A Conversation with Tim Seeley

By Lee Newman

Tim Seeley is a busy guy. He is working with the folks making the Hack/Slash movie, writes the Hack/Slash ongoing and Loaded Bible, and draws Halloween: Nightdance (in addition to anything else that Devil’s Due throws at him as a staff artist). He is one of those guys that has been set to blow up for the past two years. His resume includes working on G.I. Joe & Forgotten Realms. Seeley is a serious horror movie enthusiast, as well as fellow comic book junkie. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about Loaded Bible, the demands of a monthly series, and even Robert Kirkman.

Lee Newman: How does a Children's book illustrator become the creator of comics like Hack/Slash and Loaded Bible?

Tim Seeley: Actually, it's the other way around. "How did a guy like Tim Seeley end up illustrating children's books?" Heh. But I suppose it was a "right time/right place” kind of thing, and I was lucky to get to work in kid's books and learn a lot of stuff before getting dropped into indy comics.

LN: I'm a parent; I wonder if my daughter read any of the books you illustrated. What books did you do?

TS: She may have. I worked for a company called Lerner; they do tons of educational and story book type stuff. If you pop my name into Amazon, you always see a few of them on there. My personal fave was Junk Lab cuz I managed to sneak in a character I referred to as Diarrhea Man.

LN: I know about Sleepaway Camp and your affinity for Troma movies, what other horror flicks have I missed out on?

TS: Oh man...how much time do you have? (laughing) Really, I find that any horror movie with any heart, budget or not, will make me happy. So, you can see why I have sucka love for Troma. But, I'd say almost anything by Romero, Carpenter, Craven and Fred Dekker is a must see.

LN: Speaking of movies, how goes the Hack/Slash flick?

TS: It's going pretty well. We were held up by the writer's strike, but it seems like they're moving full steam ahead now. With any luck will hear all kinds of news really soon.

LN: My brother Jon (who is a jackass and my boss) wants to know why he doesn't like Hack/Slash since it became an ongoing. What I would really like to know is: how does working on an ongoing differ from working on minis or one-shots?

TS: It's a lot different. One-shots are more like "movies." The story is all about the "case", the adventure, the "event." With the series, I really wanted to explore more of the world, give readers more characters and supporting cast...fill it out, y'know? I personally prefer the ongoing. I think you get to learn more about Cass and Vlad. I can have "smaller" moments not necessarily related to the "freak of the week."

LN: While we are on the subject of Hack/Slash, I have a question from a customer: "I have a question about the book; the covers, specifically. It may be my fault for marrying a feminist, but sometimes I feel like I'm trying to sneak porn past her due to some of the covers. Are you at all concerned that there are people who are missing out on a book with a wicked sense of humor and a strong female lead because they're turned off by the 'look at my cute panties' covers?"

TS: Nah...I'm not really concerned, as honestly, it seems like the people who like those covers the most are girls. What I've discovered from women is that sexy is good. They just don't want to see unrealistically proportioned women, with tiny wastes, huge boobs and no brains. This works for me, cuz, neither do I. But, strong, realistic female leads, with a touch of sexuality often seems to work as well for women as men. I would say the majority of people who write me letters for H/S are women. I do understand it's not for everyone, and I really can't please everyone. I'm bummed not to be able to interest any potential reader.

LN: I've really enjoyed Loaded Bible and happen to, also, be a Christian. I know weird, right? As I've said in my reviews of the first two books, I think you have a feel for the true nature of Christ. Are you religious? How does your religion (or lack there of) inform your writing in Loaded Bible?

TS: I'm not religious. But I did grow up Catholic and I've always had an affinity for the "character" of Jesus Christ. I really liked what the guy said...how he did it...I just never liked the religion that came from him. I think the Bible is an incredible book, with a lot of really great advice, but I think that there's just too many possible interpretations of it to follow it as closely as many sects of Christianity would like us too. Jesus is a fascinating character, and I felt like, even if I was going to do a story that portrayed my own personal fears of a theocratic America, I wasn't going to treat Christ poorly. I don't consider the man himself at fault for what I'm criticizing and parodying in LOADED BIBLE.

LN: This next question came from one of our customers: was Loaded Bible an attempt to tell a supernatural story with religious connotations or was the story also an attempt to comment theologically on the nature of Jesus Christ?

TS: It was sort of an attempt to do a few things at once.

