Editorial: Part Two of One

This is a continuation of a prior editorial. If you haven't read it, I highly suggest reading it here.

For those unaware, Community was a sitcom set in a community college that centred on a cast of diverse and distinct characters that would in time play upon known genre traits and homages to create highly amusing entertainment, and despite its smaller viewing figures managing to build a massive cult following that allowed it to reach its coveted six seasons goal (the movie portion is yet to materialise). The Russo brothers were a key part of the show’s first three seasons, with executive producer roles and regularly taking turns in directing some of the series’ most beloved episodes; the most notable in this case being the season two finale ‘A Fistful of Paintballs/For a Few Paintballs More’. A sequel to the prior season’s infamous ‘Modern Warfare’ (directed by Fast and Furious director Justin Lin of all people), this finale had to not only be a worthy successor to the first season’s big hit but also make for a satisfying conclusion for the series arc regarding Pierce Hawthorne’s (Chevy Chase) decline in tolerability within his study group.

The solution? Tell two different stories within the confines of an overarching narrative, and in turn play with genre conventions to distinguish the two apart more so. ‘A Fistful of Bullets’ relies heavily on the Western aesthetic and focuses on a splintered collection of characters manipulated into going against each other, largely unaware of the competing force that’s pulling the strings (now that I’ve typed that out, it sounds awfully similar to Captain America: Civil War, another Russo project); in contrast ‘For a Few Paintballs More’ goes for a Star Wars spin as a band of misfits team up to take on the large conglomerate force (complete with white plastic armoured soldiers with no distinction from one another) and ultimately win. The whole thing is tied together by the whole paintball angle and Pierce’s involvement – at first blissfully unaware of his friends’ disdain for him but willing to himself manipulate them for the sake of aggravating the group’s de facto leader Jeff (Joel McHale), and later (upon being informed that he had lost his friends’ support) is willing to humiliate and sell out Jeff to the enemy in favour for his continued survival and pots of pudding. It’s only when Dean Spreck (Jordan Black) wonders why it took so long for him to be kicked out of the group that Pierce realise that he’s not how he perceives himself to be and becomes the bigger man; completing the Star Wars homage by disguising himself as one of City College’s men, taking out the last of the enemy and donating the prize money to Greendale. He understands he’s a difficult person to be with, and refuses the opportunity to still be a part of his group in favour of his own self-reflection and their happiness, thus concluding the season arc.

Infinity War and Endgame similarly separates the overarching story into two distinct sections. Infinity War brings up early on just what Thanos wants and how the various Infinity Stones play a part in that, with the film focusing on various characters either trying to stop him and his minions from achieving his goal or working finding a method of doing so; Endgame is the aftermath of their failure, and likewise establishes early on that it isn’t as simple as getting the stones back from Thanos and bringing everyone back immediately. It initially revels in the dour environment the world has become in the aftermath of the decimation complete with a darker colour palette and mournful moments of despair and, in Paul Rudd’s case, reunion. The remainder of the film covers the remaining heroes banding together once more (for the first time since Captain America: Civil War) to obtain the materials needed to bring everyone back, and then take on the opposing force once and for all. There’s a lot more freedom at play here, and Marvel relishes it by throwing in countless callbacks to its decade-long history. The general story is still the same – a mad being wants to half the universe’s population, Avengers plan to stop/reverse it – but they use the separation to their advantage to cover different ground.

