What: An in-depth look at what makes the DC movie action scenes so snoozifying, compared to those in Marvel’s MCU.
Who: Pop culture analyzing YouTube channel Nerdwriter1.
Why we care: Marvel has had quite a year. First came Black Panther, the record-breaking, potential Oscar contender, which was followed by Avengers: Infinity War, the culmination of a decade’s worth of careful groundwork-laying that paid off big-time, both creatively and financially. DC’s extended universe (DCEU) is another story, however. After finally, finally scoring a universally revered smash with Wonder Woman, the studio quickly squandered its goodwill with Justice League, a long-teased team-up that landed with the thud of one indestructible superhero’s fist landing in another indestructible superhero’s face. One careful observer has some good ideas about where DC may be going wrong.
“The Problem with DC Action Scenes” takes an astute inventory of DC’s glaring weaknesses. The video begins by describing the formula that Marvel movies tend to share with the Mission: Impossible series: Three to four good set pieces, non-horrible plot, charismatic actors, and a few laughs. Of course, the bulk of the video concentrates on the set pieces, those big splashy action scenes with a ton of moving parts that are telegraphed in the trailer but meant to exceed expectations. The author of the piece, Nerdwriter1, then spends a few minutes highlighting DC’s problem areas: getting the physics wrong, limiting superpower usage to its most basic brute-force functions, and perhaps most important of all, forgetting to slip in crucial character moments in between ass-kickings. Nerdwriter1 intersplices a bunch of Marvel clips in between the DC ones to illustrate the contrast between them.
Have a look below to help clarify why you may not be looking forward to DC’s Aquaman this fall with superheroic intensity.
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