The Best (and Worst) of Comic Book Movies May 8, 2008
Posted by Dan in Uncategorized.Tags: comics, Movies
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So Iron Man is getting all kinds of good press and a lot of people I talk to have seen it and given it a good review. I haven’t seen this one yet but it’s high on my list of “gotta see” movies. I figured since it’s out and I have the time I’d throw my two cents into the ring and give my take on the best and worst comic book movies of al times. Oh and just a warning, if you by chance haven’t seen any of these movies beware there be spoilers ahead!
The Good
Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2: The first one took forever to come out, I lost count of how many studios had the rights to this one and how many drafts of the script there were. If I were a bigger nerd or really gave a damn I could probably find out but since I’m not gonna do that we’ll just say lots and lots.
It would have been really easy to screw up this franchise but fortunately Sam Raimi gave it the right amounts of humor and action and did a good job on the casting. Tobey McGuire really did an excellent job playing Peter Parker and the villains were believeable, J.K. Simmons was spot on as J. Jonah Jameson, Kirsten Dunst….she was ok. Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge fan of hers but she seemed to be kind of just there for the check sometimes.
X-Men/X-Men 2: This was another franchise that took forever to get off the ground but once it finally came to be was done really well. You may have noticed that I left the third installments of both of these franchises off the list, theres a reason for that and we’ll get into it just a bit.
Again I thought they did an excellent job casting this one, Patrick Stewart was the perfect choice as Professor X, he had the look and ability to carry off the role without making it seem too unrealistic, James Marsden was able to capture Cyclops’s alloofness and superior attitude and still make him a somewhat likeable character and a true leader of the team. I really like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and I’m convinced Ian McKellen can play damn near any role out there.
Batman/Batman Begins: I am a huge Bat-fan so of course these two had to make the list. The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, Knightsend…all great Batman stories, if you can pick them up in graphic novel form definitely check them out. The original Batman kicks ass because it was such a different take on the character from the cartoonish television that used to be on television back in the late ’60’s. This Batman was dark, gritty and violent and the Joker wasn’t afraid to kill whoever got in his way.
Batman Begins kicks ass because it actually gives Bruce/Batman more of an origin story and delves into the training he underwent to become the Dark Knight. It also delved into the relationship between Bats and Gordon and explains where he gets those wonderful toys.
Hellboy: I don’t know a lot of the backstory for this one like I do the others, I stil have yet to read an issue of the comic but Ron Pearlman played a pretty kick ass demon in my opinion. From what I’ve seen of the comic they stayed pretty close to the look and origin of the characters, one of these days I’ll get around to reading it.
There are a few more that are worth mentioning but these would be the ones I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island and could only take a few movies with me.
The Bad:
Narrowing this down to just a few was a challenge as well. Comic movies, like video game movies can go wrong real fast. These next few movies just….well I’ll let you form your own opinions.
Spider-man 3: I wanted to like this one, I really did! It’s just if your gonna make Venom a character you need to devote a movie just to him. Spidey 3 would have been just fine with Sandman and the Harry as the villains, with Eddie/Venom in the mix it just felt too rushed and you don’t really get to explore the relationship Peter had with the suit and Brock like you did in the comics. I know you can only do so much with the source material but if they woud have just held off a little longer this one might not have been on this side of the list. If there is another Spidey movie I’d love to see them do a variation of “Kraven’s Last Hunt” hands down my favorite comic story of all time. Basically Kraven “kills” Spidey, buries him and assumes the role of everyone’s favorite wall crawler. MJ is left wondering what happened to her hubby till she see’s “Spidey” brutally beat a mugger. I don’t want to give away too much in case you come across it and want to read it but it really is a great story.
X-Men 3: Where do I start with this one? Again a good idea gone horribly wrong. The Dark Phoenix saga should have been it’s own movie, not crammed into a movie about the cure for being a mutant. And Rogue being “cured”? Seriously? Who’s idea was that? And don’t even get me started on the Juggernaut, “I’m the Juggernaut bitch?” Please! Oh and I love how Angel pulled a Darth Maul on us, he was so heavil hyped before the movie came out but was hardly in the damn thing! You know theres so much wrong with this movie I could spend a lot more time listing it but there are other movies worthy of my scorn so I’m just gonna leave this one alone for now.
