The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 has so far had a dodgy run, with a lot of the projects involved receiving mediocre or lower reviews. The projects may have seemed ambitious but only a few managed to reach their potential. Martin Scorsese had criticized the franchise long ago about how the movies were not cinema and that all he could see coming out of them were theme parks.
This had become one of his most infamous criticisms and had since then been dismissed by MCU fans due to their love of the franchise. His analysis rose once again with the release of Thor: Love and Thunder as the movie received a lot of backlash due to multiple reasons. Scorsese had stated how the franchise offers entertainment value but is lacking in the depth that makes cinema what it is.
Martin Scorsese’s Views On The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Being one of the most acclaimed directors of Hollywood, Martin Scorsese‘s criticism went on to linger in the minds of fans and the studio alike. Many have even gone on to state that Scorsese represents the old ideals of filmmaking, originating from a period when there was little diversity, and stories about the mafia, criminal lords, and patriarchal aggression were equally spectacles in and of themselves.
Cinema no longer means watching movies in theatres with a grand screen, with the era of streaming services, watching movies can be done from a phone’s screen as well. Another factor that plays a part in a new outlook on cinema is the growing monopolization of Disney as an industry. This in turn brought out the question of whether cinema and entertainment are different or not.
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
Marvel responded to requests for diversity, unlike the movies of Scorsese’s generation. It is difficult to dispute that Black Panther, which was a Best Picture Oscar contender, did not include the components that Scorsese identified as being essential to “film.” The most recent show to push the boundaries once further is Ms. Marvel, which stars a young Pakistani-American girl as the title character.
However, with Marvel’s decreasing ratings in films and television series such as Thor: Love and Thunder and She-Hulk, Martin Scorsese’s words come back into consideration how perhaps Marvel has been disappointing its fans one project at a time.
Marvel Fans Resurface Martin Scorsese’s Words
While on one hand, cinema refers to something from that which we can learn or gain something, and Marvel projects are far from learning experiences, caped heroes and superpowers are purely for entertainment purposes.
absolutely wild how the green screen fights have gotten more sterile since his comments and the directors (maybe Zhao excepted but look how that worked) have even less influence on the house style than ever before
— name8numbers (@nameand8numbers) October 4, 2022
Yeah it’s as if his harsh words made them try even less instead of inspiring them to work harder
— Carlo Chavez (@carlophone) October 4, 2022
With the depleting quality of content, Marvel has offered, having exceptions of a few projects here and there, Martin Scorsese’s words rise once again as fans now support his statement instead of going against it. The highly negative criticism that She-Hulk has faced so far has been the peak of the MCU’s lowest ratings so far. The poor VFX and continuous filler episodes have not been something the fans were looking forward to.
They’re on the worst run they’ve ever been on, but how low can they go?
— ⒸⓄⒹⓎ (🎃💀but it’s Halloween💀🎃) (@codymchugh_) October 4, 2022
They realized they could just lean into them not being cinema and fans would still rabidly defend them
— Sensitive King (@Sart_Sampson) October 4, 2022
The fear of his words being true has now turned into reality and the fans can’t help but support what he had to say three years prior. Even though the words stand to be extremely harsh, unfortunately, they also prove to be true. When earlier the MCU was known for its consistent storylines and box office hits, now its consistency lies in underwhelming projects.
See Also: “I Will Never Forget”: Martin Scorsese Regrets Not Working With Ray Liotta After ‘Goodfellas’
Source: Twitter