1. Tell an awesome horror/action story.
2. Comment on my own concerns about the state of religion and politics, especially relating to the presidency of GW.
3. Do a symbolic story about religious idols, and how they would feel to be manipulated by the religions they created.

Hopefully I pulled off all three.

LN: How did you and your brother come up with the idea?

TS: This is kind of silly, but it's true.

Way back in like 1991 (whenever Jurassic Park came out), my bro and I (who were like 12 and 14) thought that if you could bring back dinosaurs, you could bring back Jesus. It was as simple as that. So we sort of played around with the idea back and forth for years. At one point there was probably a JESUS vs. DINOSAURS story in there. I think I added the vampires, Steve added the nuclear war, I added the "old west" scenario...in the end it was just an amalgam of all these conversations for what Steve and I thought would one day be our big, epic, Hollywood movie. Now of course, we know that no studio would shoot this movie, but, hey, it makes a cool comic!

Ultimate Comics, we have more comics then your shop has!"

LN: Will there be more Loaded Bible after “Communion”?

TS: Yeah, it really is set up now to be a series of THREE books. So, “Communion” is the last issue in Book 1. Book 2 will follow the events of “COMMUNION”, and BOOK 3 will feature Jesus discovering the sources of vampirism.

LN: What exactly happened with the Baby and Jesus in Loaded Bible 2? Will it be addressed in #3? Will we see more of the baby? Feel free to use this space for a plug. (Editor's Note: PLUGS ALWAYS WELCOME AT SCHWAPPONLINE.COM)

TS: Sorry that was unclear.

Basically, Jesus was going to try and heal the kid of vampirism. But he found that doing his usual "laying of hands" method drew him INTO the vampire curse. So he would have to take it on himself to cure the baby. Jesus was freaked, of course, and he withdrew. But the lil' vamp was still hungry and he bit Jesus. But, as we saw in the first ish, Jesus' blood makes vampires go BOOM. That does come to play in “COMMUNION”.

LN: No problem, it might just be me; I read a lot of comics in the middle of the night after long days of sorting comics. How was it working with Mike Norton?

TS: It's always easy and fun. Really. I mean, that sounds like an ass-kiss DVD interview answer, but it's true for Mike and I. We really do like the same stuff. When I give him a script, I know it'll come back just like I intended.

LN: I have noticed a definite progression in Mike's work of late, especially in the last issue of The All New Atom, is that more refined style prevalent in this book? Is it noticeably different in the art than in “Blood of Christ”?

TS: I think so. What happened was right in the middle of Communion, Mike got an exclusive offer from DC. So they told him to finish up whatever he could on LB, and then he'd be theirs for the next two years. No sane artist turns down a DC exclusive, so Mike finished most of “Communion”, started on ATOM, and Chris Johnson finished Bible for me. So, you've seen a very busy Mike doing some great work in the year since he finished his pages of Loaded Bible 2 and 3. He evolves really fast. I actually get jealous.

LN: Besides Halloween: Nightdance and Hack/Slash, what horror comics are you digging?

TS: I enjoy WALKING DEAD in trade, and I always read most of Niles' stuff. Always fun. I've really been enjoying Hester's DARKNESS and WITCHBLADE is growing on me. I dunno...there aren’t many good horror comics around. The big two don't really care about them and just crack out lots of superhero crossover stuff. I can always go back and read my Alan Moore SWAMP THING trades.

LN: Besides Halloween, what are you drawing these days?

TS: A few little projects on the side, and some H/S covers. But mostly, HALLOWEEN has been chaining me to the desk.

LN: Halloween is with Devil's Due where you are a staff artist, what exactly does that position entail? Are you like an art editor or do you just get the job when they can't find some other sucker?

TS: A little of both. Heh, I have "first pick" of our projects. But, when it's an emergency, I draw whatever needs to be done.


LN: What else do you have in the works?

TS: Whew...probably more than I can handle. I'm writing a horror comic for an Italian company called Arcadia. It'll be great, cuz when it comes out, I won’t even be able to read it. I have the LOADED BIBLE Book 1 trade, and a short for Tokyopop. I, also, wrote a sci-fi teen sex comedy that I'm shopping around....so...whew...enough.

LN: How's Robert Kirkman? Could you please tell him to stop hacking off the heads of characters that I like?

TS: Hah...I don't even know if I could get a hold of Robert anymore. He's all BIG MARVEL GUY, and I'm still "indy sacrilegious horror comic guy." But, hey, it wouldn't be a good horror comic if the heads weren't liable to be removed from any or all of your favorite characters.