What really helps the recent Avengers entries is that they aren’t married to their source material as much as the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight are. Yes, it’s telling the story first realised in the comics, but thanks to the nature of the prior movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe it can branch out and present what’s overall a different story. The examples I mentioned previously, with the exception of Fantastic Beasts, all have to find a moment that they have to stop on more for the sake of the runtime than if it’s a good moment to stop. Case and point, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: it ends following a fight with some prevalent orcs (of which they will repeatedly face over the next two films, and this fight isn’t even their first encounter), a character’s near-death, and the main character’s not even arriving where they need to be. The second entry, The Desolation of Smaug, has a better cliffhanger with the titular dragon’s flight towards the local town with the plan to eradicate it, but the final film quickly pushes aside the dragon within the first 30 minutes, thus making the year-long wait a letdown. Even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had a similar issue, with Part One ending on the death of a character who – while a fan favourite – hadn’t been seen in the films for close to a decade and Voldemort getting his hands on the Elder Wand. It’s an important moment, but considering we were only introduced to what the Deathly Hallows are not long beforehand it doesn’t have quite the same impact as it expects.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of how much time we’ve spent with these beloved characters that plays its hand in how much time we want to spend with their goodbyes. As mentioned in the first half, we watched the cast of Harry Potter grow up right before our eyes and wanted to see their decade-long journey would come to an end. Likewise, the last Avengers entries marked the conclusion to a decade-long story arc while also saying goodbyes to the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and (in-universe) Scarlett Johansson – all actors who made their start in the early years of the series and have been regular stars of these movies (unless he makes a cameo in Black Widow, next year will be the first year without a Chris Evans appearance in an MCU movie). It did also have the benefit of bringing in all the new heroes that were introduced across phases two and three – most notably the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had been separated from the Earth-bound events save for a Collector appearance in Thor: The Dark World – but it was a goodbye nonetheless, and a heartfelt one at that. All the other franchises were mere trilogies, quadrilogies and quintologies that came out on a yearly basis and lacked that attachment that most mainstream audiences had for the big two series. Sure, they had their fanbases, but fanbases alone don’t lead to big lasting success, and in turn loyalty to those fanbases and properties are vital in keeping interest alive. After all, had J.K. Rowling not gone on retconning tirades with bizarre notions like wizards defecating themselves or opted not to stand by the controversial casting of Johnny Depp, would the last Fantastic Beasts entry have been more successful instead of souring the goodwill that had kept her brand alive these past two decades

It’s very possible we aren’t going to get an event quite like Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame again. Say what you will about the quality of either entry, there’s no denying just how much of the media landscape was centred around speculation and reaction for them both, and how they’ve reaped the rewards for an earned finale (even if it isn’t really a true finale for the franchise). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was the closest thing to that level of event cinema in its day, and while such levels of hype was usurped over time with the likes of the first Avengers outing and the return of Star Wars in 2015, there’s no denying that film didn’t leave a strong mark on Hollywood. It’s just a mark that was polished and made bigger by the Avengers and two men who knew what they were doing thanks to experience doing a little show on NBC. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s “streets ahead”.

Editorial: Part One of One

At the time of writing, Avengers: Endgame has begun its worldwide rollout onto home media, with the US already having digital copies available and in turn allowing us to bask once more in the bombastic and exciting moments that helped cement its place as the highest-grossing film of all time. But with conversation being primarily focused on Captain America wielding Mjolnir and Iron Man’s sacrifice, there’s been a distinct lack of discussion on Marvel Studios’ decision to split their saga finale into two films – something that, for a time, was much reviled by a percentage of audiences across this decade. The concept in itself is hardly new, with the Kill Bill duology being perhaps the most notable of the pre-2010 examples, but as soon as one boy wizard proved that studios could milk their blockbuster franchises more than ever before.

It’s common knowledge that the Harry Potter franchise celebrated its climax by splitting the Deathly Hallows into two parts, but it’s easy to forget just how much of a cultural impact the franchise had made on society. At the time of the first cinematic adaptation, the book series was already four entries in and had taken the literary world by storm – so much so that every studio in Hollywood was vying for the rights to turn them into films. The films only proved how popular they were, and on a near-yearly basis we were treated to the next thrilling instalment. Just look at its global box office: only one entry made less than $800m, and that one (Prisoner of Azkaban, which is now seen as the series’ best) was a mere $4m off. Naturally, Warner Brothers would want to capitalise on its worldwide success and cultural significance and announced that they would split the final book into two films in order to do the source material justice. The box office receipts only proved that, financially, it was the right move to do, with Part Two being the first in the series to pass a billion dollars at the global box office (back then a much rarer occurrence). But other studios saw the financial gain and decided to copy Harry Potter to much less success.

This tactic was most commonly used for adaptations of young adult book series, with Twilight opting to do the same thing with Breaking Dawn before Deathly Hallows hit cinemas. Twilight made some sense – for all the online disdain for the series it was a constant aspect of popular culture – but Part One was received more negatively than any previous entry, and outside of inspiring the equally despised Fifty Shades of Grey series have become largely forgotten. At least with Harry Potter it had a decade’s worth of movies whose longevity have allowed for continuous fan support (not least mentioning the Fantastic Beasts prequel series, but more on that later); Twilight doesn’t have that same fan-creator comradery. Breaking Dawn’s financial success cemented the idea that splitting films into multiple parts lead to bigger profits, but perhaps it also proved that some films shouldn’t do such a thing.

