Oops! I Did It Again

“Oops… I did it again to your heart,

Got lost in the game, oh baby

Oops… You thimk that i’m sent from above

I’m not that innocent”

Reboot, ‘to discard all continuity in an established series in order to recreate its characters, timeline, and back story from the beginning‘ (Wikipedia).

This is the follow up to Hit me baby one more time which looked at the positives of reboots. This follow up will look at the negatives of Reboots. 

“Oops… I did it again to your heart”. Yes Hollywood, you have. This has happened a couple of times when you watch the reboot and you think “Did they run out of ideas for new movies?”. Batman & Robin. That movie alone nearly killed the franchise of Batman on the big screen; but the comics were too solid, the fan base too strong & the love of the cape crusader was too unconditional that DC Comics was forgiven for nearly traumatising people’s childhood.

There, Hollywood had an amazing idea with a lot of positives until the execution. It made a lot of little girls cry and not because of George Clooney’s dashing good looks, but due to the fact boys were never going to grow up to be men. Hollywood failed us.

“Got lost in the game”. One can never doubt the work of Hollywood. It is truly commendable the hard work & the efforts that Hollywood puts in to give you a story. A good story should be told over and over again but there are times when a story of 20 years ago will not be as interesting, enticing and relevant to the generation of today.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an amazing story and it could fit into a lot of people’s top 10 horror movies. Only the original, done in 1974, will make any man that dislikes cuddling, reconsider his views. It was scary and can only be watched once (if you make it to the end). But it was a story that left its mark in history. So amazing, Hollywood brought it back… Twice. And we can safely say, Hollywood took us for a ride. Trying to make the latest version relevant, focusing on pretty faces as opposed to the story and most importantly, why did Hollywood try to repaint the Mona Lisa?

“Oops… You think that I’m sent from above”. We rely on Hollywood a lot to entertain us. Rightfully so. Fortunately Hollywood has been doing this for years. Its ability to entertain us and make us escape reality is why we depend on Hollywood so much. In a way, Hollywood is a drug we cannot get enough of, the emotion called love whereby we feel Hollywood can do nothing wrong, and if it does, we shall willingly forgive.

And Hollywood knows this; that’s why it produces projects we, as fans, get upset about. But the following week we are back in the cinema, giving it another chance. Hollywood should not be given such high praise. Books, video games, rolling in the mud with your friends. There are multiple alternatives of entertainment to Hollywood, especially when Hollywood let’s us down.

“I’m not that innocent”. Yes!! Yes!! And yes!! If we all took Hollywood to court, it would have an extremely long sentence. That will mean we can read books or play in the mud on a nice wet day. The joy of being outside can bring a smile to one’s face as Hollywood would be locked up for its crimes. But it will not be long until we will need Hollywood. It will answer our call when we cry out for it as we are forgiving creatures and our need for entertainment will cloud our judgement. But we must never forget.

Total Recall in the ’90s was a decent movie in that era. Arnold Schwazenegger being the all out action hero that he was and not to forget the special effects of an alien planet. And yes, the three breasted woman. Why the reboot with Colin Farrell? Not sure. And one doubts anyone really knew what was going on there. But responsibility should be taken for that mistake. From that mistake, a lesson should be learned.

Reboots are never an easy project to take on and there are times when the project has been given the green light and the fans sigh a collective groan. When a reboot fails, it fails. Expectations are high of Hollywood, sometimes too high, but they are justified.

Retelling a story years later and the focus of it is diverted, it tends not to work out so well. We may dumb it down and have our intelligence questioned when we watch movies, but we are still smart and demand quality at all times.

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