Super Long Superhero Movies

I've been watching some more of those superhero films, courtesy of one of those dodgy streaming channels on Roku.  I have to say that of the four films I've seen over he past couple of weeks, only one, the third Guardians of the Galaxy film, was what I would describe as an entirely entertaining experience.  That said, it was still far too long, but we'll come back to that point later.  Of the others, Morbius, a Columbia production rather than a pure Marvel product, at least ran under two hours, but it was still, quite probably, the dullest big budget comic book adaptation I've ever seen.  I honestly had real problems giving it my full attention, it was so slow and unengaging and lacking in any remotely likeable characters.  I still have mixed feelings about Chrstopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (which, for some unaccountable reason, I'd never previously gotten around to watching).  While, on the one hand, it was an extremely good-looking and very well made film, at two and three-quarter hours, it was far too long.  Particularly in light of the fact that there just wasn't enough Batman in all that running time, our supposed hero absent from the action for long stretches.  (I know that, for plot purposes, this was a deliberate ploy, but it badly weakened the film, resulting in long talky sequences of other characters explaining the plot, instead of giving us Bat-action sequences to move the story along).  It was also hampered by a poor villain in Bane (who, despite being boring as Hell, was given far too much screen time) - quite why Tom Hardy was cast in the role, when he was hidden behind a mask in all but one scene and quite why he chose to play the part with a Sean Connery vocal impersonation, I really don't know,  But whatever the reason, it just didn't work.

But I still enjoyed the Nolan film far more than I did The Batman which, at just shy of three hours long, became an endurance test.  An hour of that running time could easily have been lost.  Like The Dark Knight Rises, it is an extremely good-looking movie, all dark and moody, with lots of rain falling in Gotham City.  While the decision to take the character back to his roots and focus on Batman's detective skills rather than his prowess in beating up villains was an interesting approach, the film's excessive running time and often glacial pace, resulted in it becoming tedious.  I just kept hoping - largely in vain - for a few proper action sequences to break up the tedium.  It didn't help that Robert Pattinson's performance made no distinction, character-wise, between Bruce Wayne and Batman, leaving me feeling that surely it must be obvious to everyone that they were one and the same.  Still, he did have a very cool Batmobile, fashioned after a late sixties muscle car, which featured in the film's best sequence, a lengthy car chase through Gotham City.  If only the rest of the film had matched this, then it would have been far more entertaining. That said, even if it had been more action orientated, with nearly three hours to fill, I suspect that The Batman would still have dragged.  Which is a problem for most modern superhero films - is the art of succinct story-telling, let alone editing, dead?  Even the Guardians of the Galaxy film, which I liked, was too long at two and a half hours, its length the result, in large part, due to trying to encompass too many sub-plots and tie up too many loose ends set up in previous movies.  

Which is another problem with these films, especially the Marvel adaptations - they don't stand as independent entities.  The Guardians of the Galaxy films being a case in point.  Normally, when it comes to a trilogy of films, one would expect only to have seen the previous entries in order to fully understand the final part.  But in order to fully understand everything going on in the third Guardians of the Galaxy film, you also need to have seen two Avengers films, Infinity Wars and Endgame, which contain vital plot developments which dictate much of the actions in this film.  (Watching the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, made for TV, would also help you understand this film).  Which represents a considerable investment of time and money.  So, after these experiences, will I watch any more of these type of movies?  Well, if they turn up on dodgy streaming services, very probably, although their excessive running times make them difficult to schedule - watching just one can take up a huge chunk of my day.  Let's face it, I could watch at least two exploitation films in the time it takes to watch something like The Batman and there's a pretty good chance that they'd provide me with more entertainment.