Enough with "Dark and Gritty"

All over the place, films are migrating towards the singularity of being more serious in tone. Action films all tend to go for a more grounded feel rather than the dozens of other available options, sci-fi films now feel a need to restrict themselves to a more edgy and “realistic” style and fantasy epics are... well, unfortunately few and far between actually, but they have also been affected by this post 9/11 brown filter that’s been hung over Hollywood of late. Hell, even Superman, an alien from outer space with makeshift super-science powers who stands for truth, justice and the American way has felt the effects of the grit that’s paving over all the driveways in film.

Now, I ain’t saying that having a darker vibe to a film is an intrinsically bad thing, just look at the masterpiece that is the Dark Knight, but it’s a trend which is being aped without being understood. See, what a more gloomy tone does for a film is ground it in a reality that gives it a chance to convey a more hard-hitting theme of its choice. Like in the aforementioned Dark Knight, the ideas of heroism feel planted in a familiar world and thus speak more deeply about our world. However, it’s just one technique, of which there are many. Take The Matrix as a counter-point. It’s world is a bizarre and often surreal one, yet it manages to beautifully craft a story about destiny and choosing your path by planting it in such a different universe and showing how it still applies. But because giving a film a darker feel makes it sell better according to the charts in Hollywood offices, that’s what we get, even with films that really don’t need it like the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Amazing Spider-Man, Terminator: Genisys, Fantastic Four etc...

Still, it must be said that there is still a market and even a need for films that do employ such a tone to their stories. But what I’m seeing all too regularly is boring, identical action films like Hitman: Agent 47 and The Transporter: Refuelled, two movies that were so generically “dark and gritty” that I can barely even separate them in my head when I try and think of them. Put those next to the Mad Max: Fury Road which delivered a zany, practical effect centred, fast paced action spectacle and you can see why critics (and myself) have been banging on about that particular film ever since its release. What seems to be the biggest effect of this tonal singularity we’re all circling around is that whenever an adaptation, reboot or remake gets green-lit (which is roughly every other day), the default approach is to give it a dark tone and gritty feel. The worst part of it is when the creators get interviewed and talk about how they went for a dark and gritty tone thinking that it’s in and of itself a selling point without giving any reason for adopting that approach.

I mean look at Marvel, with their Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, whom we’re all willing to bow down to and hail as king because their mission statement is “HAVE FUN”. So in summary, let’s start getting a little more varied with our tone, whether that’s having more light-hearted blockbuster films or just using a wider variety of more sombre tones than the “dark and gritty” template. Because I’m sick of it, so can we change things up... please?

#Opinion #film #featured