[Locke]

I know we have a comics thread, but I thought maybe spreading out discussions of the movies is worth its own thread. If not, feel free to merge.

So AS2 was released in the US and as it did, it critically plummeted. I know on the internet it's cool to not listen to critics, but it's something I pay attention to as a mainstream critical reaction is a good reflection of the social conciousness of the time it was written.

I bring this up, as currently, since the release in the US Amazing Spider-Man 2 has dropped down to an aggregated score of 5.3, marking it the most critically meh'd Spider-Man film across the five films from the last decade or so. Yes, lower than Spider-Man 3. Primary complaints from critics complain that the film is overstuffed, overlong, poorly paced and would have done with cutting out Electro entirely, and focused more on its own story than the sequel.

Personal opinions aside, I still find this amusing as right now Winter Soldier 2 is currently tracking an aggregated score of seven, so although not a critical darling it's currently two points ahead of AS2 and yet primary complaints with Winter Soldier is that the film is overstuffed, overlong, poorly paced and would have done with cutting out Elec- The Winter Soldier entirely, and focused more on its own story than the sequel. So...eh?

I bring this up, because I found similar frustrations with the Avengers in 2012. Basically a Transformers film in Avengers clothing, yet both fans and critics threw unfounded and unnecessary praise at all angles while simultaneously hurling bile at the Transformers franchise like it killed your family.

So I'm just interested as to what is going on with our culture right now, that a film made by a Marvel Studio is able to soak up criticisms and always come out on top, while any licence held by a rival studio is chewed up and spat out the moment a critic gets their hands on it. Because speaking personally, I'd much rather watch the X-Men Trilogy or the Amazing Spider-Man films, than sit through Marvel's Act One again.