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My first instinct was to agree with Ethan Hawke.
Quoth Hawke:
Now we have the problem that they tell usLoganis a great movie.
Well, its a great superhero movie.
It still involves people in tights with metal coming out of their hands.
But they talk about it like it is.
I went to seeLogancause everyone was like, This is a great movie and I was like, Really?
No, this is a fine superhero movie.
Theres a difference but big business doesnt think theres a difference.
Now, before we go any further, I have to point out that I loveLogan.
Thats amatter of record.
I cried on no fewer than three occasions during the screening.
Its near the top ofmy listof the 30 best superhero movies of the 20-year-old superhero boom.
I had a greatconversationwith Mangold about it.
Iwroteabout how important it was that the film was nominated for a writing Oscar.
I have, more times than I can count, recommended and praised it in casual conversation.
Going toAvengers: Infinity Warwas like strapping myself into the Ludovico Technique machine.
Afterward, I wanted to puke from all the empty calories.
We can build a better superhero movie.
Smarter people than me have pointed out the prime factors that currently hold the genre back.
It settles for okay and better-than-okay.
A grim picture is painted.
But lets take a deep breath and step back for a moment.
These are allcommercialconsiderations, not reallythematicones.
Is the very idea of the superhero story broken at the core?
I have to believe thats not the case.
There are plenty of superhero stories that have risen to the level of great art.
They just havent been found at the movie theater yet.
I could go on.
Theres so much more to mine here!
That can even mean outright ripping off a comic thats done it well already.
Theres no shame in that.
I dont hold out much hope that well see that kind of experimentation en masse anytime soon.
But I dont think superhero narratives are fundamentally doomed to the kind of non-ambition that Hawke identifies.
The question is whetherLoganwill be a ceiling or a stepping stone.
