“I get a little feisty about that.”
Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay Elizabeth Olsen has admitted frustration at some of the criticism that the MCU has attracted during its recent years of box office dominance.
Currently starring in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – read JOE’s not-all-that-impressed review right here – Olsen has noted she gets “a little feisty” in relation to certain specific critiques.
In conversation with the UK Independent, Olsen, who became a regular key player in the MCU from 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron onwards – argued that knocking Marvel films is a bit of a slap in the face to the tireless work put in by an extensive crew of people.
Olsen noted that when people “make them seem like a lesser type of art”, that bothers her.
“I’m not saying we’re making indie art films, but I just think it takes away from our crew, which bugs me,” she said. “These are some of the most amazing set designers, costume designers, camera operators – I feel diminishing them with that kind of criticism takes away from all the people who do award-winning films, that also work on these projects.
“From an actor’s point of view, whatever, I get it; I totally understand that there’s a different kind of performance that’s happening. But I do think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the hundreds of very talented crew people. That’s where I get a little feisty about that.”
Some high-profile jabs have come from the likes of Martin Scorsese, who hasn’t been shy in stating that Marvel movies are “not cinema”, and Francis Ford Coppola, who criticised the MCU formula, who told GQ Magazine in February that the films are “prototypes made over and over and over again to look different”.
On the professional review front, the Doctor Strange sequel currently has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes – the lowest score for a Marvel movie since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, with the exception of 2021’s Eternals.
Of course, the main thing that matters here is the box office, and business has proved very good indeed for Benedict Cumberbatch and company since the film’s release last week.
As it turns out, the Multiverse of Madness enjoyed the 10th biggest box office opening weekend of all time, making an estimated $450 million worldwide. The film took in just north of €2 million in Ireland, topping the charts with ease.
Critics, eh? Who needs ’em. Wait, come back…
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