Ridley Scott Thinks Current Cinema is Bad, Hates Superhero Movies

[Igor-Rowan]

Spider-Man 2 is one of my favorite movies of all time, not because it was a superhero movie, because it was a good movie, with character, story, pacing and setpieces. One of the reasons I absolutely despised The Amazing Spider-man 2 is because the movie was extremely in your face trying to show off how interesting it was, rather than give us anything of substance, a title that Fant4stic would later take for itself.

Anyway, I get where he is coming from, but I do not agree on his stance about Super-heroes, they have been around for decades, comic books, TV and cinema. After The Avengers captured lighting in a bottle 7 years ago, everybody tried to follow suit, not only super-heroes, but everything wanted to have a cinematic universe: DC, Ghostbusters, Tetris. As a result we are going to get more movies in the lines of Fant4stic, that do nothing for themselves, but bring the genre down.

 

[Worgen]

I was expecting a lot more hostility to his disdain of superhero films in this thread.

But yeah, I can't stand them either. I've seen Spider-man(a mere "okay", maybe) The Dark Knight(the quote "good one", which I could not get into/see what the whole deal was about) and Age of Ultron(which I might hate more than it deserve since it was my intro to the juggernaut MCU, but I was really disappointed in the film).

I have been following the MCU since the beginning with Iron Man and I was still dissipointed with Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron annoyed me so much it killed my interest in the MCU, not even Spiderman now being in the MCU helps. Age of Ultron was just a setup movie for Captain America Civil War.

That actually makes Age of Ultron better since civil war was fantastic, easily my top 3 marvel movies. The other 2 are guardians and winter solder. Getting to see a spy movie but with Captain America instead of James Bond was really cool. Except for the hydra thing, that was super stupid and lame.

 

[Trunkage]

Captain America 2 is the only really good one. I don't know what possessed me to see it, as I hate CA1, and never saw any of the previous movies in the cinemas, even the Avengers.

Most of the films listed for Ridley Scott I haven't seen in years and have no desire to. But then most of the superhero movies I wouldn't see again either.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I was expecting a lot more hostility to his disdain of superhero films in this thread.

But yeah, I can't stand them either. I've seen Spider-man(a mere "okay", maybe) The Dark Knight(the quote "good one", which I could not get into/see what the whole deal was about) and Age of Ultron(which I might hate more than it deserve since it was my intro to the juggernaut MCU, but I was really disappointed in the film).

I have been following the MCU since the beginning with Iron Man and I was still dissipointed with Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron annoyed me so much it killed my interest in the MCU, not even Spiderman now being in the MCU helps. Age of Ultron was just a setup movie for Captain America Civil War.

That actually makes Age of Ultron better since civil war was fantastic, easily my top 3 marvel movies. The other 2 are guardians and winter solder. Getting to see a spy movie but with Captain America instead of James Bond was really cool. Except for the hydra thing, that was super stupid and lame.

At the cost of one movie being bad.

Its like Iron Man 2 sucking because it was setup for the Avengers.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

"I've done that kind of movie - Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it: it's a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I'd have a f**king good story, as opposed to no story!"

Well, good to see that he hasn't let his successes go to his head and make him forget about the poorly received stories he's done in recent years.

Edit: I don't fault him for his opinion. He doesn't like superhero movies? That's fine. But that quote seems to go from "Superhero movies aren't my thing" to "Blade Runner is better than any comic book movie, because I made it, and I am better than every comic book movie writer ever."

 

[Worgen]

I was expecting a lot more hostility to his disdain of superhero films in this thread.

But yeah, I can't stand them either. I've seen Spider-man(a mere "okay", maybe) The Dark Knight(the quote "good one", which I could not get into/see what the whole deal was about) and Age of Ultron(which I might hate more than it deserve since it was my intro to the juggernaut MCU, but I was really disappointed in the film).

I have been following the MCU since the beginning with Iron Man and I was still dissipointed with Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron annoyed me so much it killed my interest in the MCU, not even Spiderman now being in the MCU helps. Age of Ultron was just a setup movie for Captain America Civil War.

That actually makes Age of Ultron better since civil war was fantastic, easily my top 3 marvel movies. The other 2 are guardians and winter solder. Getting to see a spy movie but with Captain America instead of James Bond was really cool. Except for the hydra thing, that was super stupid and lame.

At the cost of one movie being bad.

Its like Iron Man 2 sucking because it was setup for the Avengers.

