Is The Hunger Games the greatest modern movie epic?
Monday, September 21, 2015
Finally saw Mockingjay, Part 1 last weekend. All three movies seem to be a slightly different style, but they all revolve around a really interesting anti-authoritarian, anti-media theme. What's interesting isn't just how the theme is handled (intelligently and provocatively), but how it has evolved over the three films, without losing the basic action/adventure/coming-of-age premise that makes the whole thing so fun. It is also, in a way that many of its peers is not, strikingly contemporary.
It'll be interesting to see how it dates, but given the world doesn't seem to be de-paranoia-ing, de-militarising or de-media-saturating any time soon, I suspect this might be something made for the long haul.
Anyway, after a day or so of pondering, here's my challenge - is there a better modern movie epic?
By that, I mean:
- First instalment released 2000 or later
- Multiple movies in the same series (2 or more)
- Big blockbuster cinema thing.
- All instalments need to be a minimum good. Not just one fantastic film buoying up a few crappy ones.
The caveat, of course, is that Mockingjay, Part 2 could totally suck. But, who knows?
The initial brainstorming at our secret headquarters gives the following contenders: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Christopher Nolan's Batman (which - personally? no, but I'd entertain the argument), Iron Man (if you count Iron Man 1, 2, 3 and Avengers, but not Age of Ultron).
Non-contenders include: the Star Trek reboot, everything else Marvel, Marvel-related or DC, The Hobbit, the post-2000 Bond quagmire (maybe if you ignore Die Another Day, but you're still stuck with Quantum and Skyfall, and frankly, not happening), Bourne, Divergent, Resident Evil (ha!), Toy Story (first two were pre-2000), and whatever portions of the Fast and Furious franchise.
What am I missing? And what do you think?