Ken Loach has joined the chorus of auteur directors criticising superhero movies, saying they have “nothing to do with the art of cinema”.
Loach spoke to Sky while promoting his new film, Sorry We Missed You, an account of the breadline existence of a gig-economy delivery driver in Newcastle.
Loach said of superhero films: “I find them boring. They’re made as commodities … like hamburgers … It’s about making a commodity which will make profit for a big corporation – they’re a cynical exercise. They’re a market exercise and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema.”
Loach, who has won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake, echoes the sentiments of American directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola in criticising blockbuster superhero films. Scorsese called superhero cinema “theme park” films, while Coppola described Marvel as despicable. Directors such as James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Joss Whedon (The Avengers) have defended the genre, with Gunn writing on social media: “Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers.”
