Back in September Mel Gibson had some words of criticism for the superhero genre – and in particular Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which he called “a piece of shit”, and now the Hacksaw Ridge director has turned his attention to Marvel, slamming them for their levels of “violence without conscience.”
“To talk about the violence question, look at any Marvel movie,” said Gibson in an interview with The Washington Post. “They’re more violent than anything that I’ve done, but [in my movies,] you give a shit about the characters, which makes it matter more. That’s all I’ll say.”
Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge is currently going up against Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange at the North American box office, and is expected to debut in third place behind Doctor Strange and Trolls.
What do you make of Gibson’s latest anti-superhero movie comments? Does he have a point, or is he talking nonsense? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Timo Qvintus says
It’s odd that he chose to comment on Marvel, as this comment is true in 99,99% of all movies. Maybe a bit of jealousy since Dr.Strange is taking all his monies in at the box office?
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
Maybe he thought he actually had a shot at Iron Man 4.
Timo Qvintus says
Ha! I’d forgotten about that! I’m actually of the mind that he could very well get one of those “intimate smaller stories” of Phase4 onward that Feige mentioned recently, as Gibson seems to have gotten his act together.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
I’m not so sure. He’s still got a bad rep and I don’t know if Disney would risk his baggage. That being said, if Robert Downey Jr. lobbied hard for him, who knows.
Timo Qvintus says
The basis of the whole MCU (RDJ) was considered a massive risk at the time.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
Oh yes, but he brought a different kind of baggage. I’m also not sure Gibson fits into the mold of the type of director Marvel is going for. But, he is a good director, no question.
Mikel Ryanson says
He has no baggage he has been sober for a decade. It’s more like Jewish owned Hollywood and media still want revenge on him for making a very popular Christian movie outside their system.
His drunk comments a long time ago were not intentional as everyone says things they don’t mean when drunk. But can you blame him since elitist Hollywood Jews tried to wreck his career.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
Well given your multiple comments about Jews, it’s obvious you won’t consider him to have any baggage.
Mikel Ryanson says
Well unlike you I go by facts not what the media tell me to think. I clearly told you he has been sober for a decade what do you want the guy to do. I am not afraid to call out Jews or any group of people who abuse their power for their own agendas. Anyways, the man had Jewish celebrities black and homosexual celebrities all stick up for him and say he is a great person.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
So you’re advocating ignoring the media, but listening to what Jewish celebrities, black celebrities and homosexual celebrities tell you to think? They’re part of the media too. But I guess that’s okay because they support your argument?
I don’t want him to do anything. I couldn’t give a shit what Mel Gibson does. But I’ll bet you money he never directs a Marvel film.
Adrian Bold says
He’s still got a load of baggage that isn’t going away anytime soon. I did enjoy Blood Father though.
Timo Qvintus says
He’s in a position to get an Oscar nomination with Hacksaw Ridge, if he does that then the world is ready to move on. And I hear Blood Father is good too.
Mikel Ryanson says
What baggage exactly? Being sober for a decade? It’s more like pedophile filled Hollywood has the real baggage.
Thanos says
This is a comic book movie were talking about its supposed to be nonsense. I just wish everyone would stop ccritiquing everything to death. It’s a movie about fictional characters that don’t exist who cares who cares about them but a washed up old man!
Mikel Ryanson says
Washed up? He just acted in blood father and directed hacksaw ridge. 2 of the best movies of the year. Hacksaw ridge was better than all marvel movies.
jaykayDX says
This old fool doesn’t know what the heck he’s blabbing on about – while there is a tremendous amount of destruction – there’s not a lot of violence in terms of blood, gore or torture. The Lethal Weapon movies this hypocrite starred in were all rated ‘R’ and more violent than nay Marvel movie I’ve seen (barring The Punisher). I distinctly recall a bad guy getting decapitated by a surfboard in LW Pt.2 – don’t recall anyting similar in a Marvel movie. Oh, and I cared more about the characters in Civil War than I did about anyone in a Gibson movie. Guess he’s still ticked over the fact that he’ll never get the ‘Old Man Logan’ part right?
