After the pretty spectacular failure of R.I.P.D., you would think that Hollywood would give Men In Black-like rip-offs a pass. Not so, apparently, because Warner Brothers still plans on launching a suspiciously similar film called Lore, even going so far as to sign original MIB director Barry Sonnenfeld on to direct it. Sonnenfeld has since departed the project, leaving the spot open for David (Dave) Green to step in.
Green is not exactly the name that Sonnenfeld is, but perhaps that’s a good thing. His sole feature-length credit is Echo, a low-budget sci-fi, which won’t be released until January 2014. Warner Brothers is putting a good bit of faith in an untried director, but it’s nice to see a non-name get a plum film.
If, of course, Lore is actually going to be plum. The film will follow a secret society of ‘shepherds’ meant to keep mythological creatures at bay. It’s based on a five-issue IDW comic book, featuring a reluctant hero (are there any other types of heroes?) who steps in to save everyone from the mythological beasties. Said hero will be played by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, so we know what this film is likely to look like just from that.
What is with this trend of heroes keeping such and such at bay? First we had aliens, which was great; then we had dead people in R.I.P.D., which was sort of like Men In Black meets Ghostbusters, only terrible. Now we round out the whole thing with mythological creatures. Perhaps next we’ll have angel catchers?
Still, the presence of a new director is somewhat intriguing. Who knows? Maybe Lore will be everything that R.I.P.D. and two out of three Men In Blacks were not. I’m willing to accept the repetition of some tropes if we can actually get a good film out of it. As always, however, this is intended to be a tentpole and possible franchise. I wouldn’t hold my breath.