Marvel Studios flicks are soulless cash cows.

(Prepare for a "stop liking what I don't like" diatribe)

Marvel Studios movies can be fun to pass the time, but they're absolutely soulless and trivial. RDJ's the only one you ever care about, and I really think that just thanks to his charisma. He himself is entertaining and relatable. But i can't remember actually getting emotionally invested at any point. Plug a different actor in and that script doesn't hold it up.

I applaud the X-Men (and, as flawed as it is, even the new Spiderman series) movies for at least pushing me to feel something/giving their characters some complexity.

Cash cows. Oh yeah. Soul less? No. I care about RDJ's Iron Man, I care about Scarlett Johanson as Black Widow, I care about Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Loki is an amazing villain and the Guardians of the Galaxy are all really cool and fun. And they stay pretty damn close to the comics in terms of the look of the characters and the feel of this being a comic book universe. Which I can not say as much for the other two franchises of X-Men and Spider Man.

And as for the new non Sam Raimi Spider Man movies the last one had a lot of the same failings as Spider Man 3. Too many villains crammed in and WAY too many sub plots.

And while I still like the majority of the X-Men movies, I still prefer the Marvel Studios movies.

Then again I freely admit I am a huge Marvel fanboy.

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I get what you are trying to say, however 'soulless' is a wrong word to express it.

Nope, can't agree to Soulless. To be honest, I care more about Captain America because for the first time outside of a few comics, he's interesting. I always found him boring. That's not the case anymore. I'm also interested to see Ruffalo's Hulk more than I am other versions of Hulk because he has got invested in Bruce Banner more than I had been in the previous Hulk films. They may be cash cows, but it's not like they aren't trying and succeeding in making Interesting characters with talented actors to make them work as well as they can. What's more, Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most fun films I have seen in a while and they did a great job making me like all the characters.

This is basically what I was gunning to say.

In addition to their fantastic job with their characters - and their eerliy spot-on ability to pick exactly the right creative talent for the movies that they're making, - they have shown remarkable flexibility with their films genre and aesthetic. Captain America: The First Avenger is a WWII historical drama about a kid from Brooklyn just wanting to do his part for the War effort: basically Band of Brothers with Steve Rogers and the Red Skull. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, however, is a Cold War-styled espionage film wrappd in post 9/11 paranoia. When making the film, they purposely modelled it after All the King's Men, because that is simply Rogers' story in the 21st century..

The Incredible Hulk is a few shades away from being an old Universal monster movie - as much about horror as it is about action (or at least nearly so). Guardians of the Galaxy is an epic sci-fi film that owes as much to Star Wars as it does to Firefly, while Thor and its sequel delve into a unique sci-fi / fantasy blend. The Iron Man trilogy is an action-comedy threesome that's honestly the closest thing to a strait action film in the series outside of The Avengers

If it were simply a soulless cash cow, they would be applying a mismatched aesthetic to a franchise simply because it found success in a similar film, like Man of Steel. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, but it looked and felt like the fourth Dark Knight movie, not a Superman one.

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Of course they are. But is that really a surprise?

Originally Posted by mlaturno

(Prepare for a "stop liking what I don't like" diatribe)

Marvel Studios movies can be fun to pass the time, but they're absolutely soulless and trivial....

Well then, stop watching them.

I agree... Not enough lament. We just shrug and say, "that's just the way things are" instead of using our anger for better art.

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Are we gonna act like Marvel Studio flicks aren't a little overrated?

No, because well, they're not.

Agreed. Marvel has earned every shred of critical and popular praise that they've received off of a consistantly high-quality product made by a group of incredibly talented individuals.

I agree

Yeh, pretty much. They are ok for passing the time though.

The first five minutes of Guardians of the Galaxy has more soul than every Michael Bay film, every Fast Furious film, and Avatar combined. So, no.

Disclaimer: I compared those particular films to a Marvel film because they're all cut from the same blockbuster cloth. I, unlike some people, prefer to compare apples to apples.

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I think most Superhero movies are destined to be this way, seeing as they're hoping to cash in on the popularity of the character.

Much like most movies based on video games suck. There's more incentive to put effort into your work when you're creating an original character and setting, than when you know millions of people will watch the film based on the title alone.

I want to hate them but some of them are quite good.

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Did you notice the highest grossing superhero movie is a Marvel movie? The Avengers made even more than The Dark Knight, which is widely considered the best superhero film ever made. I personally like The Dark Knight better myself, but I think The Avengers more than deserves the credit it gets.

Was it good though, or did it just sell well? I tend not to trust RT too much - I'll probably end up giving it a watch.

I wouldn't say it's just "Marvel" who's the cash cow (as I mentioned above) - I think what with the critical success of the Dark Knight trilogy people are forgetting DC's f'ups (Batman and Robin anyone)? And while I haven't seen any of the Superman films, I haven't heard much great about them either.

Avengers was fantastic in my opinion. That and The Dark Knight are the only superhero movies I have in my top 10.

Avengers was better than the average - IMO it wasn't in the same level as Dark Knight - not to mention the way they defeat Loki was silly, almost "Independence Day silly" - I won't spoil it for others but it relied on the villain making an incredibly stupid screwup.