Mikel Ryanson says
I agree that his movies do have a lot of voilence and that he probably is angered that a crappy doctor strange movie made tons of money over his masterpiece hacksaw ridge. Wait, you cared more about civil war super heroes over William Wallace and so many other classic characters? Your a strange dude.
opalexian says
If by ‘violence having a conscience’ he means that making a war movie gives him free reign to display grotesque battlefield injuries that would fit right in to the Saw movies then sure, I guess theres no purpose to all that vio…wait never mind. War is inherently violent and gory but reality based while comic books have a lot of action and some violence to various degrees and is imagined by writers and artists. No, he’s just pissed that no one had the foresight to not schedule the release of Hacksaw opposite Doctor Strange so it was destined to not open at #1 at the box office. Waah. You were Mad Max. You’ve espoused anti Semitic views. You don’t get to judge ‘violence levels,’ Mel Gibson, because you’ve been part of the problem for decades.
Mikel Ryanson says
Well like you said his violence has purpose and heart unlike most super hero movies.
But are you a Jew or something? I bet you say nothing about how Jews in Hollywood and media constantly attack and hate on Christians. They even put crosses on bad guys as subliminal messaging. But how dare some guy say they start a lot of wars while drunk. Even Thought technically Jewish lobbyists & Israel do push for wars.
Mikel Ryanson says
I love all the marvel fanboys on here. You guys can’t stand when anyone criticizes marvel. Even though most of their movies are not that good and are really repetitive. They have never even have a good villain.
Although Gibson is over exaggerating about the voilence in the movies he still has a point. In general Marvel movies have no meaning and no heart where at
Atleast his motives you care about the characters. I did not care about doctor strange at all but I actually cared about the main character in hacksaw ridge and blood father.
MadEnglishman says
I mainly agree, but I thought Jeff Bridges in Iron Man 1 was a decent villain.
MadEnglishman says
Expanding on Gibson’s point, and perhaps more so in Marvel than DC movies, many superhero movies generally feature countless civilians being killed as background noise – sometimes as collateral damage in the hero/villain confrontations. No one seems to care much – unless it’s required by a contrived plot point such as the one that sparks the Civil War, and paralleled in BvS. Certainly on an emotional level no viewer is expected to give a s**t. After all the heroes, and their loved ones (if any), are okay.
(Not unlike countless mainstream disaster movies where thousands, millions, even billions die – but all we’re supposed to care about are the protagonists and their close ones. Phew, they escaped, happy ending… except for all those countless people who didn’t make it.)
The heroes of course are supposedly in mortal jeopardy, but (with very rare exceptions) they will not die, not permanently anyway. So there’s no real emotional engagement.
They’re fun popcorn movies, most of them, don’t get me wrong, but they’re never going to be great movies.
Some exceptions to this, which for me represent best of breed superhero movies:
The Watchmen, where even some (anti-)heroes die (and stay dead), and (not knowing the source material) I had no idea who would/could die; and where the mass death of civilian populations is tragic rather than incidental, and a climactic event rather than a backdrop or starting point; and where the superheroes – excluding Dr. M – have pretty low end superpowers and generally have mental problems and baggage.
Unbreakable, which barely qualifies as a superhero movie as the “superhero” and “super villain” are so low powered it’s not clear they’re “super” at all. It’s a small focused story, with a few killings or civilians in jeopardy are given suitable attention and emotional engagement – and in the final reveal the seemingly accidental death of many, many civilians becomes an integral, clever plot point. M. Night Shyamalan’s career best.
The Nolan Batman trilogy occupies the tier below these (and above all the other super offerings) in my reckoning, with the 1st being the best. Yes, Heath Ledger’s performance was awesome, but overall I thought the 1st movie was the better movie. And Sin City deserves an honourable mention (only the 1st movie, not the 2nd which was half-baked).