Movie Review - 'Dylan Dog: Dead of Night'

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night Starring Brandon Routh, Anita Briem, and Sam Huntington Directed by Kevin Munroe Rated PG-13

Woof. Where to begin with this one? Well, at the risk of my review becoming a complete movie-bash session let me begin by saying that I am very impressed that Dylan Dog: Dead of Night managed to earn a theatrical release. I was pretty sure that films like these were designed and produced for DVD consumption, but the powers that be behind this off-the-wall, undead comedy found something in this mess that they deemed worth the financial risk. I am sincerely hoping for their sake that the fans of this Italian comic come out in droves to see this, or it very well might be a complete wash.

The film introduces us to our hero Dylan, a private eye for the undead whose job was once to operate as an impartial justice between the zombie, werewolf, and vampire clans. After an unfortunate string of incidents, however, he has taken to low-level P.I. work, until a mysteriously motivated werewolf attack on a human peaks his interest and pulls him back into the world of the supernatural.

Unfortunately, said hero was utterly miscast. Not only did Brandon Routh appear far too young to play a character with such a rich and seemingly long professional history, he completely lacked the comic irony to carry such a ridiculous film. Instead of driving the film, Routh appeared to have been directed into the unfortunate realm of understatement and disinterest. The same can be said for Anita Briem who plays the mysterious love interest, Elizabeth. It seemed as though these actors had the necessary skill, but for some reason Kevin Munroe lacked a complete enough vision to build characters that could potentially exist in the world created by the comic.

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Jon Hamm: "I maybe aged out of that Competition [for Superman]"

Well it looks like rumors of Donald Draper beefing up to play the man of steel have been grossly exaggerated.  Couple days ago, we reported on rumors that Mad Men star, Jon Hamm was being pursued by Christopher Nolan's team for the role of Clark Kent.

 

Hamm, 39 has told reporters, "I certainly haven't been informed of that.  They might want to run that by me.  I don't know, I think unless Superman's power was the power of being really old...

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World Shrugs at Jennifer Love Hewitt's Request to Play Wonder Woman

We've been down this road before, where actors who have never been mentioned for an upcoming film project throw their hats in the ring, hoping to be involved down the line. I look at it like this: When you're a star the magnitude of Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie, the press bleeds itself to pair your name to a Batman villain. When, on the other hand, you're Brian Austin Green, you have to shoehorn yourself into the discussion about playing The Riddler. It's kind of like saying, "Dude, I know she's your girlfriend, but if she wasn't..." Nobody asked you. Shut up.

There are two such meager requests today, one involving Wonder Woman and one involving World of Warcraft. When asked about recovering her film career after the stablizing influence of her show The Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer Love Hewitt told MTV, "I want to play Wonder Woman really badly. I want them to make the movie of Wonder Woman, and I want to play Wonder Woman so bad. That'd be really fun." I doubt it. There's no big push to get her back into theaters, and when they finally get off their ass and put a Wonder Woman movie together, it won't be for a 5'3" actress with limited action chops. Also, if you think they're going to give this role to a woman in her thirties, I would beg to differ. That's just the way studios operate.

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Brandon Routh Turns In His Cape

If indeed the message wasn't lost in translation, Brandon Routh doesn't think he'll be back as Superman. The one-time Clark Kent told Brazilian website Omelete that his contract with Warner Bros. has expired after one movie and one very long wait.

As for what's next for the Man of Steel, Routh claims he's in the dark, which kind of makes sense, since by his own admission he won't be involved. "I do not know of anything," said Routh. "I'm sure that Warner Bros. is moving there, but everything is still uncertain. Really, I do not know anything." That message again: He doesn't know anything. However, he does say he feels it's not right that Bryan Singer may not get to return to the franchise, and he would offer his services again if Warner Bros. and DC "without thinking twice."

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Brandon Routh Talks About Darker Superman Sequel

After the success of The Dark Knight, DC Comics and Warner Bros. decided to get even more serious about this comic book thing. Serious has a couple of meaning in this context, because on the one hand, they were going to pursue more titles and approach them the way they had the Batman films, and on the other hand, the tone will be a lot darker across the board, a move the studio implied would have helped its recent Superman Returns by also announcing that they're asking for a do-over on that one.

IESB sat down with Brandon Routh, who was Superman, you know, and asked him what he thinks of Superman living in the shadows.

"I don't think the character necessarily has to be darker, I think he is kind of dark in a sense, emotional dark, in Superman Returns, and the movie as a whole was slightly dark. They could have had more prowess in it I suppose, and I think that's one thing that can be done in the sequel, so I don't know how much darker you want to make it necessarily."

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