MCU Movies = for kids?

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So, I generally like superhero movies. I really liked Logan, I really liked the Dark Knight Trilogy, I liked V for Vendetta, I liked some X-Men movies, etc...

Naturally, I would really like to enjoy the enormous amount of movies made as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Especially due to the absolutely mad critical reception and fan reception they receive...

However, when I watch the movies, I can't help but feel that I'm watching children's movies. There is basically no story and there is very limited wisdom behind the story there is. This, of course, wouldn't be a problem if I found the movie entertaining in other ways. For example, if I liked the action. But the action is extremely censored and nonbrutal, I feel like watching one of those old Ninja Turtle cartoons in which they jump toward their enemies, swords raised, only to kick the enemy so it doesn't become too brutal with lost limbs... What's more, I like a good fantasy fight, I don't mind the wild fights in Matrix, the wars in Lord of the Rings, the duels in Star Wars, etc... But this all just seems too chaotic. Big green guy jumping around, guy growing and shrinking, guy with wings, guy with arrows, blue latex guy with a shield, flying robot armor guy, etc... It's so chaotic that it feels damn near insulting to me. As if to make kids think "wooow, all of the superheroes are going wild at once!!" (by wild, they basically mean "as violent as a cartoon")...

What's more, the jokes are bad and the dialogue is... well... non-interesting? The villains are boring, there is very limited character development and it feels like one big insult to the viewers.

Now, I do not know of any educated or mature people (except one) who enjoy these movies, but they're rated extremely high by both critics and fans, so yeah... What's your take on this?

BTW; looking forward to Venom, R-rated is the way to go.



Master of My Domain
I'm not the biggest fanboy of MCU films, but I don't think they deserve such disparaging remarks. Occasionally, I find memorable bits of creativity thrown into the action sequences. For example, the climatic bridge fight in Thor: Ragnarok, which also featured Led Zeppelin's The Immigrant Song, felt exhilarating, fresh, and made think, "Wow, that must have took some balls to pull off." But here's the kicker: without the financial security an MCU entry brings, that scene would have probably been scrapped. So while MCU films can be a bit inane at times, I think they are a great outlet for talented writers and directors.

One more thing: I actually think the need for a family-friendly atmosphere leads to creative and funny set pieces. Writers can't just gruesomely kill off a character, so they let Hulk bash Loki into a building floor multiple times, for example. Batman v. Superman, on the other hand, felt tiresome. Why? Because while the film is more 'mature', it lacked the joy a film about, I dunno, Batman fighting Superman could have potentially brought.
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I'm not the biggest fanboy of MCU films, but I don't think they deserve such disparaging remarks. Occasionally, I find memorable bits of creativity thrown into the action sequences. For example, the climatic bridge fight in Thor: Ragnarok, which also featured Led Zeppelin's The Immigrant Song, felt exhilarating, fresh, and made think, "Wow, that must have took some balls to pull off." But here's the kicker: without the financial security an MCU entry brings, that scene would have probably been scrapped. So while MCU films can be a bit inane at times, I think they are a great outlet for talented writers and directors.

One more thing: I actually think the need for a family-friendly atmosphere leads to creative and funny set pieces. Writers can't just gruesomely kill off a character, so they let Hulk bash Loki into a building floor multiple times, for example. Batman v. Superman, on the other hand, felt tiresome. Why? Because while the film is more 'mature', it lacked the joy a film about, I dunno, Batman fighting Superman could have potentially brought.
I wasn't too impressed by Batman vs. Superman, but I do admit that I enjoyed it more than any MCU movie... Yeah, the "Martha!" scene was kind of stupid and I hated senator Finch with her stupid "piss or tea" example, but at least the movie had some great action, wasn't overloaded with colorful guys in childish costumes and it generally had a much cooler tone to it. Oh, and a Superman movie will always have that one points down for me, unless they start giving him a mask... It's so stupid that no one recognizes him.

I think Logan and the Dark Knight are examples that MCU should (hopefully) learn from in the future. Seen the Daredevil Netflix series? It's a great series and I hope that MCU will keep making such content later on (Iron Fist and, to a lesser degree Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, was quite a drastic fall from Daredevil's glory)...



the action is extremely censored and nonbrutal,
One of the things I was slightly disappointed by in X-Men: First Class was the sanitised violence in the South America scene. The earlier scene in the bank held back a lot less. Sometimes I do think if Erik's angry then let him be angry. I could say the same about X-Men Apocalypse:

WARNING: spoilers below
…and its Magneto v Apocalypse battle – I wanted it to be a lot more violent and dynamic, as briefly entertaining as it was. However I do get the idea that Erik's powers come from sitting between two emotional extremes, which seems to be why Michael Fassbender often plays him in that quite detached-looking state.


