Be careful not to irritate him, or the bill will be salty: not in destroyed court furniture or torn jackets, but in special effects. It depends The Independent, the moral to be drawn from She-Hulk : Avocate, the latest series in the Marvel universe, broadcast by Disney+ since August 18.
The story “centers on Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), cousin of Bruce Banner, aka Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). A talented lawyer, she finds herself endowed with powers similar to those of the Hulk after being contaminated by the blood of her cousin. summarizes the British daily. “Easy to guess what happens to her from there: she gains a propensity to literally go green with rage.”
“An ugly fuzzy magma”
This new adaptation of comics has been criticized since its trailer, recalls The Independent, and the release of the first episode did nothing to reassure the visual quality of the whole. The journalist Louis Chilton sighs in particular in front of the spectacle of the two Hulk clashing in the middle of the jungle. “Their fight escalates very quickly to turn into an ugly fuzzy magma of cheap special effects.”
He is interested in this paradox that is Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Disney: “She produced the biggest and most lucrative film franchises in the world, and yet her special effects have been under fire for some months. Despite the millions of dollars invested in the field, the end result too often leaves much to be desired.”
Tense working conditions
Certainly, concedes the journalist, who cites in particular the example of WandaVision, a few original works showed off the studio’s creative abilities, but not enough to contradict those for whom Marvel offers Hollywood fast food.
The working conditions are not for nothing in the result. The Independent sees the testimony on Twitter of Dhruv Govilhaving worked on the films Spider-Man : Homecoming et Guardians of the Galaxy. “Working for the Marvel series is what pushed me to leave the world of special effects. They’re horrible clients, and I’ve seen too many co-workers break down after working like crazy, while the purse strings [des producteurs] are constantly tightening.”
The daily cross-checks these denunciations with those of other employees in the sector and evokes requests for last-minute modifications or unforeseen changes in the dates of rendering on the part of Marvel.
Uncomfortable small screen
The whole affair is revealing of the difficult articulation between feature films and series, at the heart of the upheavals induced by streaming, analysis The Independent. “Despite their growing importance in studio strategy, series are still far from benefiting from the same budget as blockbuster feature films, and for good reason: they do not allow for cost recovery.”
Until now, television productions had more than one trick up their sleeve to reduce these costs, “by limiting the scale of the pieces of bravery, by reusing the same sets and filming locations, by dispensing with famous actors and, if necessary, by being satisfied with physical effects”. However, the problem comes from the fact that Marvel wants to create series with the same rendering as its blockbusters, without devoting the same budget to it.
Many works attract the favor of critics and the public despite failed special effects, recognizes the British daily, but it concludes that these defects in She-Hulk only accentuate the other flaws. To return to the example of the fight cited, it “isn’t sad to see just because of sloppy CGI. There is no dramatic tension, it is heavily staged and, as far as Ruffalo is concerned, unconvincingly acted”.
The journalist finally splits a piece of advice: in the absence of more refined special effects, Marvel would be well inspired to “find a better way to tell his stories”.