In the spring of 2019, I was in the movie theater with my brother in Rotterdam, the Schenectady suburb, not the city in  the Netherlands, when we watched “Avengers: Endgame.” We were psyched.

The both of us grew up with the Hollywood mega-franchise that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with “Iron Man 2” being one of the first superhero films I ever watched, alongside Sam Raimi’s (“Doctor Strange in the Multivers of Madness”) “Spider-Man” trilogy and the “Fantastic Four” films, the latter being a guilty pleasure of mine. 

“Endgame” was the conclusion of a story arc that started 11 years prior and had been building up over the years. It was exciting to see Thanos on the big screen. I remember being disappointed that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was not about said villain. However, I can safely say that I was not disappointed by “Endgame.”

Judging by the title, along with the departures of stars Robert Downey, Jr. (“Tropic Thunder”) and Chris Evans (“The Gray Man”), I assumed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was finished or would be slowing down at least. With the ten-year story arc coming to a close, what more could they tell? 

Little did I realize that producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) would hit the accelerate button following the release of “Avengers: Endgame.” 

After Endgame came “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which I was not really all that interested in. I did enjoy “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and Tom Holland’s (“The Devil All the Time”) take on the character of Spider-Man, but I simply was not too interested because it seemed like the film had little to tell.

 Then came “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Eternals” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” This year, the studio put out “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” 

Of these films, “Eternals” was a bomb, “Black Widow” was just bad, and I simply was just not interested in “Shang-Chi.” Of all of the releases within Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the only one that I am interested in seeing, and I regret not watching in cinemas, is “No Way Home.” As for “Love and Thunder,” its predecessor, “Thor: Ragnarök,” was overrated, and the return of director Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”) turned me off from watching the film.

As Marvel struggles to justify their continual existence, I started to fall in love with the works of English filmmaker, Sir David Lean (“Brief Encounter”). A friend and I watched “Doctor Zhivago” together back in the spring  2022 semester, and we both loved it. For my birthday, I had two friends over and we watched the 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia.” Later on, I got to watch the 1957 classic “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” which starred Sir Alec Guinness (“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) as a British colonel who stubbornly tries to adhere to the Geneva convention while under Japanese occupation. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, as is its musical score. It is a shame that Lean went into semi-retirement in the 1970’s. I feel that many people missed out on the opportunity to see some great movies he made during his prime. Lean’s work made me fall in love with the late great Guinness, best known for his portrayal of the elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Perhaps, I have grown too old for Marvel movies and superheroes in general. But one cannot help but feel that director Marti Scorsese (“The Irishman”) was right. These movies do not feel like films anymore, but more like amusement park rides or just corporate products that are produced to make audiences excited for the nex tinstallment. I am certainly not impressed with the recent line up of films Marvel has had to offer, so I decided to find something else to enjoy. Many others may feel the same way in regards to Marvel movies, so I would like to encourage them to do the same thing as I did, as there are many other great movies out there to enjoy.

Image from Marvel Entertainment via YouTube