I’ll admit the first thing I do when I see a thin blanket repsonse to a massive public offense is roll my eyes. A kid gets caught drinking, so suddenly we have a national underage drinking problem. A white guy kills a bunch of black people, so “obviously” banning a flag will soften the grief. So I’m already guilty. Now, clearly I wouldn’t begin to compare a national tragedy or political issue to the topic of film review in seriousness. But in logic, absolutely. Because there’s a catastrophic double standard deepening its hold in the scope of the modern film industry, specifically the steadily growing genre of comic book movies which just celebrated its fifteenth birthday (if you count X-men as the official start, which I do, but that could certainly be debated). There is a troubling and growing logical fallacy that attacks all modern cinema, but I’m out fighting today soley for my little CBM buddies, who are honest juggernauts at the box office these days. And therein lies the essence of their vulnerability.
There are a dozen angles from which I could approach this subject, but for the sake of brevity and your interest, I’ll just dive in with anger. My anger. Specifically my anger regarding the highly public, highly tragic case of the recently released bastard child that was Fox’s Fantastic Four. Now before you drop your pants and prepare to agree with me or disagree with me, save it. My opinion of the film will remain absent from this editorial, as it is irrelevant. As is yours. As is everybody’s. I’m sure my words will invoke an uprising of defense for the freedom of speech by people who have entirely missed my point and just hear me telling them to shut up. Not my purpose in the slightest.
Again, for brevity’s sake, I will omit the background of this film’s reputation and level of financial success and assume that if you’re reading this, you’re somewhat aware. To say the least, it was received with a mix of reactions. And while I’ve absolutely felt frustration at similar film releases in the past, this particular case finally pushed me to this point where I believe my... warning should be heard. I could speculate on the very real possibility that, to misquote director Josh Trank, “there is a version of this film” that would have been largely better received had it not been counted out from the start, but I think even than strays too close to what could be construed as my opinion. So I’ll stick to the warning. And that is this: our hands are at the steering wheel when it comes to these films. We behave as though we are unaware of this. And we are mindlessly ricocheting back and forth off of the guard rails. I have read some of the most shameful, mindless, blind red anger from people’s heads in regards to this film. Whenever a film picks up momentum in the negative direction that this one did, it doesn’t take long before it becomes acceptable to refer to it as PERSONAL offense. Creative language normally found suitable for shaming a company that slaughters animals or a government that ignores its citizens is invoked to describe their satisfaction with what Daredevil’s suit looked like. On one hand, its free speech, yes. One’s freedom to express opinion. But on the other hand it begins to generate another reality; an insane reality where these films honestly feel as though they amount to the massive weight of expectation and responsibility we lay upon them. And the sad truth that we need to be reminded off far too often is that these films are and always have been intended for one thing: to entertain us for two hours. A film did not “ruin your life”. It did not “suck balls”. It was not “an abomination”. If you honestly feel the need to dramatize your dissatisfaction with a film so severely that you need to compare it to being raped, then your grasp on reality no longer affords you the privilege to see them. And this message goes out to everyone equally, from the innumerable ‘fans’ at their keyboards to ‘professional’ movie critics who daily attempt to apparently ruin their own careers by ending the industry that supports it. But thats another issue, entirely. My point is that we are what we are. The audience. The studios, the writers, the directors; they make the movies that they want to make, but only because we want to see them. Its an important distinction. Its a fact in which Marvel Studios has managed to generate a self-sustaining loop. People salivate over MCU films because MCU makes them a certain way because people salivate over MCU films, etc. I will say I agree with those who have speculated that had Marvel Studios produced the Fantastic Four film that was just released, it would have been met with far more positive response. Not an overjoyed reaction, but a far more positive one, simply by association. And thats not fair. We don’t get to do that. We treat films like entrees on a menu. We order a Fantastic Four movie, and if it comes a little overdone, we throw it back at the waitress and demand a free replacement. Its childish, its unnecessary, and its destructive. Its a daring concept, but I believe we have invented a new form of cyber-bullying. Yes, we the critics are bullying the movie-makers. And while conventional logic wouldn’t garnish much pity for the colossal corporate studios looking down at our unwashed masses, the truth is, as I said before, we are at the wheel. They make what they make because they think we want to see it. Thats how they make money; by pleasing us. And when the slightest infraction summons a public hatred as potent as the one thats just not beginning to recede with this film, the relationship between movie and movie-goer is sick.
If you take anything from my words, let it be this; a fact I accepted a long time ago that has vastly improved my movie-going experiences. And its a big one that I don’t expect many people to swallow. A movie cannot be “good” or “bad”. It can be near or far from what it was intended to be. It can feel strong or weak in story cohesion or acting. It can feel well-balanced or poorly-constructed with special effects or pacing. But it is not a “Pass/Fail” class. And the belief that it is robs the general public of the simple joy of just seeing a movie. More often than anything, I read people judge a movie as good or bad based solely on whether it was what they went in expecting to see. I am happy to remind you that it was not YOUR $150 million that was invested in the film. You made the choice to invest $10, mostly likely thanks to your perception of the public interest in it. And therein lies the power. And as my fellow CBM aficionados will attest, we all know what comes with great power...