I'm not sure I would say bad. Iron man 2 and ultron were kinda ehh, they were certainly 2 of the weakest marvel movies. But one of the things that the marvel movies have going for them is likable main characters. Even if the movie around them is meh, you want to see how the characters react to it and see more of them. I mean the most memorable scene in Ultron was when our heroes were just sitting around chatting then they all tried to lift thors hammer. That was the best scene of the movie, would I watch the movie again just to see that scene... maybe but I would watch it again to setup Civil War.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I was expecting a lot more hostility to his disdain of superhero films in this thread.

But yeah, I can't stand them either. I've seen Spider-man(a mere "okay", maybe) The Dark Knight(the quote "good one", which I could not get into/see what the whole deal was about) and Age of Ultron(which I might hate more than it deserve since it was my intro to the juggernaut MCU, but I was really disappointed in the film).

I have been following the MCU since the beginning with Iron Man and I was still dissipointed with Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron annoyed me so much it killed my interest in the MCU, not even Spiderman now being in the MCU helps. Age of Ultron was just a setup movie for Captain America Civil War.

That actually makes Age of Ultron better since civil war was fantastic, easily my top 3 marvel movies. The other 2 are guardians and winter solder. Getting to see a spy movie but with Captain America instead of James Bond was really cool. Except for the hydra thing, that was super stupid and lame.

At the cost of one movie being bad.

Its like Iron Man 2 sucking because it was setup for the Avengers.

I'm not sure I would say bad. Iron man 2 and ultron were kinda ehh, they were certainly 2 of the weakest marvel movies. But one of the things that the marvel movies have going for them is likable main characters. Even if the movie around them is meh, you want to see how the characters react to it and see more of them. I mean the most memorable scene in Ultron was when our heroes were just sitting around chatting then they all tried to lift thors hammer. That was the best scene of the movie, would I watch the movie again just to see that scene... maybe but I would watch it again to setup Civil War.

Well that is how I view BvS in the end because I knew it was just a setup for Justice League. And that is the movie I want to see more than BvS.

 

[Hawki]

Wait, did I stumble into an alternate dimension or something? Knowing this site, there should be far more people up at arms about this. Not to mention the clickbaity title.

Anyway:

The man gave us Gladiator [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)] in that list.

Oi! If you're including The Martian, Gladiator deserves inclusion as well.

He'd go on to say Blade Runner is basically a superhero movie anyway, but better. "I've done that kind of movie - Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it: it's a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I'd have a f**king good story, as opposed to no story!"

Um, going by the quote, he's only saying that it's a comic strip and you could put superheroes in it, not that it's a superhero movie in of itself.

Something about this quote just tickled me:

And yeah...here's hoping he can give us something that we haven't seen since 1986: an Alien movie that's actually worth watching.

Shift 1986 to 1992, and I agree...

...come at me!

That quote seems a little too smug, looking down at the "untalented people" who make and/or loves superheroes. we haven't forgotten about Exodus: Gods And Kings, or Robin Hood, two of your more recent films. you don't have to like superheroes but I'm just saying you made far worse shit than any superhero movie I've seen recently.

Batman v Superman is still worse than Prometheus, and flawed as it is, I find Prometheus far more bearable than Deadpool. And that's just to name the movies released last year.

 

[RJ 17]

Something about this quote just tickled me:

And yeah...here's hoping he can give us something that we haven't seen since 1986: an Alien movie that's actually worth watching.

Shift 1986 to 1992, and I agree...

...come at me!

While I'm not one of those that will shit all over 3, I'd still argue that in the end it's not "worth watching".

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

That quote seems a little too smug, looking down at the "untalented people" who make and/or loves superheroes. we haven't forgotten about Exodus: Gods And Kings, or Robin Hood, two of your more recent films. you don't have to like superheroes but I'm just saying you made far worse shit than any superhero movie I've seen recently.

Batman v Superman is still worse than Prometheus, and flawed as it is, I find Prometheus far more bearable than Deadpool. And that's just to name the movies released last year.

First I loved Deadpool, second I'm not saying he doesn't make good movies or even great movie anymore. I'm saying he shouldn't be on a high horse after making those 2 (Exodus: Gods And Kings, or Robin Hood) boring piece of crap.

 

[Pyrian]

Meh. Superhero movies aren't even a genre anymore - the MCU jumps around a lot. Anything that lumps Green Lantern and Winter Soldier into the same heap isn't a distinction worth discussing. Some are good, some suck.

