The pinnacle of action blockbuster entertainment or a perversion of the values of cinema? While film history has been littered with debates on everything from Star Wars or Star Trek to The Godfather or The Godfather Part II, and even Team Edward or Team Jacob, it’s safe to say there has never been a dispute as universal, nor as polarizing, as the discussion which rages around the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what it exists as within the film industry.

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As the highest-grossing franchise in cinematic history, the MCU has amassed tens of millions of fans from all corners of the world, but among the superhero saga’s biggest critics are some of the most celebrated filmmakers Hollywood has seen. From Oscar-winning titans of the industry to one of Marvel’s own directors, these filmmakers certainly haven’t been shy about sharing their thoughts on the MCU.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Filmmaking legend Martin Scorsese famously shared his thoughts on Marvel movies in a 2019 interview with Empire Magazine, where he described them as “theme parks,” saying, “honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing their best under the circumstances, is theme parks.”

In the wake of the hysteria following his comments, Scorsese clarified his statement, easing up on what many perceived to be a vitriolic hatred of the franchise in an op-ed he wrote for the New York Times, saying, “The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I’d come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself.”

Francis Ford Coppola

The director of The Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now, among many other iconic films, Francis Ford Coppola, is a man all film lovers stop and listen to. So when he supported Scorsese’s stern criticism of the MCU and piled on with some thoughts of his own, naturally, he raised some eyebrows.

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During an interview with French journalists a month after Scorsese’s “theme park” statement made headlines, Coppola said, “When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration.” Coppola didn’t hold back either, closing off his answer with, “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

Jodie Foster

While film fans know her best from her many famous performances, Jodie Foster has directed several films and episodes of House of Cards, Black Mirror, and Orange Is the New Black as part of a directorial career spanning decades. The Hollywood titan has shared her thoughts on the Marvel movies and what they represent for the industry as a whole.

“Going to the movies has become like a theme park,” she told RadioTimes in 2017. She expanded to say, “Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking – you get the best return right now but you wreck the earth… It’s ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world.”

Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott on set of one of his movies.

With genre-film epics like Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator among some of his most acclaimed achievements, Ridley Scott is undoubtedly one of the biggest influencers on the rise to prominence of the action blockbuster. While superhero films today exist as the masters of that genre, Scott has made it clear he has no love for them.

He certainly didn’t mince his words in an interview with Deadline, where he said, “they’re f**king boring as sh*t.” He critiqued the genre for having weak stories, even holding them in contrast to some of his films which operate similarly to many superhero movies made today. On the scripts of superhero films, he simply said, “their scripts are not any f**king good.”

Roland Emmerich

roland-emmerich-independence-day-resurgence

A bona fide blockbuster filmmaker, Roland Emmerich has been behind some of the biggest movies Hollywood has produced in recent decades. But his apparent love for blockbuster entertainment doesn’t extend to the MCU, with the director telling Insider he watches the Marvel movies on planes to help him sleep.

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When asked by Den of Geek about how the disaster movie genre had changed over time, Emmerich again aimed at Marvel, saying, “naturally Marvel and DC Comics, and Star Wars, have pretty much taken over. It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.”

Terry Gilliam

From his early work as part of Monty Python to his '90s hits 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to some of his more underrated work in recent years, Terry Gilliam is one of cinema’s most unique and eclectic filmmakers. While suspended realities are his forte, the director has spoken out against the superhero genre before, but he holds a particular disliking for the MCU due to its total departure from reality and how that impacts the films’ stakes.

In an interview with RogerEbert.com, he said, “It’s the tension between reality and fantasy that is interesting, and that’s why I don’t like all the big Marvel movies. There are too many of them, they are dominating the industry, and everybody just wants to see the next one and go, ‘Well, there’s the Hulk again.’ It’s horrible, but more importantly, there is no real physical reality to the films.”

Alan Taylor

As the director of Thor: The Dark World, Alan Taylor has more agency than most on the topic of the MCU. After earning his stripes through his acclaimed work on television series like Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, Taylor got the opportunity to make his first feature film with Thor: The Dark World. Still, the experience was soured for him with a tumultuous post-production shift away from the film he had envisioned.

Speaking with Uproxx.com, Taylor said, “I’ve learned that you don’t make a $170 million movie with someone else’s money and not have to collaborate a lot. The Marvel experience was particularly wrenching because I was sort of given absolute freedom while we were shooting, and then in post it turned into a different movie. So, that is something I hope never to repeat and don’t wish upon anybody else.”

Ken Loach

With his strong focus on societal themes such as poverty, homelessness, and oppression, Ken Loach has been one of the industry’s most important and alert directors for decades. He is one of only nine directors to win the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d’Or twice with The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake.

In an interview with Sky News, Loach tore into the MCU’s movies, saying, “they’re made as commodities like hamburgers, and it’s not about communicating and it’s not about sharing our imagination. It’s about making a commodity which will make a profit for a big corporation – they’re a cynical exercise. They’re market exercise and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema.”

Jane Campion

Jane Campion behind the camera

At an AFI test screening for her Oscar-winning film The Power of the Dog, New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was asked about her thoughts on superhero movies. “I hate them,” the Academy Award-winner declared, “I actually hate them.”

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She went into a bit more detail when asked by Variety if she would ever consider directing a superhero movie, to which she said, “I think it’s safe to say I will never do that… They’re so noisy and like ridiculous. Sometimes you get a good giggle, but I don’t know what the thing is with the capes, a grown man in tights. I feel like it must come from pantomime.”

Denis Villeneuve

Arguably the biggest filmmaker in the world right now, Denis Villeneuve is no stranger to huge special effects spectacles and commercial blockbusters. The Dune director has sung the praises of fellow blockbuster directors Christopher Nolan and Alfonso Cuaron but didn’t share the same love for the MCU.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Elmundo, as reported by The Hindu Times, Villeneuve described the Marvel movies as being “cut and paste,” commenting, “Perhaps the problem is that we are in front of too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a ‘cut and paste’ of others. Perhaps these types of movies have turned us into zombies a bit.”

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