A Summer of Sequels, Swashbucklers
If America's looking for heroes in these times, Hollywood aims to deliver.
The summer season always is loaded with movies about gallant warriors beating the tar out of bad guys. And the Sept. 11 attacks and the war against terrorism that led to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq may have audiences more primed than ever for big-screen heroes.
Adding to moviegoers' comfort zone, this summer reacquaints them with many old friends as favorite franchises such as "The Matrix," "X-Men," "Charlie's Angels, "Tomb Raider" and "Bad Boys" deliver fresh adventures.
"Everywhere I went, all over the world, when people would come up to me, they always ask, `When are you going to do another "Terminator" movie?"' said Arnold Schwarzenegger, who finally makes good on his promise that he'd be back as humanity's cyborg protector from the future.
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," arriving over Fourth of July weekend, pits Schwarzenegger's part-flesh, part-machine bruiser against a gorgeous female terminator that can count sex as a weapon along with the ability to control other machines.
"There's a huge audience out there that loves this character and wants to see more of it," Schwarzenegger said.
Likewise with "X2: X-Men United" and "The Matrix Reloaded," two of the year's most highly awaited films. Hitting theaters weeks before Memorial Day, "X2" and "Matrix Reloaded" should give a jump-start to Hollywood's busy season after slumping box-office revenues so far this year.
"The Matrix" came out of the blue four years ago with an edgy new take on science fiction from brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, who simultaneously shot "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions," which concludes the trilogy this fall.
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss are back as freedom fighters uploading themselves into a virtual world to battle Earth's machine conquerers, with the final two "Matrix" movies taking place over a 48-hour period.
A big question is how they can renew the sense of freshness of "The Matrix," whose stop-motion visual effects, time-altering action, and slick black fashion sense have been endlessly imitated in movies, television and commercials.
In the beginning, such imitation was "funny and cute, but then it kind of gets boring for everybody," Moss said. "I don't think that will be a problem for our movies. The brothers have come up with a whole bunch of new stuff this time. All the imitation just makes them have to work harder."
Summer is prime time for escapism far removed from troublesome current events. Movies such as "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," reteaming Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu as the chic private eyes trying to crack a conspiracy against a witness protection program, has no pretensions beyond action and eye candy.
"There's nothing about `Charlie's Angels' that is really related to anything but entertainment," Liu said. "There is violence in it, but we run around in stilettos fighting with people, and we don't have guns. We have great disguises, it's got tons of great dance numbers. It's saturated with color, it's sexy and funny. It's a nice way to unwind."
The season's action movies remain dominated by men, but "Charlie's Angels" is among a growing number of franchises allowing women into the act.
Along with Moss in "The Matrix" movies, the "X2" ensemble includes Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Anna Paquin, joining male counterparts Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, James Marsden and Alan Cumming. This time, good and evil mutants team up to fight a rogue military man trying to exterminate them.
Angelina Jolie goes globe-trotting again in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life," with the buxom video-game heroine on a quest to find Pandora's Box.
"We're at this place now where women are being very physical, very active in movies," said Jolie, who originated the character in 2001's "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." "The studio felt at first it was such a risk to spend that much money on an adventure film with a woman. We weren't sure if anybody would go see it. It was a relief that it worked, and hopefully we've made an even better one this time."
Studios will offer heroes in everything from action thrillers to comedies to family flicks. Among them, there's:
Frilly ("Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde," with Reese Witherspoon back as the attorney with impeccable style on a lobbying mission to pass a bill against animal testing).
Fleet ("2 Fast 2 Furious," with Paul Walker returning for another hot-wheels adventure in the sequel to "The Fast and the Furious").
Fishy ("Finding Nemo," an underwater adventure from the makers of "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc." about a fish tailing after his missing son).
Frightening ("Exorcist: The Beginning," a prequel with Stellan Skarsgard taking on the role of the original film's priest in his first battle against Satan).
Familial ("Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over," pitting the espionage family of Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara against new villain Sylvester Stallone).
Fraternal ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," about a brotherhood of great literary heroes led by Sean Connery as Allan Quartermain).
Ferocious ("The Hulk," a comic-book adaptation with Eric Bana as the scientist accidentally turned into a beastly superhero).
And funky ("Bad Boys II," reuniting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as hip Miami narcotics cops trying to crack a ring smuggling Ecstasy in from Cuba inside submerged coffins).
It's been eight years since the original "Bad Boys," a long time between sequels by Hollywood standards. Attracting an audience should not be a problem, though, given how Smith's and Lawrence's popularity has swelled in the interim, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said.
"I think they're such big stars now, that won't be an issue," said Bruckheimer, reteaming with director Michael Bay on "Bad Boys II." "We'd been fooling around with the script and never quite got the story cracked, or the guys weren't available at the same time. Finally, we got a story everybody liked and we were all able to go at the same time."
Bruckheimer also produced this summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," starring Johnny Depp in a swashbuckling tale based on the Disney theme-park attraction.
Rival DreamWorks offers its own nautical saga with the animated "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Other highlights: Jim Carrey in "Bruce Almighty," the story of a perpetual griper on whom God (Morgan Freeman) bestows omnipotence to run the world his way; "Daddy Day Care," starring Eddie Murphy as an unemployed father who goes into the toddler-tending business; "Seabiscuit," a drama about the legendary Depression-era racehorse, featuring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper; Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men," with Nicolas Cage as a con man whose swindle is disrupted by the arrival of his teenage daughter; Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell in "S.W.A.T.", an update of the '70s TV series about an elite Los Angeles police unit; Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor in "Down With Love," a comedy that aims to resurrect the Technicolor hipness of '60s romances; and "The Italian Job," a remake of the '60s gold-heist caper with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton.
Also: "American Wedding," reuniting some of the "American Pie" gang as Jason Biggs' and Alyson Hannigan's characters say "I do"; real-life partners Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in the comic mob romance "Gigli"; and the action comedy "Hollywood Homicide," which pairs Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett as detectives trying to crack the slayings of a rap group while tending to their alternate careers, Hartnett as a yoga teacher who wants to be an actor, Ford as a real-estate agent.
"The mystery of the movie is not really to solve the hip-hop murders but whether or not I'm going to sell the house," said Ford, noting that he needed a lighthearted movie after his grim submarine tale "K-19: The Widowmaker" last summer.
For Affleck, "Gigli" is the first of two films he did with fiancee Lopez. The two also star in the upcoming parenthood tale "Jersey Girl," written and directed by Affleck's old pal Kevin Smith.
Affleck said he hopes speculation about his and Lopez's much-publicized romance will not hamstring the films.
"My concerns only are that the tabloid headlines in aggregate could serve to kind of exhaust an appetite or interest in seeing the actual movies," Affleck said. "Which would be a shame, because I really like both movies that we did."