Super Hero Movies

Flat out, Super Hero Movies are overrated. I'm sure a lot of people have this same opinion but I would like to fully go into this opinion today. "Super Hero Movies" is a pretty broad term. To me a "Super Hero" movie is an action packed, CGI, massive budget movie. I feel like most action/thriller movies fall into this too. I'm not just ranting about Marvel movies I'm giving my opinion on the whole genre.

Films are one of the most intimate form of art. Everyone has that one movie that made them cry their eyes out or even just hit a cord with them on a whole emotional level. The way directors shoot shots and capture then translate the visual into feeling is truly beautiful. Take for example the way Stanley Kubrick shot 2001: A Space Odyssey. In one scene a woman in a space ship is able to walk on the ceiling due to zero gravity. As you watch the shot it really conveys a sense of eeriness and suspense. It truly makes your stomach twist and turn as you watch. The length of the shot would be boring in other aspects but this movie it's perfect because of how drawn out it is. It creates a twisting pile of suspense even though there isn't a jump scare or even a conclusion to why you feel scared. This shows how strong the use of film can truly be.

The issue with big budget, crazy action packed super hero movies is there isn't a connection with the audience. It's a capitalistic, money making industry that uses the characters you love as a way to take your money. Take for example, Avengers: Infinity War one of the biggest cross-over movies out there. Towards the end of the movie when Thanos has all the Infinity Stones, Thor comes down from the sky and stabs him. As you sit there watching you think, "Oh wow maybe Thanos is actually going to be stopped. Ok cool." But as soon as Thanos tricks Thor and kills a third of the universe you think to yourself, "Oh wow that sucks. The only emotional attachment I had to this movie was the characters and he just murdered almost all of them but that's cool I'm fine, we're fine," and maybe you cry or get upset. But that conversation Thor and Thanos have is the climax and most suspenseful part of the movie. The weirdest part of it is after the movie is over that emotion and suspense you felt is quickly forgotten because deep down you know Marvel wouldn't kill off their industry like that. Spiderman dies and what do you know, new Spiderman movie.

Super Hero Movies are made to make money off your emotions. That's just how the industry works. Movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Fargo or even Kill Bill do a much better job at building suspense and holding it. I think they even do a way better job at their action scenes. The sense of pure dread you feel at the climax of these movies is truthfully unbearable and it sits with you. Movies like Avengers: Infinity War or Jumanji or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice tell cheep stories that guilt you into feeling emotions for the characters. It's the same plot over and over again. Imagine actually being able to go into the movie theater and see something purely fresh. Something that you couldn't even comprehend being a thing and it being shown to you then actually having your emotional cords struck. Wouldn't that be refreshing to see something that didn't have the same concept as Die Hard (great movie by the way). As an audience we should seek to find better forms of entertainment. We all deserve better than another superhero movie sequel.