Hero Movies

jws

I know this is a bit off the topic of religion, but I just got back from seeing Ant Man with my son. I'm getting tired of the fact that Hollywood (and in this case the action/hero genre) rarely seems to have an original thought. Has anybody noticed the same theme?

Good guy fights bad guy that is similar. The same powers and/or the same hardware.

So in this one, Ant Man battles the "Hornet" - another suit that allows the wearer to shrink.

In the past, we've seen in the second Hulk movie, Hulk battles another Hulk.

Spiderman 3 battles Venom, a black-colored clone of Spiderman.

I know there was an Iron Man movie where Iron Man battles Mickey Rourke who has another chest battery thing. Not to mention battling another Iron Man suit in the first movie.

X-men movies are almost always (probably always -haven't seen hem all) about mutants fighting mutants.

We can look at the latest Superman movie where he battles General Zod from his home planet. ie another Superman. In the old Christopher Reeves Superman movies, he did this in Superman 2. In Superman 4, Lex Luthor created his own Superman, cloned from Superman's hair and powered by the Sun.

In the latest Star Trek, Kirk and gang not only battle Khan, they battle a bigger version of the Enterprise.

This probably goes back to the Toho Studios days with Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla. Or King Kong vs. Robot Kong.

C'mon. Think of another idea other than "super hero battles another version of himself". It's old, it's tired.

Granted, with TV shows, after dozens of episodes, you're searching for ideas. But they don't seem to get around to fighting a clone as often. Why do the movies lead with it?

The 70's Hulk series had him fight another hulk, but that was a ways in to the whole series. The six million dollar man had him go up against another bionic man, Barney Miller (not that Barney Miller). The relatively new Doctor Who series has him going up against another time lord.

Honestly. Think of something new.

My son and I generally liked Ant Man and there was also plenty of humor in it. But the same plot over and over gets tiring. Add to it the CEO angle, somebody else trying to perfect the technology for military purposes and ends up using the technology to fight the hero. Wasn't this movie basically Iron Man 1?

There's supposed to be a Deadpool movie coming out. If he ends up fighting an invincible, immortal, wise-cracking villain, I'm done with Marvel.

Je.suis.oisif

Hi, is this a remake of the old Deadpool movie? As for the rest of you post - Ecc 1 v 9 comes to mind.

freddo

Bread and Circuses.

LoveUniHateExams

I'm not really into films to see many trends but may it's simply because Hollywood churns out so many films?

As much as I love the original Star Wars movies, there was a fair amount of repetition in those - lots of chasing rebels across the galaxy culminating in light sabre duels.

SecretSlaveClass

It's why my favorite movies are more about dialogue. Once in a while I'll watch a sc-fi movie but generally I can't stand them. I haven't even read a work of fiction since the early 90's. Nowadays it seems they realy more on SFX than a good story.

Captain Schmideo2

So....
You went to see a movie based on comic book characters, and were surprised that it had a comic book plot?

Mmm hmm...

Caveat emptor. Don't go in to see "Iron Man Three" expecting to see "Finnegan's Wake"

jws

Oh, I'm expecting a comic book plot where the hero always wins - and often has some incredible luck.

I just don't see why the "I'm gonna fight one of me" plot shows up so much. I used to read comic books when I was a kid and I don't remember them always fighting something just like them. They came up with more creative villains.

Why don't they spin the villain vs. superhero wheel to match up different combinations? Ant Man vs. the big bad suit that Iron Man had to fight in Iron Man 1? How about Iron Man vs. a Hulk-type thing? Although it's overuse of a villain, how about something like a Superman vs. Lex Luthor plot? Spiderman fought Dr. Octopus. All of the villains don't have to be the same thing as the super hero.

Although some were used more often, look at the plethora of villains that Batman had to fight on the old TV show. Campy thought it was and formulaic, at least the developed villains with different motives and traits.

Let's say they have a new super hero that can, oh, I don't know, turn into a tank and you're writing the screenplay. You think, well, who could I have him fight? Well, tanks are military. How about terrorists? No. How about a war movie? No. Breaking somebody out of a foreign prison run by a hostile government? No. Oh, here's the plot, he fights another guy who can turn into a different type of tank. Where's the creativity?

DJS

jws,

Your are accurate, and expect more of the same. Based on what I have read, right now it appears that foreign markets are paying the profits for Hollywood movies. And foreign markets, based on what I understand, prefer action movies and sequels even more than US audiences, especially it seems the Marvel and other comic heroes.

Unless and until that business design changes, Spider Man IX and Iron Man XXX are in the plans. And they won't change the plots, etc. much lest the masses revolt.

truthseeker100

It's too bad they don't have movies with a little more complexity than just good guy beats bad guy and then is instant hero.

I like movies like Forrest Gump, The shawshank Redemption, The outlaw Josey Wales ect.

Vidiot

maksutov - "I'm getting tired of the fact that Hollywood (and in this case the action/hero genre) rarely seems to have an original thought."

When insane amounts of money have been invested, the backers start to get a little freaked out and tend to fall back to the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" habit.

Hero Movies

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