My favorite comic book movies of the decade

Blain
Monday
2:05 pm

If there’s something that can be said about the movie industry of the last decade, it’s that comic book and graphic novel related films came back with a bang. With quite a few turning out from “much better than I expected” to “beyond phenomenal”  I decided to compose a list of my favorites from the past 10 years. And let me tell you — it wasn’t easy.

10. 300

After seeing all of those dollar signs when Sin City was a hit, Frank Miller was ready to sign away to Hollywood. Fortunately, he let Zack Snyder handle the movie creation of his Spartan epic. Like Rodriguez, Snyder and company kept the film as a very literal translation of the novel, but added a little more back story showing the women of Sparta could be just as bad ass as the men.

9. Hellboy

You’re probably saying, oh “He forgot to put the ‘2: The Golden Army’ on the end of the title. Silly Blain.” No, no I didn’t. After repeated viewings I have found that I like the first Hellboy much better than the second. For me Hellboy 2 goes just a wee too far into the fantasy realm. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; but for Hellboy and his crew, the occult is better suited for them.  It’s also closer to the feel I get when reading thecomic books.

8. X2: X-Men United

Bryan Singer helped rejuvenate comic book movies with the first X-Men movie. Then he threw down the bench mark for how good they needed to be with X-Men 2. Despite a couple of plot holes I found re-watching it recently, it holds up well with great performances and an intriguing story. It’s a shame Fox didn’t pony up the money so Singer wouldn’t jump ship to make Superman Returns instead of a third movie.

7. Batman Begins

In a way, I guess you could say Nolan’s success for Batman Begins is way more triumphant than The Dark Knight’s because this movie had a big red bullseye on it from the get go. Not everyone had gotten the bad neon glow taste from Schumacher’s Batman movies out of their mouths, and throwing in lesser villains had others worried as well. While it was only a modest box office hit, good word of mouth carried it through after it’s DVD release — gaining more new fans that were hungry for more of the most bad-ass cinematic Caped Crusader ever. And of course they were fed a feast three years later better than anyone could ever imagine.

6. Sin City

Another Holy Grail graphic novel that Hollywood had been wanting to make into a movie for years finally came to fruition this decade. It just took Robert Rodriguez to convince Frank Miller it could be done — and done right. The three stories based on Miller’s series are literal translations in every sense — dialogue and stark black and white images filled with characters that are larger than life.

5. Watchmen

They said it couldn’t be done, and Zack Snyder proved a lot of them wrong. While the graphic novel is too rich and thick to make into a conventional movie, they got a lot closer than the nay-sayers said they would. Snyder and crew brought their geek gloves out swinging and scored a knockout of an adaptation that, for me, has a more cohesive and believable ending than the book. (Yes, I never liked the squid.)

4. Spider-Man 2

Sam Raimi redefined how much fun comic book movies could be with the first Spider-Man, then redefined how much heart and drama it could have with this one. Rami perfectly balanced Peter Parker’s angst and anguish with action and humor.  Oh why did it have to go downhill from here?

3. Iron Man

Hollywood saw Jon Favreau’s casting of Robert Downy Jr. as the dapper and dashing Tony Stark as a huge risk. Fortunately fans of both RDJ and Iron Man saw it as a perfect match and turned out in droves to give RDJ the comeback he so richly deserved. Iron Man was by far one of the most fun, quick-witted and action-packed movies of the decade.

2. The Incredibles

While not a comic book movie per say, it is Brad Bird’s love letter to the genre in what is one of Pixar’s best movies. Also, this superhero family proved to be a hell of a lot smarter and more fun than the family of heroes who reside in the Baxter Building.

1. The Dark Knight

There’s not much else to say that hasn’t already been said about this movie. Chirs Nolan put together one of the smartest thrillers in cinema history — it just happened to have Batman and the Joker in it.

Honorable Mentions

While there are many more that I liked, like the first X-Men movie and the first Spider-Man, there are a few others that I think deserve some special attention:

The Incredible Hulk

It’s a shame more people didn’t see this reboot in the theaters. It did what Ang Lee’s  “Hulk” couldn’t do — provide greater action and a Bruce Banner that we could better relate to. Taking cues from the original TV series also helped it be a better than average comic book flick.

V for Vendetta

Having the Wachowski Brothers’ hands in this worried me a little bit, but James McTeigue put out a well crafted, essentially very dialogue-driven movie that felt visually arresting — and of course scenes of knife-throwing action and explosions didn’t hurt. It also made Natalie Portman’s  character Evey much stronger and more independent than in the book.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Had it not been for the awful portrayal of Johann Krauss and lack of the occult, this would probably have made the top 10. Nonetheless, it was still one of my favorite movies of 2008 and and all the creature make up and effects are a feast for the eyes. Guillermo del Toro’s “The Hobbit” can’t get here soon enough.

And … The Worst

It’s a toss up with The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Wolverine: Origins. I never saw Electra or The Spirit — I have a feeling those could be up there as well. Crap, there’s Ghost Rider too. I should just stop now. I don’t feel like wasting my breath on any of these movies.