superhero fatigue

I have been known to geek out and watch superhero movies, although I tend to be more interested in sci-fi and fantasy than famous comic book characters. But I have to admit that as cute as Chris Hemsworth is as Thor (and even cuter Tom Hiddleston as Loki) I am experiencing some serious superhero fatigue. I can't tell the difference between Iron Man 1, 2, or 3 and I simply don't care. I'm willing to bet that Robert Downey Jr. would find himself similarly challenged. I'm still not sure what brought us into the theater to see the first Captain America, but I have no intention of seeing #2. The only thing that I took away from seeing The Green Lantern was that Ryan Reynolds looked a little cross-eyed. Did CGI bring that unfortunate detail to light? I'm no fan of the Christian Bale as Batman movies, either.

What might have been ... Nicolas Cage in a costume test as Superman for Tim Burton's Superman Lives

But as much as I am starting to dislike the genre, I sat down and tried to watch Man of Steel the other day. It turned out to be just impossible. It is loud, ugly, incomprehensible, and the worst sin of all, completely boring. No matter how buff Henry Cavill may be, his Superman was just a big "No." Neither a plucky Amy Adams as Lois Lane, nor an earnest Russell Crowe as Superman's dad could save it. I didn't even get far enough into it to check out Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. All Man of Steel did was make me wonder what a Nicolas Cage Superman movie might have been like.

I suppose the Superman/Batman movie (with Ben Affleck as Batman, yikes) coming up will get an audience, but I am starting to wonder why. Lots of dark, murky action and way too-long and too noisy CGI explosion scenes seem to be the blueprint for all of these movies. Are comic books really Hollywood's only source material? Yawn.

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