If you learned anything from “Rush Hour 2,” you will learn that sequels are generally a bad idea and merely an excuse to use up jokes that didn’t quite make the original movie. “Weekend at Bernie’s 2” provided no new information to me. I already knew from my daily voodoo practice that one could reanimate a corpse.
Yet for some reason, series of movies tend to do quite well, like the James Bond movies. Recently, the “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” DVD was released in stores, mere weeks before the theatrical release of the second Harry Potter movie. Not only that, but the anticipated second chapter in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (“The Two Towers”) is slated to premier in two weeks. While I was watching “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” last Friday, I thought of two things. The first was how Harry’s glasses can stay on while being chased by a giant snake (maybe he uses the same adhesive Indiana Jones uses on his hat?). The second was how sci-fi/fantasy movies suddenly became cool to watch.
I have a couple theories. Maybe people just don’t want to see any more Jennifer Lopez or Rob Schneider movies; heaven knows I don’t. Maybe the special effects finally reached the point of amazement, and starships held up by invisible thread are not being invaded by stuntmen wearing alien masks. I can’t think of anything else. It’s not like the acting got better. Have you seen “Attack of the Clones?” It’s almost as if the actors read the script seconds before they shot the scene.
When did the once nerdy movies become cool? This amazes me. When I recall my childhood, I remember it as one that was ridiculed by the cool kids. My favorite Nintendo games didn’t include Tecmo Super Bowl or Contra, but Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. I played Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons ‘ Dragons. There was even a short time in my life in which I was interested in Star Trek. Yes, I am a Trekkie, once removed. I have paid my dues! I suffered social persecution from my grade school peers! Just when I am almost burned out on science fiction, the mainstream youth culture has now accepted such behavior as, dare I say, “cool.”
It’s almost ironic, in a way. The very kids who wouldn’t include me in their third grade cliques have grown up and become immersed in these fantasy major motion pictures. On an episode of “Friends,” Ross asked Joey if he ever read the Lord of the Rings in high school, and Joey responded, “No, I had sex in high school.” What if Joey was there on opening night to see “The Two Towers?” Does it baffle your mind as well?
It’s easy to get swept away by the mainstream. When all the nerds of the world line up to see Star Wars at a movie theatre, the rest of the world will follow. First it was the macho football players, who went to the line in the first place to administer wet willies and atomic wedgies to the A/V Club. Then, gradually, the rest of the world went to the end of the line because they really liked “The Matrix.”
Sometimes that is all it takes: one blockbuster movie with tremendous special effects that appeals to the cool and the uncool alike. The world took baby steps by first enjoying “Armageddon,” “Men in Black” and other movies featuring hot Hollywood actors, a hip soundtrack and some degree of science fiction. Then, the shift into being gung-ho over Star Wars becomes hardly noticeable. So where am I going with this? I don’t mind everyone enjoying science fiction, because it is some very entertaining cinema. However, I don’t feel that people really know what the true meaning of being a nerd is. I, along with several other people in the same boat, should teach them their newly acquired Dorkish heritage. We must smite the wicked by stealing their lunch money, dunking their heads in toilets and stuffing them into lockers. After about five years of this harsh treatment towards the born-again sci-fi fanatics, we can shake hands and all go and talk about Boba Fett, Frodo Baggins and Albus Dumbledore until the next installments of their respective series are “now playing.”