Hack/Slash comes out monthly, issue 8 is on stands now. Halloween: Nightdance #1 is on stands now. Both are published by Devil’s Due. Loaded Bible 3: Communion will be available Wednesday from Image.

SCHWAPP!!! Week 21.2: Salvation Run #4 & Suicide Squad #6

Fourthman Reviews: Loaded Bible 1 & 2

Fourthman (aka Lee Newman) writes reviews for UltimateComics.com, which are syndicated here at SchwappOnline.com with the permission of all parties.

Loaded Bible: Jesus Vs. Vampires
Published by Image
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Nate Bellegrade and Mark Englert

So this book was hidden away in a box of books that were pulled for me when I got a bit too ambitious in my pulls. This is when I had a real world job and couldn't always find time to read ten comics a day. It has beckoned at me many times, but with Starlord choosing the third volume of Book One for this week's review group book, I thought it was about time for me to give it a read.

Sorry, Tim Seeley, I have truly slept on a master... Hack/Slash is now one of my favorite horror books and this here Loaded Bible is an unsung masterpiece. Set in a future that stems from a very familiar America, the world has been ravaged by Vampires. The Church has taken up the fight against these creatures of the night and at the head of their army is the Messiah returned. This Christ is as different from the New Testament Christ as that Jesus’ father is different from the Old Testament God. In a world were his flock is being eaten, Christ must be a little stronger with his message. This is all the fun of Battle Pope without the laugh a minute script or the overly heretical thematics. In fact, in many ways the way Seeley handles the Christ figure is a testament to a true understanding of the Faith. He is careful in this first issue not to have the Son of God speak out against more boiler plate issues of the Church, but there is the implication that Jesus is not quite in line with the way the Bishops of the Vatican would want things. Interesting touches like having Jesus attracted to a Vampire and his relationship with Bishop Parrish show an understanding of the divine made human. What could be an outrageous heretical story is actually a thought provoking meditation on the nature of the idol. This is a smart and intelligent read with an ending that begs for continued adventures.

The art is superb. It is not photo realistic. In fact there are touches of Mignola here and there. It is consistent strong and conveys the story in a coherent matter. The character designs take in familiar faces and archetypal characters and employ them in the style seamlessly. Action sequences are huge and fun, while not at all confusing.

"Ultimate Comics, we have more comics then your shop has!"

Loaded Bible 2: Blood of Christ
Published by Image
Written by Tim Seeley
Pencils by Mike Norton

The first issue of Loaded Bible was a breath of fresh air. It was intelligent and controversial. It was religious and Political in the same breath. It showed a great understanding of faith and that is one of the reasons that it was such a compelling read.

The second volume spends more time meditating on the idea of Vampires and the contradictions of the Church then on action or politics. Both of those are there, but much of the issue is Lilith spouting off why it is important not to kill the Humans and Christ dealing with the revelation that he is a clone. There are moments of absolute brilliance. When Christ decides that the only way he can truly understand the vampires is to become one and subjugates himself to the bite of an infant sucker he has saved. The healing that takes place was a little confusing for me. It is not as black and white as other things in the first two issues. In fact, it is fairly ambiguous and leads to questions that I hope are resolved in the third act. Like what didn’t we see in the trailer that night and what became of the baby?

There are also lots of exciting scenes. We find out who the traitor to the church is and why he fed information to the Vampires. We also get to see Bishop Parrish take the reins of the Vatican. A compassionate and faithful man now leads the Church, will it continue down its destructive path? There is also the great moment when the army of clones is unleashed on the Vampire invaders. We also get our first real glimpse inside the human resistance to the church. This is as idea heavy as the first issue, even if it is not a singularly satisfying. It seems to need the next chapter, much as Empire Strikes Back needed the finale of Return of the Jedi. It’s not a bad thing, just anticipatory.

Mike Norton takes over the penciling duties on this issue. It gives the comic a more traditional look, but it loses some of its character. Even still there are inspired panels, the bite of a vampire baby, the release of the clone army, or Christ’s inoculation of vampire blood.

Like Star Wars, you know this story is going to carry on. I hope that sales are enough to justify many more books in the Loaded Bible lore. This is an exciting and fresh take on vampires. It is epic in scope and demands to be carried on.

