There’s nothing like a good Marvel or DC movie to bring out a person’s inner comic book fan, and typically people get pretty hyped about dipping their toes into the MCU when a new film comes along. It seems like some big name directors don’t share this sentiment, though, as Martin Scorsese had some less than thrilled words about superhero movies. Now The Last Duel director Ridley Scott has come forward with some intense thoughts on the genre.
Many actors consider the chance to play a superhero a pretty substantial honor, and many go on to have incredibly successful careers after portraying their hero, even if they weren’t a big name prior. Despite the fact that oftentimes fans come to love the actor just as much as they love the hero they portray, Ridley Scott doesn’t seem to think the genre does justice to the characters themselves. In an interview with Deadline, the Gladiator director says he feels the best films are made by their characters, and superhero films come up short. Here it is in his own words:
Almost always, 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.
Even though there are some major faces behind DC and Marvel characters, and respectable directors/writers have put their mark on both universes, Ridley Scott goes on to say that the issue he has with superhero movies is that the scripts, to put it plainly, suck. Apparently the director of some major film masterpieces has some high expectations for the storylines of superhero flicks, and he feels as though they use special effects to cover up the lack of depth and story. This is what Scott says, exactly, in that regard:
Their scripts are not any fucking good.…They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, c’mon. They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects, if you’ve got the money.
If the directors of superhero flicks were upset by Martin Scorsese saying he doesn’t enjoy their films, they’re about to be gutted by Ridley Scott’s harsh words on the genre. Both directors have come out with some prime films, and they are names that other directors have certainly looked up to at one time or another. It may just be that the superhero genre just isn’t their thing, and the fact that neither director has tried their hand at such stories seems to be evidence of that as well.
Even though it doesn’t sound like Ridley Scott will be dipping his toes into the superhero genre any time soon (or ever), he has been quite busy with other genres. Scott helmed Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s second writing venture together, The Last Duel, which hit theaters last month. The director has also re-teamed up with Adam Driver, who starred alongside the two writers in the Game of Thrones-esque film, in House of Gucci, which you’ll be able to check out when it releases exclusively to theaters on November 24.
