I must have watched the movie Jaws a couple of dozen times over the nearly half century since it first came out in theaters. It’s a great movie, well worth watching so many times.
By contrast, I watched the latest Spider Man (No Way Home) for only the second time last night…and I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it was because I’d seen it on a plane the first time. More than likely though, it was because it was so unmemorable that I didn’t remember how bad it really was.
Let’s all say it out loud – Marvel movies, especially lately, are actually awful. The only thing memorable about them is how ridiculous they are. But I suppose one should expect that. Look at the classics like Jurassic Park. That whole franchise has been on a downward decline since credits rolled on movie one. Star Wars showed promise in that the entire first trilogy was actually quite good. But lately? Oh my. The shine is off the apple, and no amount of razzle-dazzle is going to put it back. And certainly no amount of cheap tricks like inventing unlimited possibilities through such a ridiculous concept as the “multiverse” is going to help either. “Dear Marvel: It doesn’t matter what universe you’re in, it’s all trite and predictable.”
I can’t say though. Maybe we’re seeing a tie-in with the rise of young-adult fiction – movies that come out in a series like Twilight and The Hunger Games. A generation of young writers weaned on this stuff are simply unable to come up with anything fresh or thoughtful, and it’s showing in their movies. I count myself as fortunate. I got to grow up with the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. And Stanley Kubrick, for crying out loud! Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket. He’s all over the place good.
Now we get…whoever it is who directs Marvel movies. I honestly couldn’t pick them or their work out of a lineup if my life depended on it.
Makes me want to watch Jaws.