MINOR SPOILERS FOR BIRDMAN. As much as I enjoyed Birdman, theres one big annoyance I have with it that I cant stop thinking about (okay, two annoyances. The theatre-critic sub-plot didnt work at all) and thats the obsession the film has with discrediting the superhero movie-genre. Now, let me make something clear. Im not a fan of superhero movies. Im a fan of good movies. If a movie is good, it doesnt matter if its source material came from a comic book. I praised the hell out of Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight but The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and X-Men Origins: Wolverine can suck it. However, Birdman seems to decry the mere existence of these comic book action movies (its aim is SPECIFICALLY at comic book movies and the film makes that abundantly clear in the first 10 minutes). In one of the main characters fantasy sequences, his inner-thoughts (Birdman) tell him that people only want mindless violence and spectacle and that hell make billions of dollars if he goes back to that. Heres the thing... Not only is Birdman (and, by proxy, director Alejandro González Iñárritu) decrying the existence of movies that DONT EVEN EXIST ANYMORE, but when those types of movies DID exist, they paid the price by getting poor box-office returns and a legacy that those movie studios and actors would rather forget. It feels like director Alejandro González Iñárritu is complaining about movies...that he hasnt even seen. And that makes Birdman come across as very petty. Yes. Birdman, while an enjoyable, entertaining and technically well accomplished movie, is petty. Written review coming soon. Ill elaborate there.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 21:10:01 +0000