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Why do people still think marvel movies are too similar and bland?
- Thread starter Thewonandonly
- Start date
The recent movies all feel pretty different to me. The team-up movies all feel pretty much the same to me, however.
For the most part they all look awful and are filled with quips. The only one I like, GOTG2, is actually a pretty film but it's still filled with quips.
They're essentially the epitome of popcorn flicks.
They're essentially the epitome of popcorn flicks.
Like this argument.
MCU is just boring. The only 2 quotes people know are "a box of scraps" and "who?". There's not much substance so the movies are only important in the hype phase which is always continuous. They all follow the same beats and come to the same conclusion so over 15+ movies people will think they look and feel similar and this applies to gotg, tws, and ragnarok. They may be seen as good mcu movies but they're just a tiny smidge better.
This. For me only GotG stands out - not seen Thor but seems its going more in that direction?
Not at all.
Or do you not mean that figuratively? Because as a villain he works pretty well for this movie and really isn't the main villain at all.
By the way op , I really hope that BP OST is heat because I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to listen to the Thor Ragnarok OST and it was totally immigrant song or bust. So much so they played it twice.
I can't wait until Thursday.
I can't wait until Thursday.
We're three pages in and I still don't get this.
ONLY two quotes people know, as if Avengers itself wasn't filled with dozens of them ("We have a Hulk", "I understood that reference", "That's my secret, Captain...", "Puny god", etc.)
And how many recent films have had the "same" conclusion? Civil War ends with the villain triumphant and half our heroes on the run from the law, Ragnarok blew up Asgard and disfigured Thor, Homecoming dealt with more grounded issues and though Spidey "wins" it costs him the girl he loves, Doctor Strange can't win outright so he outsmarts the villain and has to bargain to save the day, etc.
They're imaginative, weird, and often bizarre concepts (how do you take a movie about a guy who shrinks and talks to ants seriously?) and they've successfully made them both entertaining but, more importantly, character-driven to the point you can just get them in a room and have them talk to each other and it's entertaining to watch.
I think if they were too safe we wouldn't have got such obscure characters like GOTG having a trilogy and ones with a goofy name like Dr Strange and as hallucinogenic and we wouldn't get a hero that sounds as lame as Ant Man getting his own film and it turning out to be all right. Black Panther is also a nice change with diversity (and hopefully with Captain Marvel)
I feel about Marvel Movies the way I felt about the Marvel House Art Style in the 70s.
It maintains a floor of quality, but it can get kinda samey sometimes and I wish they'd mix it up more.
That said, I've really enjoyed the last couple a lot and really looking forward to Black Panther.
It maintains a floor of quality, but it can get kinda samey sometimes and I wish they'd mix it up more.
That said, I've really enjoyed the last couple a lot and really looking forward to Black Panther.
OP
OP
future walking into the booth and trying to fuck up a whole album in one verse. He almost succeeds but the album is just to good
Asgard can be destroyed and have the same conclusion as Tony telling the world he is Iron Man. It's not in a visual sense.
Uh...? Didn't Dr. strange also end with his powers costing him the woman he loves?
Because they are. The humor is all very similar. The main overarching plots are largely formulaic. Visually, they all look like palette swaps.
There's sort of a high floor to them, because they are basically factory produced to be fun to watch in a theater. But they are really dull films with nothing interesting at all happening form-wise.
The only reason they are revered is because of nu-crit that rewards movies being aggressively inoffensive instead of striving to be something more than that.
There's sort of a high floor to them, because they are basically factory produced to be fun to watch in a theater. But they are really dull films with nothing interesting at all happening form-wise.
The only reason they are revered is because of nu-crit that rewards movies being aggressively inoffensive instead of striving to be something more than that.
So you agree that the movies I have listed do not have the same story beats?
Could you list the movies that have the same story beats? I would like to understand the criticism. Like, I know Iron Man 1 and Dr Strange are quite similar, but what about the rest?
Marvel movies are too jokey.
Yet Deadpool is considered a great movie with a bunch of dick and masturbation jokes. A villain that posed absolutely no threat to DP. In the end he comes out winning without any consequences. The same complaints I see for Marvel movies.
Yet it's different because a 4th wall breaking character breaks the 4th wall.
I like DP, but in no way is it a great movie.
Yet Deadpool is considered a great movie with a bunch of dick and masturbation jokes. A villain that posed absolutely no threat to DP. In the end he comes out winning without any consequences. The same complaints I see for Marvel movies.
Yet it's different because a 4th wall breaking character breaks the 4th wall.
I like DP, but in no way is it a great movie.
I love Marvel and enjoyed their movies but they're kinda formulaic and really do all have the same feel to me. And while they've made some great movies, most are just decent but to hear it from their biggest fans you'd think they've made nothing but gems.
