cine + octo = boo

It’s been an interesting decade for comic book films, with plenty of ups and downs. Here’s a look at the best and worst comic book films of the decade:

Top 10 Comic Book Films of the Decade

1. The Dark Knight

While Batman Begins rebooted the franchise, it was Nolan’s The Dark Knight that reinvented the franchise, elevating it to cinematic excellence. Gotham, for once, feels like a living city. Absent are the Burton-esque fronts, and frames packed with gothic throwbacks. There is Ledger’s brilliant turn as the Joker, his take on the character being both unique and defining. To know that we will never get to revisit this level of performance is quite discouraging. The rest of the film is packed full of excellent supporting performances. The Harvey Dent/Two Face arc is rendered with perfection, although admittedly it would be nice to see Two Face return in the future. In all, this is the definitive Batman film. Period.

2. The Incredibles

I neglected to include this film in my Top 25 Films of the Decade list, and I assure you it was an oversight. Brad Bird’s animated take on superheroes is a cornerstone for this generation’s comic geeks. It’s the cinematic counterpart to the gateway comics of my youth. While a simple yarn about a super powered family could have been sufficient for most, Bird and Pixar are never complacent with settling for the simple or the obvious. Instead, we are given a reflection on family, fatherhood, and the sacrifices inherent in parenthood. It goes without saying that Pixar makes great family friendly movies, but it should be overstated that they also make great cinema that also happens to be family friendly as well.

3. Spider-Man 2

Raimi’s second foray into the Spider-Man franchise was, quite simply, the best superhero film of the decade. That is until Nolan swept in with a sequel of his own that completely bumped Raimi’s effort down a few pegs. But, despite this bump Spider-Man 2 still remains one of the decade’s best. We finally get the conflict necessary to make the Peter Parker / Mary Jane Watson story arc take shape, and we’re given more allusions to the pending confrontation with The Lizard. Tops amongst all of this is the delicate balance of the Green Goblin story arc in support of a brilliant performance from Alfred Molina as Doc Ock. Hands down, his was an excellent portrayal of the villain, and had Heath Ledger not turned in his brilliant Joker performance, Molina would have easily won the title of Best Adapted Super Villain of the Decade. It’s still damned good nonetheless.

4. Sin City

They said it couldn’t be filmed. Then Robert Rodriguez went ahead and fought for it anyway. He even managed to woo Frank Miller,  who had ultimately sworn off of working with the Hollywood machine, into joining the project. That said, Miller is best in doses (especially cinematically, see The Spirit below), and partnering with Rodriguez seemed to provide the right mix. Who could’ve predicted that Rodriguez would be the one “reigning things in” in this collaborative effort. He’s usually the one going off the rails at every turn, wading in the balls out deep end with glee (see Grindhouse). Anyway, for fans of the graphic novel, this is about as good as it gets. You can feel the pulp, you can smell the pages. This is a comic book movie for comic book lovers, and it’s drenched in excellent performances.

5. Iron Man

I seriously underestimated this film when it was released. Not only is it a good turn in terms of comic book adaptations (for the most part, the characters come to life in a world that is for the most part believable), but it is also a harbinger of what could be. Imagine if Marvel were to put this level of care and craft (and vision) behind other “Avenger films.” They could accomplish the ultimate coup — a comic book crossover film. Let’s face it, the ultimate undiscovered country in the world of comic book cinema is the team up, or the crossover. Comics can hardly span an issue without a cameo or a crossover these days, and many of the better books out there are the result of years of comic book crossovers (Avengers, Justice League). So, while the future may look a little grim (please let Iron Man 2 rock), for now we have Favreau’s excellent experiment with Tony Stark, and aside from a rather flat role for Pepper, it’s a pretty good ride.

6. Watchmen

They said it couldn’t be filmed. Then Zack Snyder went ahead and fought for it anyway. Say what you will about Snyder’s rendition of the genre defining graphic novel, this is about as good as it gets. If you look at it from a far enough distance, Snyder was destined to fail. There was no way that Watchmen could ever emerge triumphant. What we get is a painstakingly crafted re-creation of the story, and for the most part it works really, really well. The problem with the film isn’t it’s attention to detailed re-creation, it’s actually the failure to balance said re-creation. Because Snyder approaches some scenes with such reverence of the drawn panel, whenever he needs to take liberties and deviate from Moore’s tome, the result stands out as stilted and malformed. The other inherent issue, which is not exclusive to Snyder, is that Moore’s text is so dense, so chock full of subtext, that it would be impossible to cram everything in. I still have yet to screen the Ultimate Cut (available on Blu-Ray), and I look forward to picking it up post-Christmas. Either way, lap it up kids. This is as good as it’s going to get.

7. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Ok, admittedly Joss Whedon’s sing along blog is not technically a comic book movie, per se. But, Whedon is a comic book writer, and the characters are superheroes, so I’m making a case for it here. Besides, it’s not technically a blog either, so there. Bottom line: this is a definitive mash up of comic book culture. Even the ethos with which it was made speaks to the comic mentality — tell the story by any means. It’s a lot of fun, and if you didn’t check it out the first (or second) time in the spotlight, make sure to do so now. It’s worth it.

8. American Splendor

I love films that touch on the lore behind the comics. Harvey Pekar is a name known to nearly every comic book geek out there, and his relationship with Crumb is just one of the reasons. Harvey’s willingness to tell even the simplest stories, the mundane everyday happenings in his life, brought a new slant to the medium. Heroes don’t need to be super, they just need to be identifiable. I love this film, largely because it looks into the life of a man whose life was creating comics, not because it tells an epic tale, or even redefines the genre. Like Harvey, it just is.