Batman Returns/Batman Forever/Batman & Robin: Batman Returns is kind of borderline on being good and being bad, on the one hand you’ve got Christopher Walken and Danny Devito as the villains but Devito’s Penguin is so over the top and manic it’s hard to enjoy. Tim Burton kinda lost the vision of Batman for me with this one but if I had to choose a sequel other than the two listed above to watch I’d take this one anyday. Batman Forever and Batman & Robin…words fail me as to how bad these two are. People blame George Clooney for killing the Batman franchise for a while but in my opinion the true villain is Joel Schumacher. Nipples on the Bat-suit? And what’s with all the neon colors? But the biggest travesty of all is how he handled the Bane character in Batman and Robin. In the movie he’s a dumb hulking brute incapable of independent thought but in the comic he was a brilliant criminal who figured out Wayne was Batman and used his sense of duty to cripple him in the Knightsend story line. No matter how much you polish this one it’s still a turd.
Daredevil: Oh Marvel, why? This one isn’t as bad as the last batch but it’s pretty bad. Ben Affleck…nothing against the guy but he shouldn’t have played Matt Murdoch, I’m sorry it’s just not a good casting decision. And what did they do to Bullseye? He was such a cool villain in the comics but to make him a bald Irish guy with a bullseye tatoo in his head? So, so wrong. This one spawned a sequel, Elektra, I haven’t seen that one yet, well not all of it so for right now it’s safe from my scorn but I’ve heard it’s a stinker too.
There are a few other comic movies out there I could review but I’m gonna call this list good for now. Maybe when “The Dark Knight” comes out this summer I’ll review some of the others Like the Fantastic Four and the Blade movies. Until then true believers ’nuff said.
Great post sir, I especially agree with the ‘bad’ listings. Joel Schumacer has proven himself capable of making the odd good movie here are there, but what he was doing with his two versions I’ll never know. As for X3? Well, it’s reason alone why Brett Ratner shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near someone else’s (Bryan Singer’s) work - what a pile of piss.
I am actually quite a fan of Batman Returns. Sure, it;s not great, but I always find it an ejoyable watch.
As for my personal worst? Blade Trinity or any of The Crow sequels.
Yeah I was gonna get into the Crow movies but this article would have been a lot longer. The first one was pretty good but after that….well let’s just remember the first one and make it easy for ourselves.
I liked Spiderman 3, more than 2 but I didn’t like 2 half as much as anyone else did. X-men 2 was the perfect sequel, one that surpasses everything the original did. Last time I watched 1989 Batman, I kind of came to the conclusion that it really wasn’t that much different from the 60s Batman. It’s still a movie drowning in pop culture and Hollywood’s hip. I’d take 60s Batman over it anyday, I love the mid 60s a lot more than I love the the late 80s. Plus I just hate Burton and anything that’s not Peewee’s big adventure. Batman Begins doesn’t even need to be qualified as a comic book movie, it’s just flat out a work of film. Haven’t seen Hellboy, have barely read him. Like what I’ve read, probably won’t pursue to read more though.
My big problem with X-men 3, besides failing to live up to 2, is the plot was so wimpy. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happened in 3 that wasn’t reversed at the end or couldn’t be reversed 2 minutes into 4. I’ve always hated Batman Returns and when I first saw it, I was at a point in my life where Batman could do no wrong. Too Burton. I actually like Returns better but I hate Jim Carey for Ave Venturaing my favorite Batman villian of all time. I kind of liked Daredevil and I kind of didn’t but my movie ticket came free with my purchase of X-men 1.5. I’d like to see the director’s cut DVD.
flat out great work of film*
liked Forever better*
I still havent seen Spiderman 3 but i would like to check it out as I enjoyed one and too, so I wouldn’t mind a bit of follow up.
And I agree with doho about X-2, thats one hell of a sequel !
what about The Crow television series?
You know Josh I don’t know that I’ve seen the Crow tv series. I liked the first movie but the ones after that not so much.
I’m not quite sure, but I believe it only had a Canadian release.
But of course I could be completely mistaken.
