Ridley Scott is the next director up to bat when it comes to absolutely shredding run-of-the-mill superhero films (without naming any names). In a recent interview with Deadline, the House Of Gucci director let his thoughts on the current age of hero flicks loose.
“The best films are driven by the characters, 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,” Scott recently told Deadline in an interview, adding, “[Superhero movie] scripts are not any fucking good.”
When looking back on his career, Scott would say he’s made “three great scripted superhero movies… One would be Alien with Sigourney Weaver. One would be fucking Gladiator, and one would be Harrison Ford [in Blade Runner]. They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories?”
Scott continues, “Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, come on. [Superhero movies] are mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects, if you’ve got the money.”
When it comes to superhero movies, Scott would rather rely on substance and subverting audience expectations as seen in Blade Runner.
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“Harrison Ford was one superhero but everyone was confused because he got the shit beaten out of him at the end by the other superhero, who they thought was the bad guy, but turned out to be a good guy. I think that’s pretty cool,” Scott says.
Scott’s far from the first major director to look down upon superhero films over the last couple of years, even if they have directed one themselves. In July, The Suicide Squad director James Gunn called comic book-based films “dumb” and “boring,” despite doing press for one he made at the time.
When penning a New York Times op-ed last year, revered director Martin Scorsese called Marvel films low-brow art with no “revelation, mystery, or genuine emotional danger.” He even dared say that they aren’t “cinema.”
And who could ever forget Watchmen creator Alan Moore saying, “[Superhero movies] have blighted cinema, and also blighted culture to a degree,” calling audiences big ol’ babies for lining up to watch something originally intended for children.
*Begins slamming hands on a table while chanting “Who’s next?”*