The New British Invasion | People's Critic: Film Reviews - seattlepi.com

photo courtesy of Total Film

Recently, Hollywood?s biggest blockbusters have been superhero movies. From 2001?s Spiderman to last year?s Marvel?s The Avengers, studios have cashed in on the recent craze. Comic fans favorite characters are being brought to life on the big screen, and billion dollar franchises are being built at the same time. According to Boxofficemojo.com, two of the top ten grossing films of all time are comic book movies, and there are seven films in the top fifty.

Whether by chance, circumstance, or fate, our leads in recent comic book franchise have been British.

In the 1960?s a wave of British bands came crashing on the U.S shores ? this phenomenon was aptly nicknamed The British Invasion. Bands such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones. Manfred Man, The Animals, and The Who dominated U.S radio waves. The invasion would repeat in the 1980?s with bands like Boy George, The Smiths, The Cure, Adam and the Ants, and Duran Duran.

In the 21^st century, the British aren?t invading our radio stations; they?re invading the box office.

In 2005, Christopher Nolan & Co. made the unpopular choice of casting Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Warner Bros. reboot of the Batman franchise. People were uneasy about the British guy who weighed 75lbs in The Machinist dawning cape and cowl of the most feared comic book characters of all time.

Despite the critics, Bale went on to be one of the best actors to ever play Batman. His success and box office appeal was only the beginning. Here are a few other British stars making their presence known:

• Andrew Garfield ? born in LA but raised in Surrey U.K (Spider-Man)
• Henry Cavill ? Jersey Channel Islands U.K (Superman) pictured above
• James McAvoy ? Port Glasgow Scotland U.K (Professor Xavier)
• Nicholas Hoult ? Wokingham, Berkshire, England (Beast)
• Alfred Molina ? London England (Doctor Octopus)

For what it?s worth, Benedict Cumberbatch is rumored to play Henry Pym/Ant Man in Marvel?s Ant Man. No to mention Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) are Australian.

Much like the invasion in the 60?s, young people are driving the box office and creating demand. And thanks to the internet, they?re able to go online and flood message boards with wish list for castings and use Photoshop to make their favorite actors costumed heroes.

No matter much keyboard courage our youth have, they?re not in charge of making any decisions. The gigantic ?elephant in the room? is how talented our young British actors are.

British shows like Top Gear, Being Human, Torchwood, Dr. Who, Sherlock, Luther, and Downton Abbey. Channels like BBC America are exposing millions of Americans every week to the talent across the pond. ?Technology allows for a show?s popularity to extend past the original airing date and live a second life on Redbox, Netflix, and Hulu. From Sherlock to Downton, the shows are well written and avoid some of the clich?d plots that plague U.S network television. The British shows also have more mature storylines that allow their actors an in-depth exploration of their characters. All this makes for better television and crates a wider audience.

The United States? exposure to British talent ? paired with studios realizing eye popping special effects alone won?t carry a movie ? ?made the perfect storm the new invasion. And with the increasing popularity of these shows, the New British Invasion is only going to continue.

And happily so.

Gone are the days bodybuilders, male models, and life-like Ken dolls ruined our superheroes because they have ?the look?. Studios casting for talent, in comic book adaptations, has proven to be profitable. Fanboys and moviegoers have shown they care about whoever plays a masked vigilante, alien, or mutant having serious acting skills. This is reflected in the high box-office numbers (The Amazing Spiderman) and lower numbers (Green Lantern). Even when no directors or actors are announced in an upcoming project, the fans are eager for someone who can play the part, not just look it.

Of course there?s still hope for American actors to play our caped crusaders and headline the newest billion dollar franchises. My mother said, at one point, American bands caught up with their British counterparts and started making better music.

I hope these American actors are bringing their A game to the test screenings and table reads. Until then, I?ll keep my eye on what British actor I want to play The Flash.

Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/peoplescritic/2013/03/17/the-new-british-invasion/

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