I can get tired of uncreative spectacle. If I never see an actor slowly dodge as an arrow/axe/bullet narrowly misses his cheek, that’d be great. Or someone falling and then right before they hit the ground their vehicle/jetpack/wingsuit kicks in and starts working. So many generic action movies have cliches like those that they can taint a whole film and leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Blockbuster fatigue isn’t just fatigue from too many blockbusters. It’s from too high a percentage of shotty spectacle-only content-empty blockbusters. And it’s also from too high a percentage of sequels, remakes, reboots, or nostalgia based movies. Last year, there were 23 remakes, reboots or sequels in the top 100. Twenty three!
Not enough of these blockbusters use their effects to create distinctive, lasting, and hopefully iconic images that linger in the mind. Older films didn’t have the technology we have today, but those filmmakers and technicians used what resources they had in the service of evoking strong emotions as well as moving the story along. That’s why I think the comparatively primitive films of yesteryear continue to find audiences today.
If I had to list 5 great images of classic fantastic films (Let’s say pre-70s/80s), images of nightmare and wonder, some special effects-driven, others not: 1) The unveiling of the robot in “Metropolis,” 2) The lightning-fueled creation of the Creature in James Whales “Frankenstein,” 3) The moment Dorothy opens up the door to her house to the Land of Oz and the film goes from black & white to color in “The Wizard of Oz,” 4) King Kong’s fight atop the Empire State Building in the original “King Kong,” and 5) The appearance of the monolith on prehistoric earth in “2001: A Space Odyssey,”
So, it’s got to be the CGI, right?
The democratization of VFX technology isn’t the problem. Maybe It’s because imagination needs to work its way through so many filters to make it to the multiplex. This is a great time we live in. There are plenty of innovators using all sorts of techniques to create beauty onscreen. But you can’t expect the Picasso’s to outnumber the knock offs, can you?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier…a bona fide blockbuster, loaded with CGI, and not all of it perfect. However, it still came across as a very grounded, practical vision. Comic book heroics made believable through a restrained deployment of mega effects (crashing helicarriers), and quirky, imaginative ones (Arnim Zola’s 4-bit mug). This is a case of film makers judiciously standing on the shoulders of effects giants, selecting the right tools for the job, and killing it.
There have always been bad movies. The difference is, the bad movies have better VFX now. But a good movie is still a good movie. I need more awesome. What awe requires is the unknown, the new. We can always be awed but maybe we’re done being awed by the same old things. And why wouldn’t we be.
-Dagobot
Get at me on twitter: @markdago
Like me on THE Facebook: facebook.com/markdagoraps
Download my latest EP for free: markdago.bandcamp.com
Listen to MY podcast http: http://poppundits.libsyn.com