12 Major Problems With Today's Blockbuster Movies

Its that time of year again when we find ourselves in the midst of blockbuster season, as Hollywood's major studios release their big-budget projects in an effort to secure the hard-earned cash of audiences around the globe.

Unsurprisingly, this year has stuck pretty much to formula; Disney have scored hit after hit, Dominic Toretto and company disobeyed the laws of physics again and made off with another billion dollars at the box office, while comic book movies have once again reigned supreme thanks to Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman. And to the surprise of virtually nobody, King Arthur turned out to be a flop.

And therein lies the problem with blockbuster season, its all becoming a little too predictable. You can usually spot the successes and failures from a mile off and bar the occasional sleeper hit, the summer months are short on surprises.

It seems like the studios are all working from a similar blueprint in how these movies are constructed, with the result being a lot of average movies and very few great ones. There was a time when summer movies pushed the envelope, now most of them have become too bland and cookie-cutter to stand out from a crowded pack.

Do the studios think its better to play it safe and make a quick buck than try something different in the fear that it might backfire?

The old saying used to be that 'a hero is only as good as their villain', which is clearly something that the Hollywood machine has forgotten over the last few years given the sheer dearth of memorable antagonists to be found in the industry's big-budget output.

Marvel's Cinematic Universe is the prime example of this, as the MCU is now fifteen movies in with only Loki leaving a lasting impression. The competition over at DC isn't much better with every entry in the DCEU so far featuring underwhelming opposition for the heroes.

It isn't just limited to comic book movies either; Transformers, X-Men, Star Trek, Fast and Furious, Mission: Impossible and many other of Hollywood's big name franchises have had a lot more misses than hits in terms of underwhelming villains, and let's not forget that the rapidly-sinking Pirates of the Caribbean series wasted Ian McShane and Javier Bardem as terrible pirates!

The argument can be made that it is the name of the brand that is the main appeal of these movies, but far too often the bad guys in summer blockbusters are underdeveloped and underwritten, and serve virtually no purpose beyond giving our heroes a plot device to stop.

During the golden age of the action movie in the 80s and 90s there was Hans Gruber, chainmail-wearing Bennett, Xenomorphs, the Predator, the T800, the T1000, Gary Oldman several times over and countless others.

Since the turn of the 21st Century, how many iconic villains has mainstream Hollywood created? Outside of Heath Ledger's Joker an maybe one or two others, they are slim pickings indeed.