Mainstream: Blockbusters That Are Actually Good

To totally deny a commercial film’s artistic merit is to disregard the meaning of art. Who am I to dismiss a film because I could not derive substance from it? Yes, films can be made solely to make money and they can lack originality. But an unintended effect is the creation of art. Film is a vessel transporting us into a universe different to our own, allowing us to experience stories that impact us emotionally, physically, and psychologically. Mindless action can be awesome; one-dimensional characters can have resonance. If a person leaves a screening stimulated by the spectacle they just witnessed and must readjust to reality, then cinema has done its job. Art embeds within our core and induces feeling, whatever that feeling may be. This is the importance of film.

than watered down derivations of their predecessors.

There is of course entertainment to be derived from commercial films that enjoy global releases. I may dare say art. An MCU release that means a lot to me is Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts, 2021). There have been numerous adaptations of Spider-Man, but the film was not a tired rehash. It had pathos, exploring virtue and the true cost of responsibility and doing the right thing. The film was made with a palpable respect for Spider-Man fans. It moreover appealed to the cinephiles and the casual moviegoer, evident by its return as the seventh highest grossing film ever.

Prolonged franchises can also have significance. Sequels which are cash grabs for studios, evident through short release times between instalments or messy scripts, can make contributions to film. Think of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series’ impact on horror and wider pop culture. If it wasn’t for the subsequent films expanding the story, then Freddy Krueger would not be as resonant as he is today. The so-called “final girl”, ubiquitous in horror history, would be less pronounced, and practical make-up artists would have had fewer outlets to shock an audience with gory goodness.

Typical industry output changes through the decades. We are in a trend of reviving old intellectual properties or continuing with popular franchises. Buall is not lost. A commercial film can have merit, either by going beyond surface level entertainment, or by very well succeeding in this purpose. Originality can pop up where we least expect it to, and if audiences’ wallets continue to sing (profit, whether we like it or not, is still a primary goal) then the outlook for the industry and the cinema is just fine.