Mel Gibson has established himself as a Hollywood legend by not only his spectacular performances in movies but also by making them. Be it his controversial The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, or even Braveheart his bold approach to movies, often to make a statement, have pleasantly surprised many.
Not only that but also the visceral action sequences in those, too, became a main attraction point for many fans of the genre.
However, he claimed in an interview that he actually despised depictions of violence in movies just for violence’s sake, no matter whether it added to a cinematic experience.
And, for example, he pointed out Marvel movies, which, being a superhero-based universe always cashes in on glorified and often outlandish action sequences.
This surprised many fans of Mel Gibson and the MCU alike not only because of his close friendship with Marvel star Robert Downey Jr but also because it was a direct contradiction of his praise for the MCU just a few months ago.
Mel Gibson bashed MCU’s violence-heavy movies
Back then, his movie Hacksaw Ridge had just hit the theaters. His movie was based on one of the only objectors of WWII who not only fought against an army without any weapons on the front lines but also saved the lives of 75 people.
According to Desmond Doss, the man in question, the war was just but taking human lives under any circumstances was a crime nonetheless. Echoing that same sentiment, Gibson claimed, when asked about the difference in sentiment between his other violence-heavy movies and Hacksaw Ridge,
“[The action] almost has to be — I don’t mean to be callous about it — but it has to be like a sporting event. You have to know who’s who, who your protagonists are, who’s doing what, what screen direction it’s all going in. In the midst of that, you have to have what appears to be chaos. It’s ordered chaos.”
He added further, “I’m trying to get to your animal. That’s it. That’s war. I’m trying to make a visceral, fully emotional, immersive experience.” However, according to him, violence for just violence’s sake in movies is not something that should be condoned. He compared his movies to Marvel saying,
“To talk about the violence question, look at any Marvel movie. They’re more violent than anything that I’ve done, but [in my movies,] you give a s— about the characters, which makes it matter more. That’s all I’ll say.”
Now this was a little surprising for the fans even with Mel Gibson‘s history of dissing superhero movies before like Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. Mainly because, he had given his approval to MCU just a few months before, saying,
“Some are good. Some are kind of funny … Guardians of the Galaxy. Or the first Iron Man. And some of them are just like retreats. I mean you can watch them do Spider-Man five times … There is a slight shift in film.”
Not only that, being a close friend of Robert Downey Jr, he had also expressed his desire to maybe direct an Iron Man movie someday. As a result, this abrupt change came as a shock to many people.
Did the competition with Doctor Strange get to Mel Gibson?
Although Hacksaw Ridge garnered good reviews from critics, unfortunately for Mel Gibson, it was up against Marvel‘s Doctor Strange right after its three-week course at the cinemas. Now, although his movie had a clear message and beautiful performances from the star-studded cast accompanying it, competing against the Sorcerer Supreme is not a joke.
As a result, Doctor Strange evidently cleaned house that weekend and garnered a whopping $84 million at the box office. It could be watching his movie, no matter how well made the struggle to stay afloat in front of a torrent of MCU fans running to the theaters might have changed his mind about the superhero franchise forever.
Thankfully, Hacksaw Ridge pulled through and went on to garner $180.5 million at the box office through its entire theater run. Although he never quite had the chance to direct a Marvel movie after that, and also with Robert Downey Jr‘s departure as Iron Man, that never really had any impact on his career.
Mel Gibson is also finally getting ready to release the second part of his dream project The Passion of Christ, called Resurrection next year. Something his fans seem immensely happy about.
Source: Comic Book
