Martin Scorsese has defended his Marvel comments after calling the franchise ‘theme park movies’.
The star caused outrage earlier this year following an interview with Empire Magazine where he dragged the much-loved superhero flicks and branded them ‘not cinema’.
However, despite receiving a huge amount of backlash, the 76-year-old is still standing by his words.
Writing an article in The New York Times, the filmmaker explained what he meant in a lengthy essay.
He told his readers: ‘Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen.
‘The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament.
‘I know that if I were younger, if I’d come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself.’
Later in the piece, the star went onto compare Marvel films to those projects crafted by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock – which he called an ‘extraordinary experience’.
But while he said they deliver shock and thrill, it seems the director believes the comic book craze is lacking in certain elements.
‘Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures,’ he explained: ‘What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk.’
The father-of-three went on: ‘The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.’
At the time of his comments Francis Ford Coppola agreed and called the movies ‘despicable’.
James Gunn (who directed Guardians Of The Galaxy) slammed the directors, while Iron Man’s Jon Favreau threw his support behind the stars.
When chatting to CNBC, he called Martin his hero before adding: ‘They have earned the right to express their opinions. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if they didn’t carve the way.’
He continued: ‘They served as a source of inspiration, you can go all the way back to Swingers… They can express whatever opinion they like.’
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