|
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Top 10 Best (and Worst) Comics-Based Movies
Compiled by Scott Woods
Now that Hollywood has dipped into the comic book industry's cupboard of fantasy, weirdness and cultural iconography enough times to (finally) transform a once epicene sub-category of action films into its own full-blown genre, commentary on the quality of the films and the genre as a whole have taken on larger-than-fanboy proportions. These days it isn't just the bat-signal t-shirt-wearing nut that has an opinion on whether or not Angela Basset should have played Storm in the X-Men films; the loudmouth down at the local barbershop who never read a comic in his life has an opinion as well. Comic book-based movies are here to stay.
The bad news is that it doesn't take good films to justify the creation of a genre; it's typically a quantitative measure reinforced by market support of the offerings (which in turn determine its growth and longevity), not a qualitative measure. X number of movies equals Y genre. The quality of the X isn't necessarily a factor.
Fortunately, in truly ironic fashion, until a few years ago Hollywood wasn't too picky about who got to direct these films. Studios practically let anyone who was willing to fight for some vision of the film to completion take it away… with the most meager of budgets initially of course (and after years of getting it completely wrong by thinking about the source material too much as licenses and not enough as art). A few key box-office successes later, and we now live in a day when there's a comic book-based film being released on an almost monthly basis.
With that type of traffic, could a Top Ten list be too far behind?
So, first, some ground rules:
a) There are actually FOUR lists below, not just the advertised two: one list for the 10 best movies, one list for the 10 worst movies, one list for the 10 best translations of a comic to film, and a list for the 10 worst translations of a comic to film. We have four lists because a good film isn't always true to the source material (can you imagine the 1-page, monotone origin of The Hulk translated directly to film? That's a ten minute movie), and there are TONS of examples of bad films that strayed too far away from the comic book's charm.
b) I have compiled these lists from a pool of films based on comic BOOKS, not STRIPS. So titles like Blondie, Dick Tracy and Dennis the Menace were discounted from consideration.
c) Single movies only; no blanket franchise rankings.
d) The "Best Translations of a Film" category contains films that stayed most true to the source material. Films that significantly changed the material, even if for the better, are not honest translations and would not qualify for this list per se.
e) Anime was not included because of the plethora of films based on comic books and deserves its own lists (though I freely admit that I‘m not the one to create them).
Got all that? Good. Let's go:
Top 10 Best Comic Book-Based Movies
1. Spider-Man 2: Incredible effects, extremely developed characterizations, risks that paid off… a film lauded by critics, fans and general audiences alike.
2. Spider-Man: With heavy nods to the source material, this film taps into what makes the character a cultural icon: his humanity. That, and lots of cool web-slinging. Oh, and a note-perfect costume translation.
3. X-Men 2: Further amplification of all the strengths of the first film and almost none of its flaws. Even with a huge cast the movie locked into a great second-act rhythm.
4. Road to Perdition: A film so good that its marketing refused to pay homage to the comic origin of this tale for fear of driving people away from it.
5. Hellboy: One of the hardest characters to bring to the silver screen and they pulled it off in spades. Great script handled smartly with lots of input from the creator and incredible casting.
6. X-Men: Cast near-perfectly and with great care taken to realize the universe of everyone's favorite mutants, this movie succeeds despite its occasional technical flaws and further cemented comic books as worthy of not only image-mining, but content as well.
7. Superman: The Oscar-winning classic that fell somewhere between the source material and a campy, popcorn-Saturday treat. The only reason this one outweighs the more intense and fun second Superman film is because it dared to go where no other comic film before it would: to the heart.
8. Conan the Barbarian: James Earl Jones. Arnold in his prime. James Earl Jones. Pure fantasy context that takes itself seriously. James-freaking-Earl Jones.
9. Blade: A shockingly good re-imagining of a C-list character. He couldn't go anywhere but up.
10. The Crow: This film took a kaleidoscope of artistic styles and narratives and turned it into a fierce, chest-thumping violent tour-de-force. Comics grow up indeed.
Honorable Mentions: American Splendor, Mystery Men
Top 10 Worst Comic Book-Based Movies
1. Captain America (1979): The costume, origin and context were vastly manipulated to create this ridiculous made-for-TV film (which points out the only good thing about it: no one actually had to pay to see it).
2. Dr. Strange: Another made-for-TV movie with effects, costume and acting so bad that I want to learn a spell to erase it from my memory. Warning: Will leave scars on cornea.
3. Return of the Swamp Thing: The first one belongs on this list as well, but not more than this WAY too campy sequel. At least the first one tried to be something of a horror film. The only thing missing from this comic re-imagining was Swampy doing "Who's on First?" with Abigail.
