Comic Book: The Movie

Dir: Mark Hamill

2004

****

Mark Hamill, the director and star of Comic Book: The Movie, was in a 1977 film called Star Wars. You probably knew that. What you may not have known however is that since the original Star Wars trilogy Mark Hamill has been a rather prolific voice actor. He'd actually done voice work before 1977 but it wasn't until 1993's Batman: Mask of the Phantasm did Hamill find notoriety voicing Batman's greatest nemesis; The Joker. Hamill is clearly a comic book fan and while he has never played a superhero as such, he has played iconic characters that have a similarity. He is a hero among nerds, so he's in the same territory. In Comic Book: The Movie, Hamill plays a filmmaker who is going through the process of adapting a superhero character into a feature length film, with the hopes it will then kick-start a franchise. The film is what is known as a mockumentry and it is quite a sly and satirical one at that. It's pretty spot on with his material though and, released in 2004, the film is somewhat ahead of its time. Hamill fills the film with various friends, colleagues and nerd favorites who either play themselves of exaggerations of themselves or the famous characters they have played. Hamill's character is a bit like a college professor version of Kevin Smith, while Kevin Smith plays an exaggerated version of himself, which is a little bit like how he became in real life just a few years later. Many films, comics and famous flawed adaptations are referenced, non-nerds may find it hard to keep up but certified geeks will lap it up.  Hamill's character comes up against many problematic people while approaching people regarding his adaptation, including producers who don't know or understand his superhero (Commander Courage), the Grandson of the writer who owns the rights of the character, his Grandfathers friends who claim they actually wrote the character, the actor who hasn't a clue how to play the character and all the real life cynical actors/directors/producers who have already made adaptations and have nothing but unhelpful advice to give. This is all intertwined with Hamill and his main character nerding out about the philosophy of superheroes and their role in modern culture.  With support from fellow voice artists Billy West, Jess Harnell and Tom Kenny and the likes of Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Ray Harryhausen, Bruce Campbell, Matt Groening, J.J. Abrams, Ron Perlman, Lloyd Kaufman and Hugh Hefner it is a nerd's dream come true. Non-nerds need not apply. I'm torn between two scenes for a favourite. There is one scene whereby Hamill and co visit the old army buddies of the long deceased creator of Commander Courage. In this scene, it is revealed that not only did his old buddies dislike him, but they accuse him of stealing their ideas and ask for a settlement, leading to a hilariously awkward silence. The old army buddies are played by the brilliant Jonathan Winters and Sid Caesar - Comic Book: The Movie being Caesar's last performance. The other scene I loved sees Hamill's character ask three guys at a table if he could sit down for a while during a convention. All three men tell him to get lost and get his own table. The three men are Peter Mayhew, David Prowse and Jeremy Bulloch. It's a great knowing treble-cameo that perhaps only the hard-core Star Wars fan/Comic Con attendee would notice and it's pretty glorious for those that do. It's nerd satire at its best.