Comic-Con : Episode IV - A Fan's Hope
Review by Sean Lynch
While the Bible may have predicted it long ago, it's hard to believe how quickly the GEEKS have inherited the Earth.
It's something that seems to have only happened overnight - it seems like only yesterday Revenge Of The Nerds was trying to empower the weak. However, since The O.C's Seth Cohen made "being nerdy cool" at the start of the 2000s, the whole dynamic of the globe has changed.
This has never been more obvious than with Comic-Con. In the last 20 years, this comic book convention has gone from being little more than a punchline for jokes about virgins who love superheroes into a multi-billion dollar marketing platform for some of the biggest pop culture stars and franchises in the world.
So a documentary about the Con was inevitable, and boy, have the nerds-turned-stars come out to support it.
From Super Size Me director, Morgan Spurlock (aka. The poor man's Michael Moore) comes a behind-the-scenes look at Comic-Con, the fans who gather by the thousands each year in San Diego, as well as everything in between - it's the most comprehensive look at the world's largest comic book convention yet put to film.
Spurlock explores the amazing cultural phenomenon via the stories of the lives of five attendees, each from their own walks of life (nerds, comic book guys, artists, etc) as they descend upon the ultimate geek mecca at San Diego Comic-Con 2010.
While the film is littered with cameos from Geek Gods like Stan Lee, Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith (to name just a few) the one person who is surprisingly absent from the film is Spurlock himself. In fact, this is possibly the films biggest problem. We always feel like we are at arms length from the story, getting little more than an outsiders perspective on these comic-con attendees lives.
Spurlock has become famous for making HIMSELF the attraction, getting into the thick of it... yet here that personal touch is sorely absent within an often misunderstood world in which it's sorely needed. We know nerds love comics... but what draws them there?
The people whom the film follows all have stories of which could easily fill an entire film themselves (especially one man in particular, who has been selling comics at the Convention for years but is now struggling to make a living due to the shift of focus of the Conventions attendees to Blockbuster films and pop culture). There is an excellent documentary in here somewhere... unfortunately, it's just not on the screen!
In the hands of someone like Louis Theroux, "Comic-Con: Episode IV - A Fan's Hope" could have been a fascinating, personal insight into the inner workings of the Convention and the people who love it - something which audiences watching could invest in just as much as those on the screen.
As it stands, what we get is little more than a glossed over, surprisingly heartless, DVD Extra type featurette about a convention and some people who went there once.
There's quite a DVD few extras on offer here too, including MORE Behind the scenes stuff, some Deleted scenes and extended Interviews with Joss Whedon, Joe Quesada, Ellen Page, Felicia Day.
Worth checking out as its heart is in the right place, but ultimately, a wasted opportunity.
Conclusion: Movie 60% Extras: 55%
