30 years from now will we watch any of our favorite movies and feel like they hold up? I have to say that I doubt it. Writing is not very good lately...there I said it. The average movie now is based on a series of events that are set in motion by someone some where doing something that they wouldn't do. Thus you have a series of events that tumble into place based on silliness and, I believe this silliness needs to be written out.For a lot of action movies the goal is how to get the people to do the thing. Look at a movie like Pacific Rim. We wanted to see a giant robot fight a giant monster. Forget the fact there is no compelling reason whatsoever for them to do so. People pointed out that there were remarkable holes in the plot like if you know when the Kaiju are going to arrive why not just have a giant laser cannon posted at the opening of the chasm that kills them as they come out? Still, we wanted to see two giant things punch each other in the middle of the city so we ignore that there is no real reason for them to do so. The writers did a poor job of attempting to explain why world governments would forego the cheaper simpler and more effective solution in favor of building giant robots.
We see this with a lot of movies. In any of the Transformer movies, why are they fighting in the middle of major cities? Why does Godzilla go to San Francisco? Who cares? We want to see something big, hit something bigger.
Goodness forbid we try to add a story or some layering to the conflict. Look at Dawn of Justice versus Captain America: Civil War. The essential conflict in each story is the same; how does the world deal with the existence of super beings and villains? How do the heroes themselves deal with being super? How does the world deal with the destruction they leave in their wake and the lives they save?
Marvel loves its heroes and apparently hates everyone else whereas DC dives headlong into the inner conflict that its heroes feel. Batman is tortured and jaded with a deep sense of right and wrong and no compunction about doling out justice after years of dealing with The Joker, Penguin, Bane etc. Superman is dealing with the weight of being the most powerful being in the universe and essentially being seen as A god or THE God. These are big questions.
Marvel on the other hand, goes the path that favors one of its biggest properties and just Hulks its way through these stories. These movies ask you to suspend disbelief to a great extent. In fact they encourage you to throw disbelief out the window...bury it. We thought when our heroes were brought to life, they would take on a reality that would blow our minds, but when seen outside of the frame of a 2D panel, they don't make a lot of sense and that should be addressed in the writing.
Thousands of people died in Man of Steel. Of course Superman should think about that. He sees himself as the protector of the world and has to look at the idea the deaths he is a part of matter. He and Zod nearly destroyed a major metropolitan city. Jobs are lost. Lives are lost. In the DC universe, they think about that.
In the Marvel universe, it s narrowed and anchored by personalizing it with one or two interactions. In Captain America: Civil War, Tony Stark is confronted by a woman who has lost a son, the overall plot is driven by a grieving father's desire for revenge. Just one.
Soldiers return from war having caused death and destruction on a level that people cannot imagine and that is in real life. In each of these stories, the stakes are much MUCH higher yet, the thoughts about them are much less. The Marvel universe focuses you on the action and not its consequences. Let's be honest, I am not asking people to think about whether or not the henchmen have insurance or anything like that but just think about how in the Marvel universe, the extreme has become mundane. Take a moment to think about the real life ramifications of the existence of Thor. Religion, as we know it would collapse with the presence of a living god.
In Capt. America:Civil War, Tony Stark evacuates an airport so they can have a fight on the tarmac. How many people would miss connections? Or could you imagine trying to get insurance to pay out on your car because Scarlet Witch threw it at someone?
In the Marvel universe, 9/11 sized and larger tragedies are happening every day and people barely give them a second thought. I like that DC is looking at that and at least glancing off of it. Overall, we need better writing. Just take a moment to write a better movie and sew those plot holes shut. It only takes a moment.
