As should be becoming clear to many movie goers these days, superhero films are all the rage. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is absolutely booming and DC is fast-tracking their own cinematic universe as I write this piece. The pieces are in place and the films are supposed to be hitting cinemas for the next six or seven years, at the very least. Unfortunately and very surprisingly, I am not excited for this in the slightest. While this piece will focus solely on what I think is wrong with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, I believe that some of the same problems can be seen in how DC is handling their film universe for their characters. That is definitely a post for another day, as DC has already started to dig themselves in a whole other hole.
I suppose it would benefit to discuss my impressions of the other films before I get to the meat of what I would really like to talk about. At the beginning, I really enjoyed the Marvel films. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Captain America: The First Avenger, were all very solid action films. The lone stinker of the bunch was Thor, which I didn't enjoy very much for rushed story reasons. Regardless, all of these films, tied together through characters and end credits sequences, culminated in the highly anticipated blockbuster, The Avengers. I absolutely loved this film when I saw it on opening day in a packed theater. I walked out satisfied and knowing I had spent my money well. However, on a second viewing, I noticed that the movie only had two really notable aspects: the interactions between the characters and the action sequences. This is one of those films that really made me realize just how important story, deep characters, and plot are to a film's staying power. The film's story was one we have all seen before: power hungry character wants to take over the world and kill/enslave all of the people in it. That was disappointing enough, considering how it was just an excuse to get all of the superheroes onscreen together. On even more viewings, I began to see the seeds of what has now taken over the Cinematic Universe. That is the Marvel Formula. This consists of a narcissistic hero with a sense of humor embracing their outcast status and saving the world. Now, in theory, this is a really cool idea! My issue is that this formula is at the heart of every Marvel movie and is being used to dumb down the films and keeping the screenwriters and directors from making them more unique and deeper. With the exception of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I have not really loved any Marvel movie in recent memory because each one has essentially the same feeling to it. For example, Guardians Of The Galaxy was one of the most beloved movies of 2014, even being named by some publications as the best film of the year (which is completely wrong and is insulting to all the filmmakers who made better films during the year, like Birdman, Boyhood, and The Grand Budapest Hotel). To me, however, it just felt like a blatant Star Wars rip-off, inserting the Marvel formula character (narcissistic outcast with a sense of humor) into a space opera. That is my dissection of the Marvel formula. What worries me more is where the franchise is headed and how the studio has actively gone out of its way to dumb down their films for the masses.
We now sit in 2015, where the two films Ant-Man and Avengers: Age Of Ultron are poised to come out and rule the box office, just like the other films in the franchise. As I listed out my top ten most anticipated films for the year, these two did not make the list. Why? It is fairly simple. Marvel has gone out of its way to avoid injecting these films with new ideas and directions. This is mostly seen in how the production of Ant-Man played out. A passion project of director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) that pre-dated the production of Iron Man, pre-production was all set to begin with Wright at the helm. Wright, known for his intelligent comedic writing and interesting direction, was all set to inject new life into the Universe. However, in May, Wright and Marvel parted ways, due to differences in visions for the film. Upon digging further, I found out that the darker aspects of the Hank Pym character, such as his split personalities, one of which abused his wife, didn't sit too well with the filmmakers and the studio heads. As a result of this split, the studio brought in Adam McKay, director of Anchorman and The Other Guys, to rewrite the script. Not a bad choice, considering how those films were fairly funny. Unfortunately, the director brought in to replace Edgar Wright, was Peyton Reed. Reed's most famous film is the cheerleader film Bring It On. Yepp, not an improvement. My question is very simple. Why? Why actively avoid injecting some new and heavier elements in order to keep the Universe interesting and avoid consumer burnout? Luckily, the powers that be are so obvious in their stupidity that the answer became clear right away: money. They just want to put butts in seats. To me, that is just about the worst possible way the production could have been played out. The fun doesn't just stop there. This method of dumbing down the films carries over right to Avengers: Age Of Ultron. However, the active process of dumbing down Avengers begins even before its conception.
I am not a comic book purist. I can definitely accept changes. But I can't easily accept active attempts to make the films dumber for a modern audience. This is the case with the new Avengers movie. In the comics, Hank Pym is the creator of Ultron. However, in the Cinematic Universe, this was impossible to portray on film because, despite Pym being a founding member of the Avengers in the comics, he was left out and his film moved to the second phase of the Universe. Ultron, the big baddie of the new film, became a peacekeeping program that is initiated by Tony Stark. Ultron's ultimate goal in the film, conveniently revealed to us through the trailers, is to take over the world and kill/enslave everybody in it. Sound familiar? My issue with these proceedings is simple. Without Hank Pym, we have no interesting aspect of human drama to balance out the intense action sequences and character interactions. Imagine seeing Hank Pym on the big screen, watching his ultimate creation rampage throughout the world and systematically eliminating the human race. What kind of emotions could an actor tap into for that? That deep guilt, that level of human drama and emotion, has yet to be seen in the Universe. It has been attempted, but poorly so, as Iron Man 3 entertained the idea of Tony Stark's PTSD but pushed it by the wayside to make room for explosions and Ben Kingsley's worst role ever. At the end of the day, it looks and sounds like we are in for a lot of the same of the first movie: great character interactions and fun action sequences, but the simple story that doesn't require a lot of thinking. It is really disappointing to see Joss Whedon, the talented writer behind The Cabin In The Woods and Buffy, dumb down his story for the film when it could have been taken to so many new levels of filmmaking. If I had to guess, I would say that they will attempt to put aspects of that human guilt and drama into Tony Stark, but with poor results.
Overall, am I not excited for these movies? Not really. Will I go see them? Oh, yes. They promise to be very entertaining at the very least. As a film lover, I just wish that the stories hadn't been butchered so as to make them more accessible. I want these films to not only entertain people, but to make them think and to really feel the emotion of the characters. We don't have superpowers or suits of armor, so the only thing left to help us connect to the characters in these films are the emotions they have to offer. Having more emotion in the characters ensures that the memories of them stay with us longer and make us want to return to the films again and again. I could never hope or attempt to be a gangster like Ray Liotta's character in GoodFellas, but it is the conveying of emotions of his character that allows viewers to put themselves in his shoes and get a taste of being a gangster. The same can be said for these heroes. Explosions and large monsters only take us so far. I sincerely hope that these films will surprise me and take the characters to these places that I have mentioned. It will definitely reinvigorate the desire within me to see all these new superhero movies coming out and will ensure that the upcoming summers are kept entertaining with the characters that we not only enjoy watching beat up the bad guys, but enjoy feeling the same emotions as they do.
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