SCHWAPP!!! Comics Week 21.1: Fantastic Four #554

Marvel launches the Millar/Hitch era on Fantastic Four with issue 554. Is it good? Sure. Is it great? Don't drink the Kool-Aid just yet. Do keep it handy, because signs point to it being worthwhile to drink it in a few months.

Fourthman Reviews: Fantastic Comics #24

On SCHWAPP, I'm endeavoring to open things up to allow others to be part of the blog. Someone I've always respected the reviews of would be Lee Newman aka FourthMan at Newsarama. He's, also, part of the team over at Ultimate Comics.

Next Issue Project #1: Fantastic Comics #24
Published by Image Comics Written and Illustrated by Various

The idea behind the Next Issue Project is awesome in and of itself. With all the attention being paid to reviving Golden Age characters in the likes of books such as The Twelve or Project Superpowers, it is often forgotten how much of this material was presented. In the Golden Age, the anthology was king. Conventional wisdom has the golden age starting around 1933. It is important to note that Superman did not appear until 1938 and that is when super heroes began their domination of the medium. Before then, comics could be any number of things. The Next Issue Project takes long cancelled golden age titles that have fallen into the public domain and revives them fresh for our more modern sensibilities.

Fantastic Comics debuted in 1939 and was published by Fox Syndicate. As you can see in the cover of that first issue, Sampson was also on the cover as were blurbs for all the characters promised in Image’s first issue. Indeed, all these characters and more make appearances in this book. Image has taken the time to reproduce the size and page count of the comic as well as put some vintage styled ads in the book as well. Either for their future entrants in the series or mock ads that contain the credits for the issue or what may very well be vintage ads, these commercials solidify the feel and look of the original book.

Much care is taken in the stories themselves as well. There are straight up homages to the era as in Larsen’s Sampson tale. Here colors bleed into lines and the pages have an aged look. The story even feels like an old story with a dubious moral being portrayed. In fact, the unflinching freedom of the era is a theme throughout the book. The creators put away their inhibitions and PC manuals and make the stories fun. Amazons are scantily clad, sexy, and ready for action.

Sampson is not the only metahuman presented here. Mike Allred and Joe Keating deliver the most impressive story in the book playing with many of the same characters that Ross and Krueger are fiddling with over at Dynamite. However, as is usual of the work that Allred allows his pencils to grace, the story here is more metaphysically inclined then Project Superpowers.

The rest of the anthology is delightful, from Andy Kuhn’s Casanova-esque take on Yank Wilson to the Prince Valiant like “Golden Knight”. I would find it hard to believe that there is not at least one story in this giant comic that would appeal to everyone. Heck, even B. Clay Moore produces a prose piece that would be just as at home in the back of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The package itself is also appealing. Image has chosen to produce this on a heavy card stock paper. When the pages are in their more natural white, they are brilliant; allowing the colors and thin lines to jump off the page. With a cover that most certainly pays homage to the original, this is one of those books that literally jumped out of the boxes as we were processing our delivery last Tuesday. It is the kind of book that makes us pause for a moment. There are very few things that draw the entire crew away from the day long task. Not even the power of Walking Dead or Planetary can stop all of us from trying to get home before dark. However, this book and last year’s Marvel Vault had even Alan Gill, owner of Ultimate Comics, pleased to take a break from the labor intensive task at hand to give it a once over and bask in it’s glory. I have heard grumblings here and there over the $5.99 price tag, but being a huge fan of the Ignatz series of golden sized books from Fantagraphics, I can tell you this book is a bargain in almost every sense. What other book with that price tag boasts artwork from the likes of Allred, Larson, Sienkiewicz, Ashley Wood, and others with top notch stories from Joe Casey, Moore, and Scioli? Not even Popgun offered an a list like this.

While most definitely an exciting collection for the pure comics enthusiast who longs for the days of Kirby, Ditko, and Stan Lee; this book also crosses a broad spectrum of interests, styles and stories. Image should be proud to produce an anthology of this caliber. Here is hoping that the Next Issue Project sustains a long and healthy run.

Can't Be Mad At Guggenheim

Something that gets lost in my vociferously defending my action of reporting Guggenheim is that I don't think he is a terrible guy. I strongly disagree with his stance on strike-time behavior, but I think he is a good guy who, until just before the end, was engaging me in a great discussion/debate. I didn't like being dismissed with the "you're not in my union" deal and stand by the contention that it is the sign of failure in a debate. But that don't make Guggenheim a bad person. I think everyone's tried to finagle a way out of a debate without admitting that they have no answer or no way out of a corner they've painted themselves into.

