In 2019, acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese criticized the MCU, saying that “Marvel movies aren’t cinema.” This comment sparked outrage amongst fans, claiming that the director was being way too harsh, offering that he has a “boomer mentality” in regards to filmmaking, interpreting his comment as “old is good, and new is bad.”
Reviews for Marvel’s newest title, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, aren’t something worth praising as the film is tied with Eternals as only the second Rotten installment on Rotten Tomatoes . So thanks to this all-new low, was Scorsese right about the MCU? Are superhero films not as great as they used to be?
What did Scorsese say?
In the 2019 New York Times op-ed article, Scorsese claimed that he’s watched a few Marvel films and decided that it was not for him. He saw these movies more as “theme parks” rather than a visually artistic medium. In the end, he thought Marvel films were created differently, compared to the classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
“I’ve tried to watch a few of them and that they’re not for me, that they seem to me to be closer to theme parks than they are to movies as I’ve known and loved them throughout my life, and that in the end, I don’t think they’re cinema…
“… In the past 20 years, as we all know, the movie business has changed on all fronts. But the most ominous change has happened stealthily and under cover of night: the gradual but steady elimination of risk. Many films today are perfect products manufactured for immediate consumption.”
Scorsese has a point. Marvel films were made to entertain. In the end, it’s a product that needs to be marketed to a wider mainstream audience.
The critics think the ride is over
Looking at what critics said about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, out of the over 300 reviews the film received, it only has a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 47 percent. Claims were made that it was poorly written (Channel Awesome via YouTube), felt lackluster (Wall Street Journal), and was seen as one of “the worst Marvel movie” to date (BBC). Meanwhile, Australian newspaper, The Australian, believed that the superhero genre “has passed its use-by date.”
All these harsh words mean one thing, that the ride is over and the high that we felt after watching Avengers: Endgame could no longer be obtained. These films felt samey and mediocre that they’re not as epic as they used to be. But then, one may argue that these critics are also “old geezers” who may have the same mindset as the filmmaker. But these are professionals who watched multiple movies as a career. So if they think that superhero cinema overstayed its welcome, it may be something worth considering thinking about.
Audience says otherwise
While movie snobs like to believe that the hype for the superhero era has flown away to the horizon, the audience thinks otherwise. The average audience score for Ant-Man 3 was 84 percent from over 5000 reviews on RT. Fans believed that it was a perfect start to introduce the new threat in the MCU, Jonathan Majors was perfectly cast to play the newest big bad, and it was a fun comic book movie. There was also an audience review that mentioned that their children aged between 6 to 13 years had a blast watching.
So if superhero films are being compared to theme parks, we need to remember who the target audience is. They both attract children and adults who are a child at heart. Yes, they’re made to entertain, but that’s the point. We’re watching a universe grow and expand and audiences are able to learn more about their favorite characters. At the same time, it’s an escape from reality.
Kevin Feige believes superhero films are here to stay
Scorsese believes films are an art form and should convey emotions, mystique, and some sort of complexity between the characters and the world they live in. That’s what makes those movies successful and get them nominated for awards. This is in contrast to what Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige thinks about the genre.
While one may argue that he’s saying these things because it’s his job and livelihood, it’s also a fun reminder that he’s been working with Marvel for over 20 years, long before the Disney acquisition. Feige believes what hooks the audience is the franchise’s story and that since the MCU is based on comic books, there are different ways to tell the story of these heroes.
“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together. From probably my second year at Marvel, people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?’
“I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me, it was akin to saying after ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ‘Well, how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?’ You would never ask that because there’s an inherent understanding among most people that a book can be anything. A novel can have any type of story whatsoever. So it all depends on what story you’re translating. Non-comic readers don’t understand that it’s the same thing in comics.”
Despite the MCU’s recently low ratings, it shouldn’t overshadow the recent wins Marvel Studios has received. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was recently nominated for five Oscars, marking it the latest MCU film to get recognition by the Academy. Sure, it’s not a Best Picture contender, but the talents of the cast and crew are finally being recognized.
Before superheroes made it to the screen, their stories were told through radio, leaving the visuals through the listener’s imagination. The fact that there is still an audience out there for the genre just shows that there are people out there who still enjoy the medium.
One thing to note is that film is subjective, and that everyone has different opinions about the art form. For Scorsese, he sees it as something artistic and wants his films to be more than just “consumption.” Others view it as something fun, entertaining, and an escape, as well as a new interpretation of the heroes that they’ve known and loved. They want to see their favorite celebrities play out these characters with a passion, and learn more about what the charracters do outside of fighting crime.
If we disregard the writing that Phase Four offered, fans agreed that Marvel’s recent titles had the most artistic, cinematic, and emotionally driven cinematography compared to its predecessors, something that Scorsese was unable to recognize back in 2019. Then again, Phase Four began after the op-ed, so perhaps Marvel Studios took the filmmaker’s criticism and used it to its advantage.
In the end, there is still an audience for the genre. Critics may think the ride is over, but for the fans, it only has begun. Phase five has only started, and it’s up to the rest of the slate to pick up the pace.