BTW; looking forward to Venom, R-rated is the way to go.
Me too – I like the look of it . And I think Tom Hardy's going to add a great deal to its success.



Master of My Domain
I think Logan and the Dark Knight are examples that MCU should (hopefully) learn from in the future. Seen the Daredevil Netflix series? It's a great series and I hope that MCU will keep making such content later on (Iron Fist and, to a lesser degree Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, was quite a drastic fall from Daredevil's glory)...
Unfortunately I haven't seen the Daredevil series; I am admittedly not too keen on TV. I might check it out sometime, though I do have prejudice against heroes with an unappealing name and goofy aesthetic.



I'd say they're for everyone, which makes them generally less interesting than cinema that isn't work shopped and means tested and carefully calculated. Winter Soldier is my favorite precisely because it appeals to my specific upbringing with 90s action flicks and pays homage to a bygone genre. I think kids overwhelming enjoy Marvel mostly because they haven't been exposed to alternatives.
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Unfortunately I haven't seen the Daredevil series; I am admittedly not too keen on TV. I might check it out sometime, though I do have prejudice against heroes with an unappealing name and goofy aesthetic.
The Punisher worked out well though .



One of the things I was slightly disappointed by in X-Men: First Class was the sanitised violence in the South America scene. The earlier scene in the bank held back a lot less. Sometimes I do think if Erik's angry then let him be angry. I could say the same about X-Men Apocalypse:

WARNING: spoilers below
…and its Magneto v Apocalypse battle – I wanted it to be a lot more violent and dynamic, as briefly entertaining as it was. However I do get the idea that Erik's powers come from sitting between two emotional extremes, which seems to be why Michael Fassbender often plays him in that quite detached-looking state.




Me too – I like the look of it . And I think Tom Hardy's going to add a great deal to its success.
I really liked Xmen 1, Xmen 2, The Wolverine (the Japan one, not the origin story) and most of all Logan. I could actually take them seriously, as just straight out good movies, not just "good for superhero movies". But the rest of the Xmen movies just didn't capture me in the same way... The Quicksilver slowmotion scenes, the Beast's weird look (Mystique was forgivable), etc., it was just not as good an experience as the previous ones and the Wolverine/Logan.

And yeah, Venom is exciting. Just the kind of superhero movie we need.



I really liked Xmen 1, Xmen 2, The Wolverine (the Japan one, not the origin story) and most of all Logan. I could actually take them seriously, as just straight out good movies, not just "good for superhero movies". But the rest of the Xmen movies just didn't capture me in the same way... The Quicksilver slowmotion scenes, the Beast's weird look (Mystique was forgivable), etc., it was just not as good an experience as the previous ones and the Wolverine/Logan.

And yeah, Venom is exciting. Just the kind of superhero movie we need.
The Beast look was a bit of a disaster in First Class. I always got the impression Beast was supposed to be physically big as well – Kelsey Grammer's version of course was more like that. They made his jumps in Apocalypse very obviously done with wires as well which was shocking.

They lost me with Days of Future Past – too much science fiction too soon I think. It didn't seem like the film that should have followed First Class, which I really liked.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
For illegit normies, yes.
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Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
One thing I don't understand is how come everyone hates the 2003 Daredevil movie? I thought it was a decent and perhaps better than average superhero movie, and do not understand all the hate it gets.



One thing I don't understand is how come everyone hates the 2003 Daredevil movie? I thought it was a decent and perhaps better than average superhero movie, and do not understand all the hate it gets.
I liked it .



One thing I don't understand is how come everyone hates the 2003 Daredevil movie? I thought it was a decent and perhaps better than average superhero movie, and do not understand all the hate it gets.
I think it was an okay movie. 7/10. Flawed, but definitely entertaining.
The hatred is gets is ridicolous, especially when you consider that certain Marvel movies are met with love despite being far worse than Daredevil... Spider-Man Homecoming, anyone?



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
I think Marvel movies have taken a dive with the MCU actually, because superheroes are interesting when the story can concentrate solely on them and their stories. By throwing a whole group into the pot and just keep adding more and more characters, the quality suffers I feel and the last great Marvel movie was probably the first Iron Man in my opinion. There was a little MCU in there which could have been taken out, but it wasn't much.

The Amazing Spider-man was (2012), was pretty good as well, and even though it gets a lot of bashing, at least it was a straight up superhero story on it's own, without any MCU in it.



The best superhero film is The Toxic Avenger


Or if I had to go with an actual comic book based superhero film id go with Tim Burtons Batman films. I liked tge Sam Rami Spiderman moview when I was younger but I doubt id be impressed ifI watched them again. Most of these MCU films just bore me.



