Can a great superhero film be a great film, period? That seems to be a debate that has no end in sight. As superhero films become better and better, earning plenty of Oscar buzz, there is a selection of film fans that still look at the genre as less-than. Sure, these films are well-made and have some of the biggest movie stars on the planet, but they are can’t be held in the same esteem as a new film from Paul Thomas Anderson or Hirokazu Kore-eda. At least, that’s what many believe.
One of those people is actor Ethan Hawke. While he’s riding high with his incredible performance in “First Reformed” and his latest directorial effort “Blaze,” Hawke has been known to dabble the more mainstream works. But even so, the actor thinks there’s a huge difference between “big business” and art. In a new interview with Film Stage, Hawke talks about how big business moviemaking is pushing out those arthouse works that are more important.
“So many things get lost in the cracks and if those big names are getting lost, where are the ‘Gattacas’ of right now? It might be like other art forms where it might take 50 years to curate what’s happening right now. That’s why film festivals have become so important because you guys at film festivals are like curators of, like, what does the world need to be paying attention to. What should be seen? If we didn’t have these festivals, big business would crush all these smaller movies,” explains Hawke.
He goes on to bring up the biggest example of big business movies, superhero works. Specifically, he wants to make sure everyone knows that the best superhero film is still just a superhero film.
And to help illustrate that point, he brings up the Oscar-nominated “Logan:”
“Now we have the problem that they tell us ‘Logan’ is a great movie. Well, it’s a great superhero movie. It still involves people in tights with metal coming out of their hands. It’s not Bresson. It’s not Bergman. But they talk about it like it is. I went to see Logan cause everyone was like, ‘This is a great movie’ and I was like, ‘Really? No, this is a fine superhero movie.’ There’s a difference but big business doesn’t think there’s a difference. Big business wants you to think that this is a great film because they wanna make money off of it.”
Now, “snob” is a harsh word but it’s hard not to read a quote like that and think that Hawke snubs his nose at superhero films as some sort of commercial entertainment without artistic integrity. While he’s probably correct with 90% of the genre, it’s hard to deny films like “Wonder Woman,” “Black Panther,” and to a much lesser extent “Avengers: Infinity War” are such cultural milestones that it’s hard to deny there isn’t a bit of art in them.
Sure, they’re not having big Cannes or Venice debuts, but who’s going to watch Joaquin Phoenix in the upcoming “Joker” and say that he’s not going to give it the same attention as he did “You Were Never Really Here.” Now, Hawke’s argument about big business controlling the industry and attempting to push out the mid-budget films? Well, he has a point there.