Super Hero Movies: the Ten Best
As a life long comic geek and movie buff I feel uniquely qualified to pontificate on the best super hero movies. Note super hero movies are a rather recent phenomenon because technology simply kept the movie makers from cranking out big budget variations on our favorite crime fighters that lived up to the vision of the comic books until recent years. So what are the ten best? Here’s my list simply based on the ones I’ve seen.
1) The Incredibles No movie has done a better job of capturing the spirit of modern comic books than this animated classic. Pixar’s tale of a family of super heroes forced underground by prejudice, fear and envy is both an action movie and a modern fable. It’s visually stunning but it’s also poignant, touching, thought provoking, funny, thrilling, visually stunning and thoroughly entertaining. Both a great action adventure tale and an intelligent commentary on modern life as well as a great fable about the evils of prejudice. This film works because it doesn’t insult our intelligence it treats super heroes as people and that’s why it works. No the Incredibles aren’t part of any comic book universe, they are Disney properties and will undoubtedly suffer for it but they remain true to their roots unlike most movie super heroes. The comic book influences behind this film are endless the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Captain America and Allen Moore’s Watchmen to name but a few. One hopes that Pixar or one of the big animation houses will produce a real super hero movie.
2) Iron Man (Okay Disclaimer here Iron Man is my all time favorite super hero) This high tech thrill ride worked because A) it didn’t insult our intelligence B) remained true to the original material and C) it was a really good movie with great direction and great acting. More importantly for the first time we were given a super hero who actually looked and moved like something out of the comic books. Also for the first time the comic book back story was taken seriously and intelligently. Finally Robert Downy Junior gave what was simply a brilliant performance as he always does. Terrence Howard was great as Tony Stark’s only real friend Jordy Rhodes so I look forward to the next one as well as the War Machine spin off franchise. Even Jeff Bridges was great as a Hippy turned corporate raider.
3) Hell Boy This funky little story about a demon put to work by the government as America’s first line of defense against supernatural evil was a great story. It was great because it was unpretentious it concentrated on telling the story and entertaining not preaching to us. The best thing we could say about this film, it wanted to make us read the original comic book. We go to most comic book movies because we read the comic book, loved it, and hope in our hearts they can replicate it. Then settle for a story and visuals that are worse than the worst issue of the comic book. Hell Boy made me want to read a comic book I had never heard of that was something.
4) Batman: the Mask of The Phantasm The Dark Knight has had several cinematic outings dating back to World War II movie serials but this is by the far the best. A poignant love story about Bruce Wayne before he donned the mask is intertwined with Batman’s later day hunt for a murderous vigilante and a showdown with the Joker. All I can say this is the only time the real Batman has been captured on film and Paul Dini is a genius, Nuff said.
5) Superman: the Movie/Superman: II If anything introduced superheroes and their epic nature to the public it was these movies. Intended as one film but made as two this epic broke a lot of ground. It was great in many ways, Christopher Reeve’s Superman paragon of old fashioned goodness what a hero should be, Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor was a brilliant over the top villain and Terrance Stamp was genuinely scary as General Zod. A good old fashioned super villain out for world conquest and nothing more his ruthlessness was frightening (a lesson modern movie makers should study). The films worked they were later cheapened by crappy sequels but that’s Hollywood. Superman Returns well that’s one of those crappy sequels.
6) Spiderman I, II and III If some film school professor were to hold a course on how not to do a superhero movie. He or she should show these three films they are good movies and they capture a great deal of the spirit of the comic books and betray it. They also suffer from Hollywood pretension worse there is no sense of place and lousy storytelling. Director Sam Rammi thinks great acting and cool looking special effects can compensate for lack of a good story and basic storytelling they can’t. Sam gets some Spiderman facts right but screws everything else up. Particularly bothersome is the habit of making every bad guy sympathetic what’s wrong with the plain old fashioned notion of this thug is robbing and stealing he’s bad. What’s wrong with the basic plot of superhero vs. villain showdown? Why does every bad guy have to be sympathetic? Hint Sam they’re the bad guys they’re out to rob and kill. It looks great it hits a few emotional buttons but it doesn’t work.
7) Batman(1989) The film that started the modern super hero explosion, Tim Burton’s flawed masterpiece. He captured some of the spirit of the comic books and showed us that super heroes could be adult entertainment. He also gave us something so bizarre we couldn’t relate to it. The lack of realism made it accessible but took away the emotional anchors. The film was saved well by Jack Nicholson’s over the top performance as the Joker that worked, little else did. Michael Keaton’s Batman performance gave us a glimpse of that actor’s future career (where in the hell is he today?).
8) Batman: Begins If there is a good basic superhero movie this is it, the essentials are there be true to the source but make a good movie. Have good acting and good writing and don’t be too ambitious in your first outing. Rewrite the basic story a little but only in a way to annoy comic book fans (where the fuck is Talia? How can you have Raif Al Ghoul without her?). Also good acting, and a good basic story. Michael Cain is as always wonderful and so is Morgan Freeman. This film proves an old Hollywood maxim, good casting usually overcomes a lousy script and a weak story.
9) X-men The first and as far as I know only serious attempt at a super hero team movie. A dark grim story of a bunch of super powered freaks fighting for survival it worked because of good acting and little else. Ian McKellan as Magneto Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. Their talent trumps the corn and pretension. The next two movies well see entries 20 and 30 on this list.
10) Batman (1966) The first attempt at a big budget movie to cash in on the super hero fad basically a two hour episode of the 1960s TV show but it worked. Adam West’s corn ball performance as Batman, Veteran actors Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gersham as Joker, Penguin and Riddler. Lots of color, lots of gags, very entertaining and nothing pretentious. It works because it was made at a time when comic book super heroes were simply a staple of pop culture to be exploited and not icons to be worshiped.
