Ross asks if the superhero genre has reached its peak
I love a superhero or at least the idea as much as the last person. When I was young I had the usual dream, I wanted the ability to fly like Superman, scale walls and buildings like Spiderman and even move things with my mind. But has our obsession with all things superhero, much like the Hulk's rage, got a little out of control?
In the last decade the trend of superhero movies of all shapes and sizes has exploded, with enormous blockbusters flying, shooting and teleporting all over our screens and there seems no end in sight. Maybe it is just me but I wonder what all the fuss is about .... It's not like there's a national day or anything... oh wait..... April 28th is national superhero day in the United States so what do I know?
The superhero universe appears to have reached global appeal. Women, men, children, adults of all walks of life are finding themselves itching to see the latest version of comic book characters burst onto the big screen. So what's changed? Growing up the use of words like nerd and geek were throw around willy nilly and often had a negative context, implying the person was uncool and often due to their choices of past time or field of expert knowledge. Reading comics and being into fantasy worlds was seen as a lonely and solitary activity. Now there are conventions and events where people (vast numbers) are encouraged to dress up as their Heroes.
And what ever happened to the original heroes and the original stories. What bugs me about today's movies is that there are so many remakes or new versions of classic protagonists such as Batman and Superman. The new versions of Batman I have no real problem with, although I will also hold a soft spot for Tim Burton's films. The casting and direction have been great and the performances of iconic roles such as the Joker in the Dark Knight are a joy to behold. But was there any need to redo Superman? The original,s although a little dated, were played by a very believable Christopher Reeves but the new ones are just sub par at best.
And where will it end? And how long can the trend last? Who knows?! As I write this I'm very aware that you are all wishing you had the power to destroy me where I stand and that's fair enough but just remember with great power comes great responsibility. Take care as to how you spend your box office allocation or the studios may continue to feed you with poor, CGI laden effects films that have no soul.