 

[enginieri]

Great script --> Ridley Scott --> Great Movie
Bad script --> Ridley Scott --> Bad Movie

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

He sounds a bit like Uwe Boll; "I don't like superhero movies, so that means they suck." It's his opinion, one I don't agree with.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

He sounds a bit like Uwe Boll; "I don't like superhero movies, so that means they suck." It's his opinion, one I don't agree with.

It's not unusual for older, established directors to whine about what's popular now, though, so he's really just being predictable.

I'd say it's more intelligent (than Scott's subjective generalisations) to judge films on an individual basis. The MCU's had some good'uns, some bad'uns, and some in between. Ridley Scott's had some greats, some ho-hum's, and some absolute stinkers.

 

[iniudan]

I wanna make an animated feature of a Sci Fi Space Opera that's like Gundam but with Space Jet Fighters instead of Robot Mecha.

So you want to make Macross ?

 

[IridRadiant]

He's not wrong though. Super Hero movies have terrible plots, terrible characterization (tell me the motivation of any supporting character in Guardians of the Galaxy)

Challenge Accepted.
The prison guards just want to keep all the prisoners contained, it's their job. Glenn Close's character and that planetary force is trying to keep the peace, which is why they threw all the main characters in the clink together - because they disturbed it together - and why they were open to Star-Lord's claims to set up their defenses. It was a known artifact of mass destruction and it was in the hands of a guy known to be looking for genocide on their planet for historical wrongs. The motley group in the mining facility were all after money from selling that gold goop Drax almost drowned in and hiding from authorities on other systems, which is why the main characters could lay low there and why the trader in rare artifacts was stationed there - it is a good fencing outpost where you dump stuff that could get seized in more civilized places and that has the liquid funds (pun not intended) to actually buy whatever it is you're selling. The space pirates were chasing after Star-Lord, he owed them a lot of money and ran out on them (if I recall correctly, it's been a while since I've seen the movie) and why the promise of a large share of the loot from selling the stone allowed the captain to keep from killing him on sight (aside from the surrogate father figure he was to Star-Lord). Thanos just wants all the Infinity Stones and the movie's villain was supposed to deliver it to him. The purple girl had a grudge against Gamora for jealousy reasons and was looking to climb the hierarchy through murder - that Gamora was planning on betraying him anyway was icing on the cake and let her attempt it without risking disfavor from killing an important member of Thanos's organization.

They may not be the most complex or explored backgrounds in cinema history for any of these groups, but it was said at some point in the movie - I've never read the comics so all I have to go on is that movie.

 

[Laughing Man]

I like most of the superhero movies because they are usually a fun diversion; but, they are not good cinema because they do little to advance the art.

Sorry I would disagree with the advancement of the Art. Before the MCU we never had a continued Universe spread over different movies with a constant on going background Universe being built slowly but surely in the background, a medium that extended out side the Cinema Universe to include TV (streaming media.) Perhaps it's not Art but it definitely something that hasn't been done with any success anywhere else that I can think of (I am happy to hear suggestions) and correct me if I am wrong isn't that exactly what Ridley copied when he released Prometheus? Not an Alien film but set in the Alien Universe.

I am not going to say that Superhero movies are great works of Art, they are enjoyable the world building that MCU has done so well is great and who knows maybe once RDJ and Chris Evans move on after Infinity Wars the whole thing will fall in on itself and the movies will fall away in to nothing, I doubt it. The MCU has managed something that no other series of movies has really managed so it will probably earn a note worthy place in history for that at least, even if the movies don't age well.

Am I the only one that finds his comments about Superheroes ironic in the face that his last movie The Martian includes a scene where Matt Damon compares himself to Iron Man, a scene that wasn't actually in the original book on which the movie was based.

 

[enginieri]

And now I'd love to see what movie Ridley would craft from the graphic novel Watchmen..

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Meh. Superhero movies aren't even a genre anymore - the MCU jumps around a lot. Anything that lumps Green Lantern and Winter Soldier into the same heap isn't a distinction worth discussing. Some are good, some suck.

Green Lantern was DC, not Marvel. And as far as the DC Cinematic Universe goes, Green Lantern is non-canon.

Edit: Just realized I may have misinterpreted your post and got distracted by the specific mention of the MCU. Carry on.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I wanna make an animated feature of a Sci Fi Space Opera that's like Gundam but with Space Jet Fighters instead of Robot Mecha.

So you want to make Macross ?

But mine is more War-themed, less "fancy" looking concepts like that Princess I see there.

I just have this idea and story based on the music I hear from Gundam Seed's Orchestral Score and I can give a descriptive image to the music I am hearing and no I have not seen Gundam Seed: