When I first heard about this, I thought it meant that Edgar Wright was going to remake The Black Hole. And while I generally disapprove of remakes over original stories, I would love to see what Wright would do with such a project. Alas, it’s just that Wright is talking about the film while we watch the trailer:
You know what: I think I had an Ernest Borgnine action figure, too. How did I not understand how wrong that was?
(Via Cinematical, through which we also learn that The Black Hole is indeed being remade, except it’s gonna be from director Joseph Kosinski, whose only credit is the upcoming Tron reboot. Oh, and he also has a Logan’s Run reboot in the planning stages. How can you tell if someone has any talent as an artist if the only work they’ve done is a paint-by-numbers?)
Well, at least he has good taste in choice of subject matter for rebooting.
Could be interesting.
I actually watched The Black Hole recently, renting it through iTunes. It really is an odd film; it carries a pre-70’s pacing, and a tone that’s at odds with dark designs and tone but silly robot characters.
In the end, the film is attempting to be a special effects spectacular, and the work is very good for the period, but without a stronger, more cohesive story (and black-hole science that was wrong even back then), the whole thing feels like an anachronism.
Redone, there is certainly possibility there; redesign and write the robots sidekicks so they feel more integrated with the feel of the film. Tighten the themes of exploration and research between the crew of the Palomino and the Cygnus, so when the whole thing goes south, it dosen’t feel as inevitable, and move away from the special effects showcase scenes in favor of moments that actually enhance the plot or tone of the film. And finally; have the end of the film make some _sense_ FFS! (Heck, even the audio-tape version I had as a kid made more sense than he movie ending)
There’s nothing wrong with a Borgnine action figure. Just pretend he’s flying shotgun on Airwolf.
I’m going to have to disagree with Mr. Wright regarding the robots. Not about the design – V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. look like they’re made of cardboard, while Maximilian is the stuff of nightmares. But the character of V.I.N.CENT is awesome. I seriously think he’s cooler than R2-D2. In fact, if R2 could talk, he’d be V.I.N.CENT.
I’m trying to think about how they could update V.I.N.CENT to look less stupid but still have a similar look, but what I come up with is EVE.
Agreed on VINCENT. I always liked him, but BOB was a bit annoying. I am about the same age as Edgar Wright, and I completely agree with him about the ending. Robots in Hell? Some of that stuff scared the crap out of me as a kid. Who the hell at Disney thought that was a good idea?
Still, this made me want to rent it and show my 10-year-old son. I think he’ll love that it’s a bit creepier than your average sci-fi film.
That John Barry-written main theme ruled.
Yes, that main theme ruled. More so than the rest of the movie, unfortunately. (And this from someone who admits going to see it twice when it first came out.)
When I was six years old, the only movies I ever saw were on TV. So that Edgar Wright was luckier than he gives himself credit for.
Plus by the time I was old enough to afford film-related action figures, I was spending most of my spare cash on books and records.
I do remember spending most of my childhood playing with little figurine versions of earlier Disney characters–for example, Cinderella, Mowgli, the wicked queen from Snow White– which my Mom got for me and my siblings through a method that still doesn’t make sense to my adult mind.
Then again I suspect almost every kid of my generation owned a toy that was some variation of a Disney character. They just weren’t necessarily action figures.
If you look up some of Kosinski’s commercial work on YouTube, you’ll find a pretty fascinating visualist at work, so I think it’s safe to say he does have some real talent as an artist.
Ditto on the John Barry music. It’s up there with his best Bond scores.
I reckon there is room for a reboot. It’s a decent idea for a story… a hard science fiction epic. Love it. The original was very, very silly. The robots were stupid (though I agree that Maximilian was really quite terrifying… the one scene I remember above all others was the Palamino crew-member being HOLY CRAP DISEMBOWELED IN A DISNEY MOVIE)
The black hole science was utterly ridiculous (though Dr Who fared even worse in the Impossible Planet) and although the special effects were generally great, the meteor shower at the end looked like the revenge of the baked beans from hell.
Oh yeh, and I love how concerned they were at the beginning of the movie for such space-borne essentials as ‘a breathable atmosphere’… something they didn’t appear to need later on, when the Palamino crew run around trying to get to the probe ship with the Cygnus breaking up around them. (At one point the young guy literally floats off into space, and you realize that they are ALL outside the hull without space suits… yet not dead.)
I will finish by saying that the explosion when the Cygnus’s reactor blows is one of the single most perfect explosion special effects I have ever seen in my life. It was even more effective because the bad guy just stares out the bridge window in horror as it goes… (the sound of it was amazing too…)