Before having my Newsarama account closed, I had sent Mr. Guggenheim a PM saying that, if I had it to do all over again, I don't know if I still would have reported him. I felt pretty confident, actually, that I wouldn't have if a certain writer didn't show up to carry over frustrations he has with me on other issues. I don't know if Mr. Guggenheim received the message before my account closed or if the message would still be in his box if my account closed.

What I do know is, despite it all, he came back to the thread with a pretty funny post:

Originally Posted by ERoy

Learning about this thread certainly makes me want to check out Eli Stone, since I really didn't know anything about it before. So, at least for me, the thread did what it was supposed to do.

Mission accomplished! Thanks, Kevin! The check is in the mail, buddy.

Now, that can be with full "I can't be bothered to hold a grudge" humor or that can be more of a "how do you like dem apples" crack. Either way, I don't care who you are...that's funny.

Maybe I have to give that Eli Stone show a shot, after all...

Anyone else miss MJ and Peter...

...in the great Mark Millar/Terry & Rachel Dodson run in MK Spider-Man? It was amazing!

(pic from Brian Peck, art collector and fan of the Dodson's)

What Wine Goes With Superman Cape, Mr. Millar?

Mark Millar recently stated in an interview (that Kevin Melrose covered over at Blog@Newsarama) that Civil War was the best selling comic in the last 15 years.

When people called him on the hyperbole that ignored the facts, he got cranky. I don't necessarily blame him, because you can't expect him to research everything he might say in an interview. The point that it was an amazing sales success is true. This is the sort of thing that only obsessed comic book fans would gripe about.

But...

In his crankiness, he said the following:

Groan.

If someone can show me another monthly comic series published in the American market that has outsold Civil War then I will eat my Superman cape. You can go all the way back to the collapse in 1994.

This is truly pathetic and pedantic, but typical of some aspects of the Internet, unfortunately.

MM

Oh my. You should really not put a challenge out like that. While you should be able to speak extemporaneously in an interview without being expected to have researched every bit of what you say, there's really no excuse for sitting at your computer and not doing a bit of research before making a bold statement, fueled largely by thin skin and thick ego. Sorry, Mr. Millar, but as much as you can do some great work, you certainly make sure no one forgets it and rail against any who don't tend to agree.

Courtesy of MyComicShop.com:

X-Men (1991-) 42
Published July 1995
Original cover price: $1.95

Deluxe edition on glossy paper. "Heaven Can Wait." Script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Paul Smith, inks by Matt Ryan. Statement of ownership--average print run 800,625; average paid circulation 614,075. Andy Kubert/Ryan cover.

Let's see. July 1995 actually came out in May. The statement of ownership would then go back into May of 1994, I believe. (Edit: It has been pointed out to me that the likely period covered by the statement of ownership is January 1994 to December 1994, still within Millar's range)

The lesson today, boys and girls, is to quit while you're behind and just admit a mistake when you make one instead of getting into a pissing match with people that have more free time than you and know how to work a Google search properly.

Schwapp@TheMovies: JUMPER

JUMPER - It Will Have You Bounding Out of The Theater, Despite Its Flaws

I circled the date on the calendar when I heard about this movie. A sci-fi flick involving teleporting humans that are hunted, directed by Doug Liman? It's a natural...'cept for it having Hayden Christensen and Samuel L(oves to yell expletives) Jackson. I've heard good things about Christensen's chops in non-Star-Wars movies and know that there is still a great actor somewhere hidden in Jackson, but recent history from the two hasn't made me too confident.

I basically went into this movie trying to be unbiased, but clearly expecting I'd either get a really good flick or a really bad one. I just couldn't completely keep expectations out of it.

What I got was somewhere on the "good" side of middling.

The movie treats us to a bit of an origin for our protagonist, David Rice (played during these scenes by Max Thieriot). It establishes a little bit of everything that is important for the character, but not enough of one single thing to truly resonate. For the kind of movie this turned out to be, you really could have dropped almost all of it for as much good as it did. But it was brief enough that you didn't feel like you were hurt by its failure to accomplish all it desired.