Ok, where to start…
First off, Tim Burton’s first Batman is my all-time favorite movie, ever, ever. It cemented Micheal Keaton as being my all-time favorite actor and I can quote just about every word of it. That’s all I got to say about that. Batman Returns had some great stuff about it and I was pretty jazzed when it came out. I still love it, but am not that big a fan of Danny DeVito’s Penguin, for all the reasons Dan listed. For my money, no one will ever top Burgess Meredith. It did have some great imagery though and as long as Burton and Keaton are making a Batman movie, I’m there. As for Batman Forever and Batman and Robin…Ahem, well, let’s just move on…
Being a huge Batman geek and loving near anything to do with him, I was really jazzed about Batman Begins. Christian Bale is no Micheal Keaton but he got the job done just fine. I remember being in the theatre and turning to my cousin half way in to the movie after a particularly good scene and saying something like, “Ok, the movie could end right now and it would be worth the money.” After Schumacker pissed all over the franchise, it was a total breath of fresh air.
The Dark Knight–When the first picture of Heath Ledger as Joker was released on the net, I was actually pretty pissed. I couldn’t believe this pretty boy idiot was going to walk around in a Batman movie actually trying to play the Joker, not with bleached white skin and permanent grin, but just with a sloppy makeup job, a little scarring, and badly dyed hair. But, after having seen all three trailers over the last year, I think he might actually rival Nicholson’s Joker. Not since the first Batman have I been this excited about a movie. I have been completely proven wrong, just from the trailers alone, so yeah, I’m pretty jazzed about this summer. Plus, I just saw the leaked picture of Two Face from the movie, and it looks amazing.
Loved the first 2 X-Men movies, especially the first one, but had a LOT of problems with the 3rd one. On the plus side, we did FINALLY get to see a couple of things I’ve always wanted to see in an X-Men movie–namely a Sentinel (although it was kind of a tease), and Iceman “Icing up”. I still wanted to see him do his sort of ice-surfing thing and was kind of disappointed he didn’t. He’s always been one of my favorite X-Men for some reason, but has always been kind of underrated and ignored. Also, was kind of bummed we didn’t really get to see The Danger Room. And for crying out loud! What was with that half-assed weak attempt at the Dark Pheonix saga? Come on! That so should have been its own movie. Plus, waaay too many people died for no reason it all. And yeah, Angel was a big disappointment. He had what, like 2 scenes in the whole movie? Plus, Rogue was practially non-existant. Yeah, there was a lot of potential, but it was really wasted on a sub-par movie. Hopefully the Wolverine and Magneto movies will be better.
Spider-Man 3–Way too much going on. Venom should have totally gotten his own movie. Sandman was just unnecessary and I didn’t care for the ending. Otherwise, pretty good. I’m hoping for The Lizard in the next one, though. I’d really like to see that.
Daredevil/Elektra–I HATED Dardevil. I won’t even go into it cause I think Dan summed it up perfectly. I actually found some redeemable stuff about Elektra. I expect everyone to disagree with me, but taking it as kind of a B-Movie, I kind of enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because I just never got into the Daredevil and Elektra comics, so I didn’t go into it with any expectations. On its own, I thought it was a fun little, crappy-good movie. Maybe I just really like Jennifer Garner. Can’t explain it.
Iron Man was AMAZING. I did have one complaint about it which I won’t mention here in case anyone hasn’t seen it yet cause I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think most people will see it coming a mile away anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Actually, the fact that the “twist” is so easy to see coming, is exactly my complaint. But, aside from that, I loved it. Robert Downy Jr. can do no wrong.
The Crow and its sequels.–First one, brilliant. Anything after that, well, like Dan said, we’ve still got the first one. I actually met James O’Barr at a comic book convention. I heard he was kind of a jerk but ignored that cause I would rather just form my own opinion, but it turned out he was every bit the jerk everyone made him out to be. I actually met him twice over the course of 2 years and he was kind of an asshole both times. Maybe he’s different these days, but yeah, that was kind of a shame.
Honorable Mentions: GOOD–Perdition, Sin City
Disonorable Mention: BAD–Catwoman–Two hours of my life I’ll never get back. I actually literally almost walked out of the theater. Not since Batman and Robin have I wanted my money back so badly.
dohopoki: Plus I just hate Burton and anything that’s not Peewee’s big adventure.
I’m just going to pretend I didn’t just read that.
DJ D I know what you mean about comic writers being jerks, a few years back I met Chris Claremont, writer of a lot of the X-books. He was a total tool! The only good thing to come of it is I got my Wolverine #1 and the issue of X-Men with the first appearance of Gambit signed.
I totally forgot about Catwoman! I didn’t see that one in the theaters but did catch some of it on cable one night. Wow, that one….well I’ll try to actually make it thru it all the way before I give a formal opinion but as of right now it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be a good review.