No, the meaning of tonight’s entry is not what you think. I’m talking about movie villians. Why are they always out to destroy America, particularly New York City? Does Hollywood always seem to be hellbent on wreaking havoc on the United States? Do they have some chip on their proverbial shoulder, or are movie producers too lazy to be a little more creative? Or do they think Americans, their target audience, only want to see movies about America?
I previewed some upcoming action/adventure films set to release this year, many of which will likely become blockbusters. All of them are either sequels or remakes of old movies or television shows. These include "Spider-man 3," "Live Free or Die Hard," "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," "The Transformers," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Three of these films target New York City, one Washington, D.C., and the fourth targets the entire country. Aside from "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which is set in England (not Phoenix, Arizona, although there could be a tie-in somehow), virtually every Hollywood-produced action-adventure film seems to target America for destruction.
C’mon Hollywood. Can’t you be more original than that? I mean, why not Mexico City, or Beijing, or Tokyo, or Paris, or Moscow? Or Seoul? Why can’t "The Transformers" go after China and take on the People’s Liberation Army, or the Silver Surfer after the Venezuelans and Hugo Chavez? Hollywood can film in far-flung places like New Zealand ("Lord of the Rings"), or Vancouver, Canada, or Tunisia ("Star Wars,") but it always seems intent upon replicating America wherever it films. Remember the Jackie Chan movie "Rumble in the Bronx" featuring scenes clearly showing many of Vancouver’s landmarks? Wouldn’t "Rumble in Vancouver" have been a more appropriate title?
This happens every year. Virtually every comic book movie seems to be set in New York City (except for X-men II, which filmed a few scenes in northern Canada and upstate New York). Science fiction movies tend to focus on destroying locales throughout America ("Independence Day" – Washington, D.C., "Matrix Reloaded," "Terminator" – Los Angeles, "Twister" – the midwest, "The Day After Tomorrow" or "Deep Impact" – the entire country). For once, it would be nice to see Canada or Europe obliterated by aliens or Mother Nature. Now that would be original. It might even earn the film a nod at Cannes or a Genie Award.
Hi there!! I’m checking in! I was going to respond to you article and tell you that there is a really cool Korean movie that’s going to be released in the States soon. From the previews, it looks like all the action takes place in Seoul and that perhaps this would be a film that would be what you were looking for. Of course, the first review I pulled up seemed to have crushed my any possibilities of leaving America alone — http://www.beyondhollywood.com/reviews/thehost.htm What do you think? Have you heard of this film?