Not So Super

I’ve always been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy genres. Although there are common themes between these I have always veered closer to the sci-fi element than fantasy but I find much to enjoy in both. When I was growing up there wasn’t that much of it on TV or at the cinema so when something new came along I would always lap it up, regardless of how ropy the story, acting, direction or special effects were. These days it seems to be the driving force behind the cinema but I can’t help but feel that I am more often than not disappointed by the films that come out. I often put this down to being “bored with explosions” – essentially having to wade through hours of aimless action sequences to try and decipher the wafer thin plot and clunky characterisation but I’m actually starting to wonder if the real problem is something else: I really can’t be bothered with superheroes.

I’m not even sure if that is the case as there are many superhero films that I could watch time and again. However, these increasingly seem to be in the minority and I end up approaching any film adapted from DC or Marvel comics with great trepidation. It’s difficult to exactly place what alienates me about the genre but it feels like very lazy plotting that any threat or conflict that is thrown up is merely blitzed out of existence by whatever supernatural or technological power that our protagonist has been blessed with. Just for once, couldn’t they keep the atomic death-ray vision to one side and actually do something a bit intelligent instead?

There are superhero adaptations that I have really enjoyed and a common feature of these films is that the possession or acquisition of superpowers is secondary to the voyage of personal discovery that the lead character has to make. Batman Begins was a great example of this as the central character’s misadventures as a techno-vigilante are merely a backdrop to the exploration of Bruce Wayne’s loss of his parents, longing for a surrogate father figure, confronting his inner fears and searching for some meaning into his life. Maybe it’s foundation films that are worth watching because I can recall I enjoyed the first Spiderman and X-Men films as well but by the time it came the third in the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises, I ‘d rather lost interest in the franchise despite the rave reviews and the next film, Batman v Superman to be released later this year, strikes me as a truly idiotic concept purely devised to extract money from fans of the earlier films.

It is just possible that I’m not the right demographic for these films. I like to have some sort of intellectual concept behind my films and many of my favourites are either light on action sequences or push the effects to the background in favour of asking the big philosophical questions or exposing the raw emotions of the human condition. That’s not to say that I can’t enjoy a big action fantasy film. I took Raymond to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it that much as I hadn’t been very impressed with the first two Hobbit adaptations but I actually rather liked it - mainly by taking it at face value as a straight forward war film rather than as the fantasy adventure that it purported to be. Maybe that would be a better angle for the superhero films: ignore the high concept stuff altogether and stick to what they do best – fist fights and things that go bang.