Movie wasn't about a villain who could challenge Deadpool.
Pretty sure it was his prior history of treating her like garbage, and she wasn't just going to jump back in with him despite his apologies. The power complicated things, but it was hardly the reason she didn't reciprocate.
I never cared for superhero movies. I did like the first 2 Spiderman films back then, but I don't think I would enjoy them much nowadays. I also liked Daredevil because it was a Matrix ripoff and I was obsessed with that series, but that was long ago too. Didn't like Iron Man 2 at all, hated Justice League and Kickass (I know I'm mixing Marvel and DC here, but whatever), and got bored with a bunch of X-Men movies and what little I saw of Nolan's Batman. They aren't appealing to me.
The one I liked the most is Deadpool, because it didn't really feel like a superhero flick. It had some black humor that made me laugh a lot, so I'll probably watch the sequel. As for every movie mentioned in the OP, I simply don't care for any, so I don't feel like spending my time watching them, even if there are some differences between them.
The one I liked the most is Deadpool, because it didn't really feel like a superhero flick. It had some black humor that made me laugh a lot, so I'll probably watch the sequel. As for every movie mentioned in the OP, I simply don't care for any, so I don't feel like spending my time watching them, even if there are some differences between them.
Marvel movies in a vacuum aren't bland, but they all have the same core DNA, no matter who writes or directs them.
I enjoy them, but few of them are movies good enough for me to rewatch for anything but the sheer spectacle, and spectacle gets boring fast.
I enjoy them, but few of them are movies good enough for me to rewatch for anything but the sheer spectacle, and spectacle gets boring fast.
At the end he says he's going into a world she can't be a part of and that's why they can't be together. So he loses the girl because he's a superhero and decides to pursue his responsibilities at the cost of his desires, which is the Spider-Man ending.
Because we know WHY Peter is the way he is though movies, cartoons and years of comics, we don't need it when we can spend time on something else and the audience as a whole know the whys and how's.
I understand because of how interconnected it is, with cameo and references, that some people might be put off and assume it's too complicated to jump into (though I think a lot more people for example saw Ant man because of the connection and GOTG because of the MCU 'seal of quality') but I still think it's snobbish to say the films are overall too similar when you compare each film separately because it's very inaccurate to why they've been successful.
I always hate this argument because it ignores movies and favors comics as the dominant medium in the discussion
There are a lot of movies with out there premises and names that are beloved, critically and commercially
Like we have movies with toys that are alive when you're not looking
It takingt animals
Or falling in love with a phone
Or being stuck in a casket
Or a talking car
The villain is an obstacle for the hero. Gotta conquer. Deadpool's guy is a dude he wants to get revenge / cure from. The real villain is society's beauty standards.
Shoehorned MCU tie ins, some are more egregious than others. They all end with a boss fight at the end which its clear from the start the hero will win.
In terms of your second question, pretty much every origin movie is the same. Hero is in a weak state, is blessed with some amazing power, struggles to cope with it, turns the corner at just the right time to defeat the villain. Don't get me wrong, they are fun movies but they don't leave a lasting impression for me. Snark comedy and villain focused plots.
Well I'm sorry, a different, cartoon film about talking animals wouldn't have been safe at one point, decades and decades ago, and now Marvel are making it less safe by picking superheroes who would have been far from assumed successes like Superman and Batman were who had a big built-in fan base and still making them successful.
Completely agree with you OP.
Iron Man touches on corporate greed and showcases how an arms dealer can be humbled and changed into someone who fights for peace.
Thor and Thor: The Dark World are straight-up fantasy films with more in common with Lord of the Rings than Spider-Man.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a period piece.
Iron Man 3 explores PTSD and the mental and emotional trauma that being surround by combat and death can put on you.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a paranoid thriller that revolves around governmental conspiracies and espionage.
Guardians of the Galaxy is pure sci-fi comedy that has more in common with Star Wars than Captain America.
Ant-Man is a straight up Judd Apatow style comedy integrated into the superhero origin genre.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is as much a John Hughes coming-of-age story as it is a superhero film.
I could go on and on. I'm in the middle of my first rewatch of the MCU (just finished Ant-Man), and I can't believe how much I'm enjoying these films. Enjoying them far more than I was expecting to. The stereotype that all of these movies are cookie cutter is ridiculous and simply not true. You aren't watching closely enough if you believe this.
Iron Man touches on corporate greed and showcases how an arms dealer can be humbled and changed into someone who fights for peace.
Thor and Thor: The Dark World are straight-up fantasy films with more in common with Lord of the Rings than Spider-Man.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a period piece.