1) The Incredibles No movie has done a better job of capturing the spirit of modern comic books than this animated classic. Pixar’s tale of a family of super heroes forced underground by prejudice, fear and envy is both an action movie and a modern fable. It’s visually stunning but it’s also poignant, touching, thought provoking, funny, thrilling, visually stunning and thoroughly entertaining. Both a great action adventure tale and an intelligent commentary on modern life as well as a great fable about the evils of prejudice. This film works because it doesn’t insult our intelligence it treats super heroes as people and that’s why it works. No the Incredibles aren’t part of any comic book universe, they are Disney properties and will undoubtedly suffer for it but they remain true to their roots unlike most movie super heroes. The comic book influences behind this film are endless the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Captain America and Allen Moore’s Watchmen to name but a few. One hopes that Pixar or one of the big animation houses will produce a real super hero movie.
2) Iron Man (Okay Disclaimer here Iron Man is my all time favorite super hero) This high tech thrill ride worked because A) it didn’t insult our intelligence B) remained true to the original material and C) it was a really good movie with great direction and great acting. More importantly for the first time we were given a super hero who actually looked and moved like something out of the comic books. Also for the first time the comic book back story was taken seriously and intelligently. Finally Robert Downy Junior gave what was simply a brilliant performance as he always does. Terrence Howard was great as Tony Stark’s only real friend Jordy Rhodes so I look forward to the next one as well as the War Machine spin off franchise. Even Jeff Bridges was great as a Hippy turned corporate raider.
3) Hell Boy This funky little story about a demon put to work by the government as America’s first line of defense against supernatural evil was a great story. It was great because it was unpretentious it concentrated on telling the story and entertaining not preaching to us. The best thing we could say about this film, it wanted to make us read the original comic book. We go to most comic book movies because we read the comic book, loved it, and hope in our hearts they can replicate it. Then settle for a story and visuals that are worse than the worst issue of the comic book. Hell Boy made me want to read a comic book I had never heard of that was something.
4) Batman: the Mask of The Phantasm The Dark Knight has had several cinematic outings dating back to World War II movie serials but this is by the far the best. A poignant love story about Bruce Wayne before he donned the mask is intertwined with Batman’s later day hunt for a murderous vigilante and a showdown with the Joker. All I can say this is the only time the real Batman has been captured on film and Paul Dini is a genius, Nuff said.
5) Superman: the Movie/Superman: II If anything introduced superheroes and their epic nature to the public it was these movies. Intended as one film but made as two this epic broke a lot of ground. It was great in many ways, Christopher Reeve’s Superman paragon of old fashioned goodness what a hero should be, Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor was a brilliant over the top villain and Terrance Stamp was genuinely scary as General Zod. A good old fashioned super villain out for world conquest and nothing more his ruthlessness was frightening (a lesson modern movie makers should study). The films worked they were later cheapened by crappy sequels but that’s Hollywood. Superman Returns well that’s one of those crappy sequels.
6) Spiderman I, II and III If some film school professor were to hold a course on how not to do a superhero movie. He or she should show these three films they are good movies and they capture a great deal of the spirit of the comic books and betray it. They also suffer from Hollywood pretension worse there is no sense of place and lousy storytelling. Director Sam Rammi thinks great acting and cool looking special effects can compensate for lack of a good story and basic storytelling they can’t. Sam gets some Spiderman facts right but screws everything else up. Particularly bothersome is the habit of making every bad guy sympathetic what’s wrong with the plain old fashioned notion of this thug is robbing and stealing he’s bad. What’s wrong with the basic plot of superhero vs. villain showdown? Why does every bad guy have to be sympathetic? Hint Sam they’re the bad guys they’re out to rob and kill. It looks great it hits a few emotional buttons but it doesn’t work.
7) Batman(1989) The film that started the modern super hero explosion, Tim Burton’s flawed masterpiece. He captured some of the spirit of the comic books and showed us that super heroes could be adult entertainment. He also gave us something so bizarre we couldn’t relate to it. The lack of realism made it accessible but took away the emotional anchors. The film was saved well by Jack Nicholson’s over the top performance as the Joker that worked, little else did. Michael Keaton’s Batman performance gave us a glimpse of that actor’s future career (where in the hell is he today?).
8) Batman: Begins If there is a good basic superhero movie this is it, the essentials are there be true to the source but make a good movie. Have good acting and good writing and don’t be too ambitious in your first outing. Rewrite the basic story a little but only in a way to annoy comic book fans (where the fuck is Talia? How can you have Raif Al Ghoul without her?). Also good acting, and a good basic story. Michael Cain is as always wonderful and so is Morgan Freeman. This film proves an old Hollywood maxim, good casting usually overcomes a lousy script and a weak story.
9) X-men The first and as far as I know only serious attempt at a super hero team movie. A dark grim story of a bunch of super powered freaks fighting for survival it worked because of good acting and little else. Ian McKellan as Magneto Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. Their talent trumps the corn and pretension. The next two movies well see entries 20 and 30 on this list.
10) Batman (1966) The first attempt at a big budget movie to cash in on the super hero fad basically a two hour episode of the 1960s TV show but it worked. Adam West’s corn ball performance as Batman, Veteran actors Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gersham as Joker, Penguin and Riddler. Lots of color, lots of gags, very entertaining and nothing pretentious. It works because it was made at a time when comic book super heroes were simply a staple of pop culture to be exploited and not icons to be worshiped.
posted by great one at 8:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home