Ridley Scott Is Now The Latest Big Director To Rip Into Superhero Movies
"They’re f**king boring as sh*t."
Acclaimed film director Ridley Scott has taken aim at superhero movies for being boring in an interview for his upcoming films, The Last Duel and House of Gucci.
The 84-year-old director was asked by Deadline for his opinion on superhero films. “Almost always, the best films are driven by the characters,” Scott said, speaking generally to films that attempt to compellingly portray single battles, “and we’ll come to superheroes after this if you want because I’ll crush it. I’ll fucking crush it. They’re fucking boring as shit,” he said.
Ridley Scott says “their scripts are not any fucking good… they’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories?… They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects.”
(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/yc7Qx30GPG
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 13, 2021
When asked to elaborate, Scott continued. “Their scripts are not any fucking good,” he said. “I think I’ve done three great scripted superhero movies. One would be Alien with Sigourney Weaver. One would be fucking Gladiator, and one would be Harrison Ford [Blade Runner]…They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories?
“They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects if you’ve got the money,” Scott finished. It’s worth noting that Ridley Scott isn’t the only big-time Hollywood director with strong opinions on superhero films.
Back in 2019, Martin Scorsese shared his opinion that Marvel movies are not cinema. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being,” Scorsese told Indiewire.
Very weird seeing people trying to “gotcha” 83 year old Ridley Scott who has revolutionised the genres of both; sci-fi with films like Blade Runner, Alien and Prometheus and historic period dramas with Gladiator and most recently The Last Duel in defence of the MCU.
— Danielle (@danielleloucamp) November 14, 2021
On Scorsese’s heels, Dune director Denis Villeneuve also expressed concern that Marvel films are zombifying audiences. “Perhaps the problem is that we are in front of too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a “cut and paste” of others. Perhaps these types of movies have turned us into zombies a bit,” he told El Mundo.
One has to wonder, which beloved film bro filmmaker will strike out against the scourge of superhero films next? Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock’s corpse will sound off about the lack of cinematography in Venom: Let There Be Carnage in the near future. We can only hope.