Mel Gibson is hardly one to judge the quality of someone’s personal life, but given his track record as a director, he is in a position to judge the quality of films — in any case, he’s certainly entitled to his opinions, just like the rest of us. And in news that will probably become a huge deal in certain conspiracy theory corners of Reddit, the actor and director has some harsh words for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

As of this writing, I have to assume Gibson’s face has already been printed out and pinned to a massive bulletin board covered in yarn as further proof of some vast Marvel conspiracy to destroy DC’s superhero universe. It’s like Homeland, but with comic-book movies. (Okay, actually, I would watch this show.)

Anyhow! Following the Venice premiere of his new World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge, Gibson spoke with Deadline about the project and the movie business in general. When talk turned to blockbusters, Gibson had this to say about the Hollywood system:

I look at them and scratch my head. I’m really baffled by it. I think there’s a lot of waste, but maybe if I did one of those things with the green screens, I’d find out different. I don’t know. Maybe they do cost that much. It seems to me that you could do it for less. If you’re spending outrageous amounts of money, $180 million or more, I don’t know how you make it back after the tax man gets you and after you give half to the exhibitors.

He’s not off, especially coming on the heels of the worst summer of studio blockbusters since 2001 (we did the math). With very few exceptions, this summer has made blockbuster filmmaking seem more excessive and wasteful than ever before, and proven that studios are learning the wrong lessons when it comes to big budget films.

The real treat of Gibson’s interview, though, is when he specifically calls out Zack Snyder’s superhero epic and asks, “What did they spend on Batman v Superman that they’re admitting to?” When the interviewer tells him that Snyder’s film had a reported budget of $250 million, Gibson responded:

And it’s a piece of shit.

Before you scoff, remember that Gibson is responsible for one of the most successful films of all time with The Passion of the Christ, which remains the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made, the highest-grossing independent film, and the highest-grossing faith-based film with $612 million worldwide on a $30 million budget — so maybe he knows a little something about making movies? I dunno.

Gibson wasn’t done yet, though, and went on to ponder the difference between real superheroes and fictional ones, and the high overhead cost of spandex:

I’m not interested in the stuff. Do you know what the difference between real superheroes and comic book superheroes is? Real superheroes didn’t wear spandex. So I don’t know. Spandex must cost a lot.

Consider this your official PSA: Hacksaw Ridge features exactly zero heroic acts performed while wearing spandex (though it does star former Spider-Man spandex-wearer Andrew Garfield) and hits theaters on November 4 — the same day as Marvel’s latest superhero adventure, Doctor Strange.

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