Why I Don't Rave Superhero Movies Anymore

Why I Don't Rave Superhero Movies Anymore

By: Erreh Svaia

“Now, see, I haven’t read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen. I hate superheroes. I think they’re abominations. They don’t mean what they used to mean. They were originally in the hands of writers who would actively expand the imagination of their nine- to 13-year-old audience. That was completely what they were meant to do and they were doing it excellently. These days, superhero comics think the audience is certainly not nine to 13, it’s nothing to do with them. It’s an audience largely of 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-year old men, usually men.”

Alan Moore

A writing on this matter was posted by me a couple of months ago, but it seems that with every new superhero movie that appears, the controversy rises again, in the end you now that a great book, or a great comic is no guarantee of a great movie, in fact the better the book, the least possible that it comes as a movie, as condensing the book into 90 minutes might mean killing the chicken that puts golden eggs.

But now, this little controversy achieves laughable dimensions when people start to discuss about the "depth" of a movie like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, against the supposed superficiality of Deadpool, the truth must be said, both movies have been enormously popular, but mostly thanks to marketing campaigns rather than for artistic quality, you can't deny Zack Snyder proved experience directing comic book based movies like The Watchmen and 300, great comics books, by Alan Moore and Frank Miller respectively, but somehow not so satisfying enough movies, despite the stunning visuals, again, resuming a great comic book into 90 minutes is a huge mistake.

Snyder now has in his hands every child´s dream of creating his own story with the two major DC Comics characters, Batman and Superman, yes, it might be a child's dream, but you just can't call the movie an exercise on comic book depth when you have movies like Sin City, V for Vendetta or the aforementioned 300 and The Watchmen, which were definitely flawed but way more close to the original books, but truly if what you really want is depth, don't look for depth on a Hollywood movie, whose only merit is collecting money, is not an art movie, is a commercial movie whose only purpose is to entertain, it might be based on the successfully Frank Miller´s story for Batman “The Dark Night Returns” it´s definitely grim, but not so as Miller´s masterwork.

Those looking got depth should look for the highest peak of comic book evolution in the hands and minds of writers like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller or Grant Morrison, true artists who have taken the comic book genre from the hands of the legendary Stan Lee, into an art form, baptized as a graphic novel capable to appealing and challenge the mind and intellect of an adult.

But again, if you still love comic books and movies, just like I do, look for real attempts at capturing true character studies within the superhero realm, like the daring Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan, or Birdman by Jorge G. Iñárritu for a truly deep superhero challenging movie, or look for TV Series like Daredevil, with greatly developed characters like Kingpin on the first season or The Punisher in the second one, Daredevil, a great comic book and a favorite of mine, a failed movie starred by Ben Affleck, a lucky guy who now plays Batman and one we should be better asking now not to go near superheroes anymore, despite being a great movie director with great works like Argos.

I'm still looking for my dream TV Series on superheroes, featuring the most grossly overvalued superhero of all, Superman, but within today's context, watching a villain becoming a president of the world's most powerful nation (Think about Trump, for example, or Putin), and considering that Kevin Spacey has already played Lex Luthor, Superman's nemesis, and also a Machiavellian politician seizing power on House of Cards, this is almost an impossible dream, but one that could work, if it’s about to be done one day, give me some credit for the idea.