Jack Attack Tuesday – Superheroes Aren’t That Cool Anymore
Jack Attack Tuesday
Superheroes Aren’t That Cool Anymore
Well, I think we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Hollywood loves to imitate the most popular thing, then flood the market with it until saturation has hit its peak. Well, for me, I think we’re there. At this point, I don’t anticipate new superhero flicks because I either A. Don’t give a shit about the characters involved, B. Know Marvel will do a good job and see it when I see it or C. Complain about how it was already done before. I’m not saying these movies aren’t going to continue being profitable, but I am saying I’m getting to the point where I can’t deal with them anymore.
You see, I caught a flick last night called Kingsman: The Secret Service, and I enjoyed the fuck out of it. I never read the comics it was based on, I think I might have seen one trailer, and yet it set the bar for action films for the year. Kingsman, which I give a solid 8/10, has balls, and it has a well-deserved R-rating because it takes chances and doesn’t pull punches in favor of showing you more of the same. Sure, the flick has some elements of plot devices and moments we’ve seen variations of before, but for the most part I loved the flick and what it did, which was the catalyst for writing this article. I doubt we’ll ever see the type of carnage shown during the church fight scene in any comic book film, let alone Marvel’s series, and that’s a shame because the schtick is wearing out fast.
You know, one thing I don’t hear enough about the Marvel movies is where they don’t do as well. Everyone loves to gloat about how Captain America: The Winter Soldier was an espionage thriller set in the world of superheroes, but I feel like everyone glosses over the fact that despite being named in the title of the film, the Winter Soldier himself was really underwhelming. His character is moderately interesting but the actor playing him did nothing to enhance the performance. Also, his main action beats were no more than the typical shit we’ve seen since The Dark Knight. His introduction and subsequent destruction of Nick Fury’s truck in particular was, to me, eerily similar to Joker staring down Batman on the Batpod. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the movie overall, but when looked at in comparison to all the other Marvel films that are coming out, and have come out, it’s difficult not to look around and say “Haven’t we seen this before?”.
Guardians seemed to be the exception, for a time. You had a ragtag bunch of outlaws and bandits coming together to save the world, or a world, rather. Chris Pratt proved that Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t the only snarky hero the Marvel universe could handle, and the emotional ties were outstanding, better than any other Marvel movie has done thus far. But even here, Guardians is little more than a reworking of Star Wars, which is both good and bad. It’s good because it works, and Star Wars was a product of its influences as well. It’s bad because, well, I hate to say it but Star Wars did indeed do it better. Again, I still loved Guardians as a popcorn flick, but these movies need to move away from the “Get the thing that the bad guys want, stop them via air-battle!” plot contrivance, and Guardians is just as guilty as the others.
The thing that showed me more than anything else how jaded I’ve become to these movies was the trailer for Ant-Man. Ant-Man had such promise when Edgar Wright was still on board, but the trailer they released looked very been-there, done-that. I like Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, but this just looked like more of the lame-same. Oh, ok, he can shrink, that’s cool…but what else is this story about? You see, these stories hinge on the origin of the super hero. According to the trailer we see, Paul Rudd has a daughter, he’s in and out of prison and he’s probably a loser, and getting into this suit will help him become a man. Really? That’s the best you’ve got, Marvel? Iron Man 3 was pretty ingenious shit because they took the suit away and focused on Tony Stark, doing something both different and innovative. I wish more of the Marvel flicks took those kinds of chances, rather than try to reinvigorate old characters that probably won’t be as good as they were the first time around…
(Minus Spider Man 3, that movie sucks)
That’s it for this week. Check out the podcasts and, as always, Binge On!