The famous comic, published by DC Comics’ adult label Vertigo, becomes a family tragedy that blurs the possibilities of dystopia. Besides, it all happens by chance.
It is inevitable to ask, especially when the passion as a spectator joins that of a reader, what is the reason why the rights of a book or a comic strip are bought for the adaptation to a real image and everything on paper. works is changed. In the case of comics, it is remarkable, the message is distorted, characters are removed and placed, the plots are softened… If it hurts more than it needs to, for more than one fan of the series and the vignettes, the flesh-and-blood version of “Jupiter’s Legacy,” the comic strip by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, the premiere of “DMZ” on HBO Max, with little fanfare, digs into the wound. The transformation of the premise developed in the comics by the screenwriter Brian Wood and the cartoonist Riccardo Burchiell, sponsored by the Vertigo label of DC Comics, surprises by falling without net into the depths of a dark abyss populated by a multitude of clichés that it did not show with so hard the beginning graphic work, the essence of which is vain. While the main character in the original raw footage was a young intern reporter trapped in Manhattan in a future where civil war is raging in the US, the newly released streaming proposal revolves around a desperate mother as he searches for his lost son during the war, as if there weren’t already a thousand stories with such motivation – “Black Crab” appeared on Netflix this weekend, without going further. To make matters worse, the pervasive intervention of a romantic subplot worthy of a soap opera on the table completely invalidates the capabilities of the production, whose ability to generate surprises is nothing short of nil.
The comic describes a future time when some states of the Land of Stars and Stripes have been taken over by anti-system militias. A murderous battle rages on between the government and various gangs taking over the cities. The island of Manhattan stands as a neutral zone as a thousand and one battles are fought in the streets of New York and the surrounding area. The protagonist walks into reality, with a world that has little to do with what he has seen on television and in the mainstream media. ‘DMZ’ portrays a hypothetical American Civil War II whose audiovisual editing becomes slightly different. It’s closer to a decaf version of ‘The Warriors’ -hopefully-, Walter Hill’s cult film, than to its interesting starting point, in addition to connecting with ‘Warrior’ -note the intersection of titles-, a series superior, also available on HBO Max, with which he even shares an actor. The struggle between street gangs for power is the backbone of a story starring a courageous mother, played by Rosario Dawson – the best of the group – who turns the situation upside down as a superwoman with the incredible superpower of the gift of chance (it is always where it should be, being the absolute center of attention). A doctor by profession, when he crosses borders and enters the free zone, supposedly demilitarized, he is ready to do anything to win back the love of his wayward son who has become a ruthless killer (that’s nothing).
Roberto Patino, a regular on ‘Westworld’, is responsible for this questionable personality-less adaptation that, seeking to reach a larger audience, will likely be left without its initial potential target, like the live-action version of ‘Y, the last man’, another recent nonsense that fails to take advantage of the possibilities offered by the original comic by betraying its mind. “DMZ” also doesn’t do its best to create a surprising Manhattan in the context of a dystopia whose setting could provide much more play. There is no sense of collapse, danger and shortages like in the vignettes. Ava DuVernay (“The way they see us”) directs the pilot episode, discreetly, without delving into what amounts to a family tragedy with few crumbs. Science fiction has been lost along the way, a moment wasted where parallels to the present enrich its metaphorical power. The social parable is sold to the mainstream to end up in the gutter, not to mention how a fictional political context gets blurred, hopelessly wasted. The best part about the series is that it’s only four chapters long, starring Benjamin Bratt (“Doctor Strange”), Hoon Lee (“Banshee”), Freddy Miyares (“That’s How They See Us”) and Jordan Preston Carter (” Ash’). We still don’t understand why a comic is adapted to the audiovisual medium and changes what works in the vignettes to hit the wall again and again.
‘DMZ’ is available on HBO Max.
Source: La Verdad
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