Critics and the superhero movie universe

Hey everyone,

Now that Guardians of the Galaxy Volume II has been out for a few weeks and has utterly destroyed the box office I wanted to discuss what I feel is a huge problem that the superhero movie universe as a whole has and most importantly its impact on the critics.

Sitting at 81% on rotten tomatoes this second installment part of the larger Marvel Universe is of no appeal to myself, being highly disappointed from the first one. I was completely let down by the first one especially by the very lighthearted ending which began with the dance-off.

This brings me to the issue with the critics and movie reviews. The following is the beginning of a review I found on rotten tomatoes that I think summarizes why I usually find myself not agreeing with movie critics.

Diego Patino writes:

"Near the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, the hero, Peter Quill distracted the villain who had evil designs upon the creation by dancing at him. This was a moment to be thankful for. At last, you felt, someone at Marvel was starting to heed the wise words of Vladimir Nabokov: "The difference between the comic side of things and their cosmic side of things depends upon one sibilant. "For the makes of superhero films, it's not enough to toss in a few sprinkles of light relief. The true challenge is to remind your audience that the very idea of saving the world-or an infinity of worlds or whatever-is in itself a joke and that its puffy grandeur is begging to be popped. Let's face the maniac and dance"

The above is the explanation as to why I think movies with heart,with deep philosophical meaning, with a serious tone and epic story get overlooked and often receive rotten scores on Rotten tomatoes as opposed to lighthearted movies which make fun of them selves and basically laugh at the audience by telling them: "look this is a made-up story, I am challenging this person to a dance off in this very crucial scene because you should have figured out by now that this is just for you to have a few giggles and leave the theater with a smile". You will probably forget what that movie was actually about the day after and it will probably have zero impact on you.

However from a Marketing prospective this is the best type of movie you can release in cinemas for a number of different reasons. First of all, it takes zero script writing skills as the script and the dialogue can easily get written by a 3rd grader; secondly it is the perfect movie for the family to go see, no big trauma for your kids who will never ever be scared of the villains or their favorite characters dying and a relaxing two hours for their parents.

As a comic book fan, I am disappointed by the way the MCU ridicules its characters and the entire comic book universe and gets celebrated for it. I would much rather watch and rewatch the Amazing Spiderman 2 (a movie full of plot holes but with a lot of heart) than watch any of the MCU movies which have no heart, no real stakes and that make even less sense that the Transformers movies.( Alright perhaps I exaggerated in my last statement, nothing makes less sense than those movies :).

I am curious to know what you thought of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol I and Vol II and to see if at least partially you share my point.

Let me know down below.

-theheroblogger