Iron Man 3 explores PTSD and the mental and emotional trauma that being surround by combat and death can put on you.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a paranoid thriller that revolves around governmental conspiracies and espionage.
Guardians of the Galaxy is pure sci-fi comedy that has more in common with Star Wars than Captain America.
Ant-Man is a straight up Judd Apatow style comedy integrated into the superhero origin genre.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is as much a John Hughes coming-of-age story as it is a superhero film.
I could go on and on. I'm in the middle of my first rewatch of the MCU (just finished Ant-Man), and I can't believe how much I'm enjoying these films. Enjoying them far more than I was expecting to. The stereotype that all of these movies are cookie cutter is ridiculous and simply not true. You aren't watching closely enough if you believe this.
Marvel movies are similar because they all lack a good villain, the best villain so far is the human dude from Civil War..
Well I guess we can disagree there. I didn't find it that funny at all, and frankly I really didn't like that a Thor movie was even trying to be a comedy.
Hollywood movies all follow the same formulas, but Marvel is exceptionally bad bad at hiding the mechanisms.
There's some variation in them... but then you get people acting like all the movies are in completely different genres and that's just nutty. They're all catty, quiptastic popcorn flicks of a certain mainstream flavour. They all take after the tone of Iron Man 1 at the end of the day.
If someone actually argues that one is a authentic period piece, one is magical realism, and one is the infamous "political thriller", I just think they aren't actually fans of film and it's wishful thinking that their favorite fanboy franchise actually fills the role of filmic variety.
If someone actually argues that one is a authentic period piece, one is magical realism, and one is the infamous "political thriller", I just think they aren't actually fans of film and it's wishful thinking that their favorite fanboy franchise actually fills the role of filmic variety.
There is very little similarity between Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Ant Man and say Guardians of the Galaxy or Dr Strange even though they share a universe and "look".
Black Panther looks like it's again going to manage doing its very own thing.
I think the people saying that are either bitter DC fans or people looking for darker R-rated fare, which imo they shouldn't be except for a few graphic novel style adaptations (like Logan or Deadpool).
Seeing these movies in the theater with my boys (and wife of course) are just one of the best things in life.
Black Panther looks like it's again going to manage doing its very own thing.
I think the people saying that are either bitter DC fans or people looking for darker R-rated fare, which imo they shouldn't be except for a few graphic novel style adaptations (like Logan or Deadpool).
Seeing these movies in the theater with my boys (and wife of course) are just one of the best things in life.
This is really it.
I consider myself to be a pretty decent super hero fan, I have a couple hundred comic books, and I used to go nuts over the next Marvel movie.
However, every MCU movie has the same story arch, with a new bad guy who is going to get defeated by the end of the movie. The heroes will always win, some might get hurt, or the team might change, but there never feels like there are any real stakes.
That being said, I still enjoy them, but they are getting a bit bland and one-note.
It ultimately comes back to the issue of tone - a lot of the movies Marvel Studios has produced over the past couple of years have managed to carry varying degrees of similar pulpy tonal beats that help them feel familiar regardless of the actual content. For the most part it's easy to ignore because it keeps in line with what audiences have come to expect, and from what I've seen it's when that tone and expectations desynch that the movie tends to suffer (Age of Ultron, Dr. Strange, the more serious parts of Thor Ragnarok, etc.)
That said, Marvel's been starting to improve, slowly but surely. GotG 2 was mostly a retread of the first but had a well done villain in Ego. Spider-Man Homecoming similarly managed to craft an exceptionally new Vulture and actually revealed a bit of the MCU's underbelly in the process. Thor Ragnarok cranked up the comedy and coated itself with a unique 80s retro aesthetic and sound. And now we have Black Panther, which, if what I've heard is true, is a whole new beast altogether.
That said, Marvel's been starting to improve, slowly but surely. GotG 2 was mostly a retread of the first but had a well done villain in Ego. Spider-Man Homecoming similarly managed to craft an exceptionally new Vulture and actually revealed a bit of the MCU's underbelly in the process. Thor Ragnarok cranked up the comedy and coated itself with a unique 80s retro aesthetic and sound. And now we have Black Panther, which, if what I've heard is true, is a whole new beast altogether.
You do know what X-24 stood for in the film, right? Putting any other Wolverine character there wouldn't make sense, because the movie was all about Wolverine coming to terms that he isn't the guy he used to be. Having the final Wolverine's final obstacle be a literal representation of his past self was like shouting "DO YOU GET IT?". Apparently some people still didn't get it.
Opinions, preferences. Plus, superhero movies seem a lot less special when you get 5 year on top of all the other blockbuster, they kind of just blend together.
I didn't even like two of the movies you recommended OP.
Thor 3 was good shit though.
I didn't even like two of the movies you recommended OP.
Thor 3 was good shit though.