French filmmaker Luc Besson has directed indisputable classics such as The Fifth Element and La Femme Nikita, but his latest film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, has failed to impress critics. The reviews have praised the visual effects but not much else, and it currently has a 51 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Besson doesn't seem to be thrilled about this situation … and about the comparative, continued success of Hollywood superhero films. Speaking with Brazilian website Cine Pop, the renowned director revealed that he's sick of the superhero frenzy:
>"Totally tired of it. Totally. I mean, it was great 10 years ago when we seen the first Spider-Man, Iron Man, and now it’s like number five, six, seven. There’s superheroes working with another superhero, but it’s not the same family. I’m lost.
That's not an uncommon complaint — it's difficult to get original film concepts produced nowadays — but #LucBesson went one step further, blaming the superhero phenomenon on American hubris and a collective messiah complex:
Was Luc Besson Right Or Wrong To Call Superhero Movies 'Propaganda'?
As a fan of comic book movies, I have to say that Besson's comments are coming at a strange time. This year has given us some of the genre's best ever, including Logan and Wonder Woman. Sure, there's a tendency for Hollywood films to portray extraterrestrial aliens as hostile threats like in the Alien franchise and Independence Day. But we don't have to look far for the opposite: films such as Arrival, Contact and Guardians of the Galaxy in which the aliens are benevolent or at least capable of doing good.Plus, Besson's jab at Captain America as a propaganda symbol for the U.S. is a total misconception. Yes, Captain America was created to inspire the population against Hitler; at the time, Americans needed a hero to rally then (even if just in comic books). But the modern films have given us a Steve Rogers who stands up the military-industrial complex when it violates civil rights. (As for Besson's remark about "Captain Brazil" and "Captain France," there is actually a Captain Brazil in #Marvel Comics, as well as the famous Captain Britain.) Nonetheless, we must understand Besson's sentiments in a broader context…
Why Visionary Filmmakers Are Frustrated With Hollywood Right Now
While Besson criticized superhero comic book movies in general, I believe he's speaking about a much broader issue: franchise moviemaking. He admitted "it was great 10 years ago when we seen the first Spider-Man, Iron Man," but his problem seems to be "number five, six, seven." Besson's Valerian is itself a take on the French comic book series of the same name.Besson has always been a virtuoso; The Fifth Element was a totally unique vision. But today Hollywood executives want to minimize risk, which means adapting established intellectual property — especially superheroes and their sequels. While that guarantees money for Hollywood executives, it hurts those filmmakers who want to tell an original story.So, franchise fatigue is totally understandable, because it sometimes takes years for an original idea to get green-lit and hit the silver screen. Case in point: Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, which took the risk of releasing in theaters in the same month as Wonder Woman. Though a huge box office risk, Baby Driver earned a staggering $156 million on a $34 million budget.
LOL AT EVERYONE INVOLVED
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