Welcome to the human race...
So, I generally like superhero movies. I really liked Logan, I really liked the Dark Knight Trilogy, I liked V for Vendetta, I liked some X-Men movies, etc...
Considering the more ambiguous approach that the source comic took, I don't think I'd consider V for Vendetta a superhero story (and for the movie to paint V as such seems to do the comic a disservice).

However, when I watch the movies, I can't help but feel that I'm watching children's movies. There is basically no story and there is very limited wisdom behind the story there is. This, of course, wouldn't be a problem if I found the movie entertaining in other ways. For example, if I liked the action. But the action is extremely censored and nonbrutal, I feel like watching one of those old Ninja Turtle cartoons in which they jump toward their enemies, swords raised, only to kick the enemy so it doesn't become too brutal with lost limbs... What's more, I like a good fantasy fight, I don't mind the wild fights in Matrix, the wars in Lord of the Rings, the duels in Star Wars, etc... But this all just seems too chaotic. Big green guy jumping around, guy growing and shrinking, guy with wings, guy with arrows, blue latex guy with a shield, flying robot armor guy, etc... It's so chaotic that it feels damn near insulting to me. As if to make kids think "wooow, all of the superheroes are going wild at once!!" (by wild, they basically mean "as violent as a cartoon")...

What's more, the jokes are bad and the dialogue is... well... non-interesting? The villains are boring, there is very limited character development and it feels like one big insult to the viewers.
I mean...they are kids' movies (or at least accessible to all ages, PG-13 ratings notwithstanding). What matters is that they're competently-made and I don't think "brutality" is the best measure of a film's quality as there's got to at least be some semblance of a point for it to matter (which is part of why the recent DC movies were so heavily criticised). That being said, the "chaotic" nature of certain sequences is certainly a fault that plagues more than a few of these movies.

Now, I do not know of any educated or mature people (except one) who enjoy these movies, but they're rated extremely high by both critics and fans, so yeah... What's your take on this?
Am I to infer that you don't consider professional critics to be educated, mature people? In any case, you can always try digging up their positive reviews via Rotten Tomatoes and seeing if they actually have some genuine analytical insight into what makes the films genuinely worthy of critical acclaim beyond just the usual superficial "I liked the action" kind of praise.

BTW; looking forward to Venom, R-rated is the way to go.
I don't think they'd automatically become better movies if they went R-rated, especially since the common thread I've noticed among R-rated superhero movies is how much they all work really hard (perhaps too hard) to distance themselves from the kid-friendly image of superheroes and often in a way that ultimately isn't any more mature or intelligent just because it's more violent or whatever (especially when it comes to the self-aware semi-parodies of Kick-Ass and Deadpool that are quick to point out the flaws in superhero narratives while also playing them annoyingly straight). I don't think Venom is shaping up to be any better for precisely that reason - it looks like it learned all the wrong lessons from "dark" superhero movies.

I think Logan and the Dark Knight are examples that MCU should (hopefully) learn from in the future. Seen the Daredevil Netflix series? It's a great series and I hope that MCU will keep making such content later on (Iron Fist and, to a lesser degree Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, was quite a drastic fall from Daredevil's glory)...
Exactly what lessons should they learn, though?
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From my own point of view, The MCU is really a mix.
Yes, they are high-production glossy, colourful CGI kids movies.
And I can see the OP's point on how the violence is toned back to the TMNT thing he mentioned.
I can see that...


... but, there are scenes that are a bit more than just kid friendly.


They have death, destruction, and there are scenes with limbs being ripped off... albeit with the actual removal of limbs being off-camera.
The whole point being: If you show the head, arm, leg, whatever, being removed in slow motion and in extreme close up, you may as well stick to watching crap like Hostel or one of the 27,000 Saw sequels.


There's been a couple miss-hits.
Thor Ragnarok is super fun, but is basically a remake of Guardians Of The Galaxy... and the first two Thor movies were weak as hell.
Black Panther was boring.
The Incredible Hulk was a CGI mess and Edward Norton is a total tool as well.
The rest though I will say, are cleverly toned, and, apart from a couple continuity issues they're very well written to intertwine with each other and lead into Infinity War. Which is the whole point of the MCU. They work together, and lead to bigger things.


Not a fan, but after giving them a go, yeah, I do like them... and the series in itself made movie history, which I respect.



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I don't get why a lot of moviegoers want R rated Marvel movies.

An R movie that is based off a comic book movie for KIDS, is like having a PG-13 Sesame Street movie.



I think I get what he's saying about an R rating being a good choice for Venom because he's been a violent character and not for kids though he started in Spider-Man comics, which have normally been for all ages. The same could apply to Wolverine, who has claws for weapons.
But I think there's been too much of a push for "realistic" violence in superhero movies and comics when that's not what superheroes are about. If you like that sort of thing, there are other movies that have it.
I think "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Daredevil" are better than they've been credit, too.