12 Major Problems With Today's Blockbuster Movies

4. The Blue Sky Beam

Sky Beams
Marvel Studios

Ah, the giant blue beam of light shooting into the sky. Also known as the universal signal that 'the CGI-overloaded third-act battle is about to commence'. It has become almost ubiquitous in the studio blockbuster these days, to the point that its mere presence causes plenty of eye-rolling among the audience.

Surely there are other ways to signal that some bad sh*t is about to go down? How about ominous clouds? Some kind of artifact or machine that can destroy entire cities or possibly the world? Portals? No wait, they're all pretty much the exact same thing.

Quite possibly the laziest and most unimaginative way to present the climax of a blockbuster movie, over the last few years the 'stuff happening in the sky' trope has been spotted in Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Suicide Squad, Man of Steel, Men in Black III, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, RIPD, The Amazing Spider-Man, Fant4stic, X-Men: Apocalypse, Ghostbusters and Warcraft to name but a small few.

Is it really that difficult to come up with the ending to a blockbuster movie? Or is their some kind of 'sky beam' quota that every studio has to meet?

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