4. Red Sonja: Next.
5. Supergirl: I see that "Next" and raise you.
6. Howard the Duck: The worst idea for a comic adaptation ever. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at that pitch meeting: "It's about a cigar-smoking, brim-wearing duck."
7. Superman 4: Too-self-important, too horrible to let the franchise live. A beautiful baby grown into an ugly adult.
8. Steel: Shaquille O'Neal's well-meaning but ludicrous romp that ended his movie career (I guess Steel really would beat Kazaam in a game of Horse) that almost derailed the comic book movie genre before it got its legs.
9. Catwoman: The saving grace of this tripe is that it takes almost nothing away from the source material, so the comic book isn't to blame for this train wreck; Hollywood is.
10. Batman and Robin: The film that strangled the golden goose. This film was so bad they had to reboot the franchise.
Honorable Mentions: Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, Swamp Thing, League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlemen, The Fantastic Four, Judge Dredd, Captain America (1991)
Top 10 Best Translations of a Comic to Film
1. Captain America (1991): Unlike the 1979 version, this one got the costume and origin just right. Problem? It's a ridiculous origin and costume. But man, did they nail it…right down to the feathers on his head. Too much of a good thing (I guess).
2. Hellboy: An incredibly tough universe to swallow that could have derailed at any turn was handled seriously without taking itself too serious. The representations of the lead and Abe Sapien were strokes of genius.
3. The Phantom: Boring, but true to form.
4. The Shadow: Despite some logic flaws, it was a tasty attempt.
5. Spawn: How hard is it to capture a character that doesn't DO anything but brood all day and night? The Clown and The Violator were incredibly realized.
6. Spider-Man: By sticking fairly close to the source material, this is one of the few movies that wins because of it.
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The first movie captured glimpses of the grit of the original books, and the movie's storyline was culled directly from the first couple of dozen issues, minus the Mousers.
8. Swamp Thing: A movie made bad by sticking too close to its one-note origin.
9. X-Men: Great casting, with lots of attention paid to details that make the characters work.
10. Judge Dredd: Everything on the screen looked just right. Too bad what came out of their mouths was so forgettable.
Honorable Mentions: Dick Tracy, Popeye
Top 10 Worst Translations of a Comic to Film
Aside #1: Notice how many of these are also in the worst films category?
Aside #2: Notice how Hollywood has the hardest time making a decent comic book film with the characters that have little to no powers at all? Apparently, the more human the character, the less they can connect to it.
1. Batman: The Movie: Adam West doesn't look like any Batman we've ever seen, act like any Batman we've ever seen, or hit like any Batman we've ever seen. Probably the worst cases of comic book prejudice ever recorded. (Note: Non-powered hero.)
2. Catwoman: Resembles the comic in title only. Nothing - NOTHING - about the character is the same: different ethnicity, different background, different name, different costume, different abilities, different origin…who IS this masked woman?!! (Note: Originally a non-powered heroine.)
3. Captain America (1979): See "Worst Film" entry above. (Note: Not significantly super-powered hero.)
4.Blade: Thank God. If they had made this character note-for-note like the book version… well, let's just thank our lucky stars no one in Hollywood bothers to read these books first. (Note: Not human.)
5. From Hell: That this film was made by the directors of American Pimp should tell you all you need to know about why not only Alan Moore washed his hands of this project, but audiences as well. "I got a great idea: let's demolish all of that history that they put in the book and make it a spooky Mason faux-possession story!" (Note: No superheroes whatsoever.)
6. Steel: Nothing relating to the Superman mythos exists in this film save Shaq's tattoo. And how about that junkyard hideout and the amazing standing wheelchair? (Note: Non-powered hero.)
7. Flash Gordon (1980): Not that it had much to work with, but come on: a football player? (Note: Non-powered hero.)
8. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: An idea so amazingly original and simple even Hollywood couldn't mess it up, right? Wrong: a dash of American characters, a pinch of a pointless villain, an eyefull of under-whelming special effects, and voila… not-so-hot movie. Who needs literature references when you have ridiculous automobiles before their time? (Note: Group of mostly super-powered anti-heroes.)
9. The Punisher (1989): Dolph Lundgren plays crazed-yet-sullen Frank Castle to an over-acting tee, but everything else around him is pure Hollywood. (Note: Non-powered anti-hero.)
10. Daredevil: The costume works, but only DD's. Everyone else looks like they shopped at an S&M leather thrift store. Lame attempts to incorporate the abilities of these characters sink this movie. (Note: Semi-powered blind hero.)
Honorable Mentions: Men in Black, The Hulk
|
April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