Moving on, Hayden did a good job establishing the lazy, cocky way the adult David got to live his life. The life of leisure he has been able to afford himself through the somewhat unethical use of his abilities get quickly established and Christensen does well in making it clear that he is very at ease with his travels. It isn't long before we see it come crashing down around him.
Samuel L. Jackson acquits himself nicely as the heavy in this movie. It seems to be a role well suited for him, as he does best with spots that allow him to be intimidating and speak sternly. Makeup in movies are not his friend. The shockingly white hair is unconvincing from any angle, but none more so than when he is walking away from the camera. There is a "made for 3am on Cinemax" quality to the hair piece from that angle. Great sin? No, but it did serve to pull me out of the movie occasionally. Due to this, his best work here is with close-ups where he dominates the screen or during the action scenes where everything happens too fast and furious for the hair to be a distraction.

Jackson's character is a "paladin" and part of a group that hunts all humans with the ability to "jump" around the globe. There's some religiously fanatical idea that only God should be able to pop around the world, so all "jumpers" must be killed. This is, of course, where the conflict comes into play in our movie.

The conflict sets up both the weakest and strongest parts of the movie.

David's relationship with Milli (played by Rachel Bilson) is just a failure on the screen. David had a crush on her eight years earlier, while they were schoolmates. She's tied into the first time he realized he had his power to teleport. After running away from home based on the strength of his "jumping" ability, he never looks back towards her until he is on the run. While living the high life, he's become quite a "player" with the ladies. Yet, with nothing much to go on, the viewer is asked to buy into her being the love of his life at many times. The movie takes shortcuts all over the place here, with her writing off the fact that most people thought he was dead and jumping into bed with him so quickly. It strains the suspension of disbelief even more than the concepts of natural born teleporters and portable wormholes.


The indictment of the relationship is not meant in anyway to reflect on Mr. Christensen's or Ms. Bilson's acting abilities. They simply either weren't given the material to work with or it was left on the cutting room floor. Given that Tom Hulce is credited as playing a character I swear never appeared on screen, the cutting room floor is a likely suspect.

The best thing to come along in this film, however, was the character of Griffin (played by Jamie Bell). His character was used to deliver the many of the best action sequences and all of the comic relief. Some of you may remember him from The Chumscrubber, if your tastes include the occasional independent flick. In this film, he really stands out as the best character and, possibly, best actor. He might be the beneficiary of having a character that is meant to remain somewhat mysterious and aloof. Whereas Christensen suffers from his character having just enough laid out about his character to be a hair shy of useful and Jackson's character never truly has his motivation built up, all we need to know about Bell's could be summed up in a sentence.

One of the biggest shames of this film, in my estimation, is the wastes of Diane Lane and Michael Rooker. These two, having honed their craft so well, deserved more than the meager scraps they were given to give even a hit of the complicated relationships they were meant to have had with David (playing his mother and father, respectively). Rooker's role is another candidate for having been lopped off in the cutting room, while nothing but poor final scripting can explain how flat Lane's relationship with Christensen's character was at the end.

Cutting script and film is one of the biggest faults here. Coming in at about an hour and a half in the age of two hour films would seem to leave no reasonable excuse for developing characters and motivations so poorly. If the film wanted to come through as anything better than a special effects popcorn movie, that extra time was sorely needed.

Two alarming things about this film, separate from what actually happened on the screen, is the apparent intent to capitalize on the heat behind "comic book" films and to make this into a franchise (complete with Liman sending the credits off with a shrill electronic song). While not a pre-existing "comic book" property, there was a prequel published in comic book form and the characters make strong references to Marvel Team-Up comics of yesteryear. Drawing from that, one can guess that sticking to "comic book" conventions might be partially to blame for how shallow different areas of development were in the film. The connection between the intended couple was largely taken for granted, the "villains" were just part of some mysterious organization that made them bad, and the two "heroes" were largely orphaned in some manner that made them who they are today. The concept is interesting enough to support another movie or two, but not if each dip into the well is going to be this shallow.

I know that you have to be wondering how I can say this movie came on the good side of middling with the way I've described it. It's simple: I judge based on the movie it appeared to try to be. Given its obvious flaws, it would seem that there was a conscious decision to let it rest on concept, name actors, and special effects. I walked out of the theater feeling I had gotten my money's worth, even if it had some glaring flaws. Christensen and Jackson did what was asked of them (with flare, even), Bell was a revelation in the role, and Bilson did the best she could when saddled with an unbelievable "damsel-in-distress" role. All of their performances work best if you can manage to check your brain at the door and just try to enjoy the ride. Putting some distance between having seen, let's say, THERE WILL BE BLOOD or NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN might help, as well.