“Dune,” helmed by French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has already been screened at the Venice Film Festival to largely positive reactions from people familiar and unfamiliar with the source material that hopefully telegraphs the film’s accessibility to a general audience.
Villeneuve has been making the press rounds over the last couple of months to promote the upcoming space fantasy film. In an interview with the French outlet Premiere, he offered his opinion on Marvel films, of course.
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“The problem today… Well, if we’re talking about Marvel, the thing is, all these films are made from the same mold. Some filmmakers can add a little color to it, but they’re all cast in the same factory. It doesn’t take anything away from the movies, but they are formatted.” the director told Premiere about his impression of the MCU.
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The filmmaker said the same thing to the Spanish outlet El Mundo, perhaps a little bit harsher. “There are too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a cut and paste of others,” he said.
To be fair, as enjoyable as Marvel Studios movies can be, they do all look fairly similar, though this is perhaps by design to fit into the greater “Cinematic Universe.” The problem with 20+ films in a franchise, many are going to blend and not give the impression of creative flourishes you’ll see elsewhere. When you watch a trailer for a project set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard not to notice similar visual cues and dialogue beats that signal it’s part of the same connective world.
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Does this rule Villeneuve out from directing a Marvel movie? Well, he was likely never going to make one in the first place. His version of “Star Wars” is a much more adult “Dune,” for example. If our review is any indication, it is not at all the commercial giant that the Lucasfilm franchise has been and something much more artistic and thought-provoking rather than entertaining escapist fare. Obviously, there’s room for both in this world, but it’s pretty clear from these comments what kind of films DV errs on the side of.
