10. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: While
this animated movie isn’t based on a specific comic per say (although a comic
adaptation was released later), it remains one of my favorite Batman
films. Like many kids of the nineties,
I was a huge fan of Batman: The Animated
Series and this is a bigger version of the TV show with better animation and
a larger scope. It really delves into
Bruce Wayne’s motivations for being Batman and how he approaches romantic
relationships. There are incredible action scenes and everything has a gorgeous
art deco design.The musical score is
excellent as well. It’s often overlooked
as far as Batman films are concerned.
9. X-Men: First Class:
I am a huge fan of X-Men, but as a whole, I have been disappointed with the
films. This is the only film that got it
right, in my opinion. It looks great,
focusing on keeping a retro feel that compliments the origin stories
nicely. They stayed true to the
characters and the actors did a good job of putting in convincing performances.
Michael Fassbender makes for a very
charismatic Magneto and is my favorite character in the movie. With more sequels in the works in this style,
they might have a decent trilogy yet.
8. Iron Man Trilogy: Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark; there is no
doubt about it. I would say he is the
closest Hollywood has come thus far translating a comic book character to
screen. He captures Stark’s ego and snark perfectly while keeping him both
grounded and relatable. All three movies are consistently good and
find a way to strike a balance between action and humor. The special effects with the suit are
top-notch and the fights are well-choreographed and awesome. It’s definitely one of the better superhero
trilogies.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs.
the World: This is oddly the best video game movie ever made and it isn’t
based on any particular video game! It’s
literally as if they filmed the inside of my brain and burned it onto the
celluloid. Michael Cera has deadpan
humor down to a science and it’s a perfect complement to the frenetic
action. Scott Pilgrim is bright, loud, pixelated fun and true to the source
material.
5. The Avengers: If every comic book movie ever made was
directed by Joss Whedon, the world would be a happier place. Somehow he took an ensemble cast of very
different characters and combined them into a tasty stew of awesome. The other characters’ movies were of varying
degrees of quality but in this film each person shines. Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman and Mark Ruffalo
as The Hulk were especially great and they played off of each other
perfectly. It’s always nice to see some
humor thrown into an action movie and bonus if the writing is actually funny. Joss Whedon knows how to direct a comic book
movie for geeks without shutting out the casual fan.
4. 300: This is
the movie that put Zack Snyder on the map. The man really knows how to film an action scene and managed to make the
“bullet-time” effect less contrived. 300 is a shot of pure adrenaline,
basically punching you in the face with kick-ass special effects, giant
set-pieces and crazy looking monsters. Very few movies can keep a constant momentum going like this; this movie
has no slow parts or superfluous story elements. It’s just pure condensed action and that’s
fine with me.
3. Sin City: Even
if this movie was terrible, which it isn’t, it would still be worth a viewing
just for its visual look. The stark
black and white with Pollock-esque splashes of color looks absolutely
incredible and the noir atmosphere is done very well. You can literally compare panels from the
actual comics to scenes in the film and they look exactly the same down to the
shadows. I had never seen anything like
it before and it blew my mind when I first saw it in theatres. The story is interlocking and rather complex
but the pieces fit together and come to a very satisfying end. Robert Rodriguez didn’t tone down any of the
brutal, gratuitous violence that Frank Miller is known for and that makes it
ever better and more authentic.
2. V for Vendetta: Anybody that knows me knows I love Allan
Moore. He elevated comic book writing to
prose level and gave it some legitimacy in literary circles. V for
Vendetta is one of my favorite works by him and the movie adaptation is
excellent. The Wachowski Brothers wrote
the screenplay and hit all the notes they needed to: political uprisings,
dystopian societies, fascist government, and the need to fight for your
rights. Once I saw Hugo Weaving nail the
famous alliteration monologue V delivers in the comic in the opening scene of
the movie, I was hooked. Natalie Portman
shows her acting chops as Evey, even shaving her hair off in real life for the
role.
1. Watchmen:
-MK