The House of Gucci director, who has spoken negatively about comic-book based films before as well, was asked by Deadline about his main gripe with the superhero genre.
I still don't think that superheroes film are inherently bad (yes, I'm aware of their problematic components), but I do think they are unequivocally making film worse . I am admittedly I am an avid comicbook reader, but none of the superhero films seem to bringing their own creative vision to the script, to the direction, to the visual design, to the soundtrack, and everything beyond. They are so cookie-cutter, and I hate that the studios love it.
There are tons of great stories from the "mainstream" publishers and even more (and better ones) in the independent ones. My problem with the movies is that most of these films seem to remove every uniquely creatively element from the comic they make movies about. They seem to smooth them all out to make them seem flat and interchangeable. It's bad for movies, it's bad for comics, and bad for audiences. We all lose.
It's such a bummer that some of these comics have 50+ years of history and stories to draw from, but the studios make things that are so creatively bankrupt. I'm not saying everything must be some super deep deconstruction of the genre, but you'd think these films would not be so overwhelmingly CTRL+C/CTRL+V of each other. They are all so creatively vapid, and they are soaked in this Hollywood/MEGACORP idea that "movies as marketing platforms". They aren't even really movies anymore they just a part of the "experience" of the MCU/DCU. It fuckin' sucks that the cultural richness of superheroes (and comicbook adaptions to a larger extent) is just utterly watered down. There are so many great graphic novels that would make dope movies, but because they are not superheroes, they aren't going to get made.
To me, superheroes films being boring is a sign that the way films are made is the problem rather than the films themselves. The films themselves are usually anywhere from a "weak watchable" to a "strong decent" (I'm saying this as dude who been reading this shit since I was 12), but I think they could be zillion times better if creatives were in charge of the production of the film rather the stockholders of the production company. The big blockbuster film has historically been great for studios, but negatively impacts the film-going landscape.
I feel super bad for filmmakers right now, both the big dogs and the people coming up in the industry (really any creative industry). Your creative vision has to fit into their 12-year marketing plan, or your shit isn't going to get made. You make their by-the-numbers film/TV or you aint making anything and don't try anything that hasn't been audience/market researched. Which is why the people who make the movies should be in charge of the movies getting made.
I felt this way watching Dr. Strange. I was pumped for tons of trippy other dimensions and magical whatnot, but there were only a few short sequences and then the usual MCU stuff. Boring! Sad!
The sequence towards the beginning where he tumbles through acidland and the ending time-resetting sequence vs Dormamu were the coolest parts of the movie by far. Just give me crazy trippy visuals and multiverse traveling, I don't need another tragic backstory with cookie cutter heroes journey origin story bullshit.
i agree with you on pretty much all of this, but even ideally, with creative movies that draw from the most interesting and varied comics stories, i don't know if superhero movies would take up such a huge portion of the industry. it really is ridiculous how they seem to be the only thing so many people talk about (wrt film, of course).
My hypothesis is that the Hollywood studio system would be significantly better if all the executives making these decisions switched back to snorting cocaine instead of bloodless, Silicon Valley, micro-dosing of psychedelics to make them more productive.
I still don't think that superheroes film are inherently bad (yes, I'm aware of their problematic components), but I do think they are unequivocally making film worse . I am admittedly I am an avid comicbook reader, but none of the superhero films seem to bringing their own creative vision to the script, to the direction, to the visual design, to the soundtrack, and everything beyond. They are so cookie-cutter, and I hate that the studios love it.
There are tons of great stories from the "mainstream" publishers and even more (and better ones) in the independent ones. My problem with the movies is that most of these films seem to remove every uniquely creatively element from the comic they make movies about. They seem to smooth them all out to make them seem flat and interchangeable. It's bad for movies, it's bad for comics, and bad for audiences. We all lose.
It's such a bummer that some of these comics have 50+ years of history and stories to draw from, but the studios make things that are so creatively bankrupt. I'm not saying everything must be some super deep deconstruction of the genre, but you'd think these films would not be so overwhelmingly CTRL+C/CTRL+V of each other. They are all so creatively vapid, and they are soaked in this Hollywood/MEGACORP idea that "movies as marketing platforms". They aren't even really movies anymore they just a part of the "experience" of the MCU/DCU. It fuckin' sucks that the cultural richness of superheroes (and comicbook adaptions to a larger extent) is just utterly watered down. There are so many great graphic novels that would make dope movies, but because they are not superheroes, they aren't going to get made.
To me, superheroes films being boring is a sign that the way films are made is the problem rather than the films themselves. The films themselves are usually anywhere from a "weak watchable" to a "strong decent" (I'm saying this as dude who been reading this shit since I was 12), but I think they could be zillion times better if creatives were in charge of the production of the film rather the stockholders of the production company. The big blockbuster film has historically been great for studios, but negatively impacts the film-going landscape.
I feel super bad for filmmakers right now, both the big dogs and the people coming up in the industry (really any creative industry). Your creative vision has to fit into their 12-year marketing plan, or your shit isn't going to get made. You make their by-the-numbers film/TV or you aint making anything and don't try anything that hasn't been audience/market researched. Which is why the people who make the movies should be in charge of the movies getting made.
Join a union y'all.
I felt this way watching Dr. Strange. I was pumped for tons of trippy other dimensions and magical whatnot, but there were only a few short sequences and then the usual MCU stuff. Boring! Sad!
The sequence towards the beginning where he tumbles through acidland and the ending time-resetting sequence vs Dormamu were the coolest parts of the movie by far. Just give me crazy trippy visuals and multiverse traveling, I don't need another tragic backstory with cookie cutter heroes journey origin story bullshit.
:this:
i agree with you on pretty much all of this, but even ideally, with creative movies that draw from the most interesting and varied comics stories, i don't know if superhero movies would take up such a huge portion of the industry. it really is ridiculous how they seem to be the only thing so many people talk about (wrt film, of course).
All i need is a faithful adaption of old man logan, thats it.
My hypothesis is that the Hollywood studio system would be significantly better if all the executives making these decisions switched back to snorting cocaine instead of bloodless, Silicon Valley, micro-dosing of psychedelics to make them more productive.