Comic Book Films

A recent discussion with a friend about Dark Knight got me thinking about the best live action films based on comics and how they so rarely get it right. What would you say the best ones are?

In no order I'd say Dark Knight, X2 and Spider-Man 3(fuck the haters, it's flawed but great)

Dark Knight: Overall great, but did have poor action, boring Hong Kong subplot, questionable Batman

Batman Begins: Good film, bit of a weak third act but the first (and maybe last) Batman film where Batman's the real star, shitty action again

Batman and Robin: Bad

Batman Forever: Bad, but I guess it's camp fun watching Jim Carrey enjoy himself

Batman Returns: For some reason Gotham has never seemed smaller than in this film. Guess Burton could start using more sets rather than on location. Not a bad film, cat woman seemed like the only character that was interesting. Poor ol DeVito.

Batman: The Jack Nicholson Show, I enjoyed it but only when he was on.


Spiderman: Pretty decent

Spiderman 2: Not bad, but it's well overrated. The drama in the film is just too thick a lot of the time, and what part of being fused to some metal arms means you can take getting repeatedly punched in the face by a guy who can lift the side of a sizeable building? Otherwise good action.

Spiderman 3: Weak, both villains were not done well. Sandman had some good cgi moments (like his birth), but his story was fucking terrible. The whole forgiveness at the end bit was rubbish (as well as that subplot of him killing Ben Parker). The drama again was as heavy handed as last time, if not more. Action was pretty good.


X-Men: Ho hum, not bad, not great.

X-Men 2: Good but a lot of weak characters.

X-Men 3: Awful drama and acting. Fun action but a bit too cartoonish at times.

And here's MY two cents:

Batman: Keaton still holds the record, in my mind, for best Batman ever. The only thing holding him back was that damn rubber suit. Imagine today's production values with Michael Keaton of yesteryear as Bats.

Batman Returns: A solid sequel.

Batman Forever: Schumacher just didn't get Batman.

Batman and Robin: see above.

Batman Begins: Way too long. Boring plot. In the best of situations I think Ras Ah Gul is a weak character at the best of times, and in this movie he was just plain boring. Christian Bale does a great Bruce Wayne, but his Batman leaves A LOT to be desired. Especially when it comes to that overly-graveled voice.

The Dark Knight: Excellent film. Poetic. The cinematography, score, acting all came together beautifully. Heath Ledger created a definitive Joker and stole the show. Bale seemed to struggle even more with the voice in this film, but his moments with Alfred were really great and gave the movie some much needed warmth.

Spider-Man: This is the movie that paved the way for superhero movies to be great again. Sam Raimi totally understands what Spidey is all about. The heart of Spider-Man is trying to lead a superhero life when your normal life is shit. No money, crappy job, crappy apartment, the girl you love at arm's reach.

Spider-Man 2: Just as good as the first, and even better in terms of action set pieces.

Spider-Man 3: If only, IF ONLY they hadn't put Venom in this film. Venom has always been my least favorite Spidey villain in that he's just a meathead who hates Peter Parker. Raimi has been quoted as saying the studio forced him into including Venom and it shows. The plot was disjointed, the action was minimal and Peter Parker's "dark side" was handled very poorly. As Shrooms said, the birth of sandman seen was done very well. I think this movie could have been salvaged had they made Sandman the only villain and not tried to involve so many plots.

X-Men: A good flick, but overall kind of boring in my opinion. Not surprising in a movie that has to introduce tons of characters and give them all somewhat of a spotlight. Not bad, but not great. Probably should have just been called Wolvering: The Movie.

X-Men 2 (or Wolverine: The Movie 2): Way better than the first series and Nightcrawler was done perfectly. Still way too much focus on Wolvie though. Also nice to see Iceman get more screen time.

X-Men 3: This was a fun movie, but not much there in terms of depth. I will say, however, that this is the first X-Men film where the X-Men feel like a team. Rather than it feeling like Wolverine kicking ass and a few other mutants are along for the ride. Beast was done surprisingly well, and Iceman in full ice mode was a treat!

Ghost Rider: A good watch if only to laugh at how incredibly bad it is.

Daredevil: Even worse than Ghost Rider.

Hulk: Way too cerebral, but had some good action sequences.

The Incredible Hulk: A vast improvement.

Iron Man: Great film. It had the right balance between action and comedy. Robert Downey Jr. knocked it out of the park.