Martin Scorsese Has Some Harsh Words About Marvel Movies

No Mighty Marvel for Marty.

In a recent conversation with Empire magazine, Martin Scorsese — perhaps the world's greatest living film director — had some pretty harsh words for the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is by far the highest-grossing film franchise in history. (via The Guardian)

Scorsese told Empire that he simply couldn't get on board with superhero films in general and Marvel in particular, despite comic book-based films having become the dominant cultural force in recent years. "I tried, you know?" the director said. "But that's not cinema."

Ouch. Well, if anyone knows "cinema," it's Scorsese, but to exclude an entire genre from being described with that term seems needlessly exclusionary. The director went on to clarify his stance, using a backhanded compliment to imply that he doesn't, like, hate superhero movies or anything, he just doesn't exactly see them as a valid art form — at least, no more so than your typical Disneyland attraction.

"Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks," Scorsese said. "It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."

There's a fair bit of unpacking to do here. Is Scorsese implying that actors in superhero films have no more difficult a job than those putting on twice-daily performances at a theme park? Because there are a few who just might take exception to that implication. Putting aside the fact that Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, and more have totally won over the hearts of fans with their interpretations of iconic characters, there are more than a couple of thespians who are contemporaries of Scorsese that have also deigned to appear in these lowly productions. Michael Douglas, Robert Redford, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Tilda Swinton, and Kurt Russell, to name just a few, might take issue with Scorsese's apparent opinion that they're nothing more than glorified theme park employees for appearing in Marvel films.

Also, we weren't honestly aware that in order for a film to qualify as cinema, it was a prerequisite for it to feature "human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences" to each other. Sure, it helps to have meaningful interactions between characters — but we can think of more than a few movies that don't necessarily lean on interpersonal drama as the main event, but which just might qualify as "cinema." 

Even if such drama is a prerequisite, however, we submit that if Scorsese did indeed try to find what he was looking for in a Marvel film or two, he didn't try hard enough. If the onscreen conveyance of emotional, psychological experiences is what it takes to qualify as "cinema," then in our humble opinion, you can safely include Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, off the top of our heads.

It's also worth noting that, despite his pointed criticism, Scorsese briefly served as a producer on Joker, a comic book film which was heavily influenced by his works. We'd also like to point out that, although we believe Goodfellas to be one of the greatest films ever made, we don't exactly remember a wealth of emotional, psychological experiences being shared between the characters. The same can be said for The Departed, a very good film which nevertheless stands out the most in our memories for featuring a bloody headshot roughly every five minutes. We digress.