done better, or just done less
and more original concepts being explored again.
So then in 30 years from now we have a new set of films to sequelize and reboot, yay!
So those were my thoughts on this old character returning trend.
What do you think of all of this?
Let me know all your thoughts down below in the comments.
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