9. Unbreakable

Not technically a comic book film, M. Night Shamalan’s film captures the essence of myth creation. This is an inversion of the Superman origin, and it’s nearly perfect throughout. The film could not have worked had it been billed as a superhero movie, and I’m thankful that it wasn’t. Sadly, this may be the last time I’m able to speak about a film by M. Night in a positive light. OK, The Village redeemed itself, but alas that’s another story for another day. For now, revisit this film and ignore who directed it. It’s still a gem.

10. Ghost World

This remains one of my favorite comic book films, if only because it took the spirit of the graphic novel and translated it into something completely memorable. There are so many subtle yet infectious moments in Zwigoff’s adaptation, I just wish more people would spend time getting to know and appreciate the film. It was largely overlooked, but I’ll keep it on my Top 10 despite that fact.

So, that’s my top 10 best comic book films of the decade, but the decade was also chock full of shitburgers as well. What didn’t work? Let’s take a look:

Worst Comic Book Films of the Decade

1. The Spirit

After a successful co-director credit on Sin City, everyone questioned why Miller couldn’t have helmed the film on his own. Even Rodriguez seemed to support this in interviews for the film. The path, as it were, seemed destined. Instead of staying in comfy Miller-land (e.g. direct the sequel), Frank was attached to adapt The Spirit. This was, perhaps, the first wrong turn of many. I’m not going to dive into the details, it’s not really worth it. Needless to say, the film is a total mess. So much so, it is cinematic proof that Rodriguez was the force keeping the train on track for the most part. The sad part is, Miller could have used this experience to learn the tools necessary to make a cogent film, instead he donned the “crazy in Miller land” mask and went off the deep end. One lesson he is likely learning now, there are very few second chances in Hollywood.

2. X-Men: The Last Stand

While watching this film, I could just picture the following conversation taking place at the studio:

“Hey, the other two X-Men films were a success, but we hated dealing with someone who fancies themselves ‘an autuer’ only to be stood up at the ball when some Kryptonian came knocking. So instead let’s just get a hired gun to do what we say? Someone get Brett Ratner on the phone.”

Ratner was pulled in, and in true Ratner form he did as little research into the genre as possible. Instead, this film feels like the result of a weekend spent listening to a select group of X-Men comic fans, jotting down a list of “things that were cool in the comics,” and then stuffing the film full of this bulleted list without paying attention to the things that actually went into making them “cool in the comics” to begin with. This film is an embarrassment and should be ignored at all costs.

3. Fantastic Four 2

Tim Story’s take on the Four is flawed to begin with, but this sequel is quite possibly more damaging than his first foray. Galactus is a mess, The Silver Surfer is baffling, and someone made the mistake of confusing smart product placement as story point with blatant product placement because the film is going under. Another mess, another embarrassment, and the only reason it exists is due to the studio wishing to hold onto the rights as long as possible. Expect a third film in this mess.

4. Spider-Man 3

From the get go, Raimi has been fighting Sony over putting Venom in his Spider-Man films. Sam successfully held them at bay through the first two films, but something happened with the third and the pendulum swung in the studios favor. I’m convinced that Sam took this as the opportunity to fuck with the decision, make some obviously flawed casting decisions (Topher Grace? Really?), and camp it up beyond belief. Raimi will never cop to it, but after the brilliant sequel I’m convinced this has to be the truth. I really hope the studio starts listening to Raimi again with the fourth film, otherwise we can all look forward to another jazzed up bar scene again.

5. 300

Poor Zack Snyder. After doing the unthinkable and remaking Dawn of the Dead in a surprisingly non-offensive way, he takes on adapting Frank Miller’s 300. I know a lot of people love this film, and I realize that there is a certain audience of “hey cool, he got bashed real good” types out there that lap this stuff up, but I found the film offensive — for obvious reasons, and to my intelligence. I’m sorry, but screaming and bloodshed do not a great film make.

6. Catwoman

Sorry Halle, this was terrible. Thanks for the laughs, though.

7. Fantastic Four

Blah blah blah, Tim Story, blah blah blah Avi Arad. Say what you will, the real disappointment here is that a film about the Fantastic Four should have been awesome. It should have inspired kids with science, and wowed them with space travel and exploration. It should have made them feel for the family dynamics facing a superhero family bound together by a cosmic accident. Instead, they were given this turd to chew on, and if I were an imaginative child in the audience I would have felt stifled. It’s like an abridged version of imagination — fantastic, but not too fantastic. We have limits to that sort of thing. One thing works in this one though, casting Chiklis as Ben Grimm was perfection. If only he had more to work with.

8. Hulk

I get a lot of shit for this film, and ultimately its a little deserving. Truthfully it’s not a good comic book movie, and The Incredible Hulk proves what this film should have been. But there are still elements that I enjoyed here, so I’m conflicted. The Fanboy Planet offices will surely have a field day with this one, but I don’t care. I still stand by portions of this film, and I cannot help that I enjoyed it. I will, however, concede that The Incredible Hulk is clearly the better Hulk film.

9. Superman Returns

You left the X-Men franchise to do…this?! I’m all for adapting, but this was…messy. I liked elements, but the whole pregnancy thing just felt wrong. I hate to say it, but Kevin Smith’s take seemed far more interesting.

10. Constantine

It had Keanu in it. It wasn’t a good adaption. I’m tired of trashing these obviously bad movies.