There would be two more YA franchises biting the bullet on the gimmick, but both had less success than both Harry Potter and Twilight. The Hunger Games was the more surprising failure, with Catching Fire Part Two grossing less than any other entry of the series (including Part One) and, despite the massive star power of Jennifer Lawrence and the massive success the first entries proved to be, the series may have jumped the gun in exploiting said success. That’s not to say the films were box office bombs – in actuality they were highly profitable – but the near $100m drop between instalments was alarming, and just like Twilight before it has become largely forgotten despite only concluding less than four years ago. But Divergent was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The splitting of its final book was announced shortly after the release of the first film, but that film was only a mild success; making good money for a small budget but not even cracking $300m worldwide. The increased budgets for subsequent films against diminishing box office returns proved to be a poor corporate strategy, and the failure of Allegiant led to the final half being cancelled. For a time, there was discussion of giving fans closure and converting it into a TV production, but as of last year talks have dwindled due to a lack of interest. It’s almost as though the studio got greedy and cared less for the fans than they did for their wallets.

But it was Warner Bros. that may have made the biggest mistake, as it was announced a mere six months before the release of its first instalment that The Hobbit adaptation would be expanded from two films to three; a move so poor that it led to production issues and practically destroyed director Peter Jackson. With each instalment sitting at runtimes longer than two hours for a book that was shorter than any one Lord of the Rings instalment, the goodwill the original trilogy gave to fans was tarnished as it suffered from pacing issues and uncharacteristic moments of poor visual effects and sequences. The first instalment, An Unexpected Journey, may have passed the prestigious billion dollar mark, but was highly criticised for its long stretches of empty storytelling – the journey itself doesn’t start until an hour into the near-three hour movie – and over time each entry (despite having increasing budgets) never reached the same financial high, and likewise is often forgotten despite the supposed impact a prequel trilogy to the highly-regarded Lord of the Rings series.

Warner Bros. hasn’t learned its lesson though, as two years after the Harry Potter series ended they announced a prequel-esque series of five films set within the Wizarding World. At the time fans were excited – after all, Harry Potter was still engrained into the public zeitgeist – but six years on and, like The Hobbit before it, the series lost that audience goodwill. Box office has dropped between both Fantastic Beasts entries despite being early in its franchise run, despite the increased focus on nostalgic elements such as Dumbledore, Nagini and Hogwarts, and there’s since been murmurings that the studio will be cutting their losses and concluding the series in the third and next instalment rather than in its fifth. It likely hasn’t helped that Potter creator and Fantastic Beasts screenwriter J.K. Rowling has made questionable public statements surrounding both the franchise and modern day politics, nor does having Johnny Depp in a major recurring role shortly after accusations of abuse against former wife Amber Heard.

The thing is, all these movies have failed to truly grasp why the initial decision made by the Harry Potter team made sense – at that point, they had six films under their belt that had spanned eight years and where we had seen this cast of child actors grow up right before our eyes. It also had the darkest tone of the series which had to cover a much larger ensemble cast of returning characters, with some major players being killed off. That’s not to say the Deathly Hallows perfected the formula right out of the gate, as due to it being more heavily married to its source material than prior entries it lends to a largely slow first part that has interesting character moments against a purely bombastic second part which (bar the relationship between Ron and Hermione) was predominantly focused on the conclusion of Harry’s arc. With a bit more creative freedom, Ron’s departure from the group would have worked stronger if he left later in the first half and didn’t return until the second half; allowing for a bigger fan response whilst perhaps feeling more earnt than just returning less than an hour later. But it still succeeded in meeting fan expectations while making a final entry that concludes the wider story alongside the central conflict of the Deathly Hallows.

Right before the bust of the multi-part movie, both DC Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced that their future superhero team-up movies would be split into two parts, with Justice League promising to finally bring DC’s titans together on the big screen after years of anticipation whilst Avengers: Infinity War would be concluding a decade of movies alongside finally showing us why Thanos – a character that had repeatedly been hinted at as early as Thor – was someone we should be anticipating. Justice League ultimately would be reduced to a single film following the poor reception of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (and even then the film went through several difficult periods, becoming a joke amongst the fan community), but Avengers: Infinity War proved to be the first to replicate the Harry Potter effect. But where Infinity War and Endgame surpasses Potter and maybe even perfected the formula was through its execution and desire to still be seen as two distinct movies despite carrying the same overarching narrative and serving the purpose of ending the arcs of multiple long-lasting characters. But it shouldn’t really be a surprise that directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo were capable of doing such a thing, as the very piece of media that led them to being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe did that exact thing close to a decade prior: Community.

To Be Continued...