Corey Sosner :: First Round

Jerry Smith sent me a link to First Round a fan film starring and produced by Corey Sosner. The film stars Marvel characters Wolverine and The Punisher. The script and cinematography are pretty solid. For what I suppose is a no/low-budget film, the special effects were surprisingly good. However, performances are uneven. Sosner plays a passable Punisher. Eric von Sydow looks the part of Wolverine, but is a bit too terse and growling. Yeah, Wolvie is on the edge and runs on animal instinct, but the character has evolved to incorporate a wider range than just smoldering rage.

In addition, the fight coreography was weak. The fights looked slow and overly coreographed. I would assume that no one in the production has much martial arts experience and no stage combat experience. Not that I am expert, but at several key points, the actors did not “sell” the violence. This is critical in an action movie with superheroes in play.

Finally, a general note about fan fiction, particularly in the comic book genre. If looking to do a fan film, why would one choose characters that Hollywood has already done and, at least in Wolvie’s case, done well? Sure, there is an established fan base, but that is strictly a business decision, not an artistic one. Eric von Sydow is sure to invite comparison to Hugh Jackman, and that is a battle he won’t win. Sosner’s Punisher is better than Dolph Lundgren’s but, though I have not seen it yet, I am sure Thomas Jane’s Punisher is stronger and deeper.

So far, only one such fan film has looked as good or better than anything Hollywood has produced to date. That film was: Dead End, a Batman film by Sandy Collora. It remains the truest adaptation of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight yet. Early word on Batman Begins is good, but until it’s release Dead End is the best Batman film ever made in my book.

Were I to make a comic fan film, I think I would choose one of the more fringe characters who’ve yet to be touched by Hollywood. I might even choose a few that have been in development hell (Black Panther, Power Man & Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Jonah Hex, Nightwing, etc). This way, one still has the fan base (perhaps even a more eager base) while still being the first on celluloid (or DV) to interpret the characters in live action. Now, that is an opportunity.