Best & Worst: Movies Based On Comic Books

[Mitch Henessey]

This thread is similar to my Best and Worst cartoon based movies thread. Plenty of comic book legends have made it to the big screen. I usually love movies based on comic books, and here are my picks for the best and worst films:

Best

Spider-Man 2

I love this movie. I never get tired of watching Spider-Man 2.

Alfred Molina did an outstanding job as Doc Ock. The character was so compelling. He could be evil, and he did have this dark sense of humor, but Doc Ock was also someone who you could feel for. He lost everything in a tragic accident, and he was willing to do anything to keep his dream alive. Peter Parker had to endure a lot of emotional torture in this film as usual. Although, in Spider-Man 2, Peter and Spider-Man managed to overcome a lot of tough obstacles.

This Spider-Man film was filled with drama, suspense, and cool fight scenes. I always enjoy this film, and I think Spider-Man 2 is one of the best superhero movies ever.

The Incredible Hulk

Why couldn't Edward Norton play Bruce Banner/Hulk in the first film? I thought Norton was outstanding in this movie, and the rest of the cast did an awesome job. Almost every actor /actress was an upgrade from the first film. Edward Norton was a better Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler was a better Betty Ross, and William Hurt was a better General Ross.

The first Hulk film had such a cartoonish feel to it, but The Incredible Hulk surpassed it in so many ways. The acting was superb, the fight scenes were actually worth getting into, and unlike the first film, the CGI here wasn't shit.

X2: X-Men United

Ugh, this film makes me wish Bryan Singer was still involved with the X-Men film series.......

X2 was soooo much better than X-Men. The first film wasn't bad at all, but this film surpassed it in so many ways. Everything just gets better. The drama, the suspense, the action, and the acting. Seeing the X-Men join forces with The Brotherhood was something we were all waiting on, and the tension packed union didn't disappoint.

This film leaves you wanting more at the end, because there were so many questions that needed to be answered. How will the X-Men deal with Pyro's betrayal? What will Jean Grey do in the next film? Does Xavier and the X-Men have enough to combat Magneto's forces? There are so many tempting cliffhangers at the end of this film. How could you not be foaming at the mouth for the third film in the series? This film takes you on a action packed roller coaster, and you will be hooked in until the very end.

Also, a lot of new and famous characters from the comic book were introduced in this film. We saw Nightcrawler, William Stryker, Deathstrike(Yuriko), and Pyro make appearances in this film.

Worst

The Hulk

Nick Nolte really was the only highlight of this film. He was great as Bruce's insane and evil father. He managed to portray the character so well. Unfortunately, Nolte was one of the very few entertaining parts of this film.

The fight scenes were okay, and the action wasn't that bad, but everything else felt so bland. Besides Nolte and and Sam Elliot(General Ross) every other character had these dull personalities. I have no problems with Eric Bana, but I don't think he was the right man for this role. I also like Jenifer Connelly, but her performance fell flat for me in this film.

Also, I thought the CGI was kind of shitty. The Hulk just looked very cartoonish to me, and the rest of the special effects weren't that great. This Hulk film is just very lifeless, and this movie always manages to bore me.

Spider-Man 3

I truly hate this movie. Spider-Man 3 was such a huge clusterfuck and disappointment.

I'm sure every Spider-Man fan was waiting on the appearance of Venom. Well, it finally happened in this film, and I thought it was a real letdown. Eddie Brock/Venom was a whiny little bitch in this movie, and Topher Grace was a horrible choice to play one of Spidey's most powerful villains. And to top it off, they wait until the very end of the movie to show Brock's transformation! So even if you were into Grace as Venom, you hardly got a chance to see him do anything. We also wondered how Peter would act when he bonded with the Symbiote. Peter was supposed to be more evil and aggressive. Yeah, I know he shoved Mary Jane to the ground at the club, but I just can't get past that ridiculous and foolish dance number he did, as he walked down the streets. Peter was supposed to be a bad ass, but he just came off as the pissed of teenage goth kid with issues.

The arrival of Venom was a disappointment, but the cramming of villains in this film didn't help things either. Thomas Haden Church did a good gob with The Sandman character. I just wish Spider-Man 3 would've focused on ONE villain. James Franco could've been a great as the Goblin. He would've been a good choice for Spidey's main foe, but this film wasn't able to focus on his character too much, because Harry Osborn had to share the spotlight with Venom and Sandman.

Spider-Man 3 was just a big mess, and Sam Raimi truly went mad with this one.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Man, I was sooooo letdown by this film. My expectations for this film were through the roof, but Wolverine just comes off as a cheesy and shitty Hollywood blockbuster.

Hugh Jackman wasn't bad here, and I thought Liev Schreiber did a good job with the Sabertooth character. In fact, I think he did a way better job than Tyler Mane did. Sabertooth's character had a lot more depth in this film, and Schreiber was very sadistic and cold. Plus, he was pretty witty....in an evil way of course.

Still, this film film misses it's mark. I can seriously remember people laughing out loud in the theater when Wolverine screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as the love of his life was "murdered." I didn't feel like I was watching an X-Men movie when I first saw this film. I felt like I was watching a flashy cliche driven tale of revenge. But hey, this did accomplish it's goal, because like it or not, Origins made a ton of money at the box office.

What are your picks for the best and worst movies based on comic books?

 

[INDYjon22]

I love the first two X-Men films. The casting was really good and I thought the stories just flowed well. I was skeptical at first, seeing as I am a big X-Men fan, but I am glad that these movies were good. It would have been nice to see Gambit in either film, or even the third film, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

As for worst, Batman & Robin. I like campy movies but my god was this one way to over the top. Just about everything in it was shit. I like George Clooney but I thought he was a horrible Batman, I like Arnold but Mr. Freeze was an abomination. The costumes, sets, and acting were all equally terrible. The same goes for Batman Forever, but the difference is that I thought Val Kilmer actually did a halfway decent job with the Batman character. Both of those Batman films in the mid 90's were just horrible and I am so glad that Christopher Nolan revamped that franchise and has done justice to the comic and the character.

 

[JGlass]

Best

The Dark Knight- I thought this was nearly a perfect film. In fact, it was almost TOO GOOD to be considered a comic book film. Batman was as flawed a character as he had ever been in the movies, the transformation from Harvey Dent to Two Face was phenomenal, and Heath Ledger's Joker is obviously legendary.

X-Men- Loved the original the most. Magneto is much more fun to watch when he is scheming. One of my other favorite X-Men, Cyclops, also got to have a lot of good action scenes in this one, which I can't say for X2 or X3 since in 2 he was kidnapped for half the movie and in 3... he's never really given much of a shot. Seeing a classic X-Men vs. Brotherhood of Mutants battle is exactly what I wanted when I went to the theater and it's exactly what I got.

V for Vendetta This movie is better than the others in some ways, not as good in others. There's not as much nostalgia in this one as there is in X-Men or Dark Knight, and that definitely hurts it a lot, but it makes up for it with amazing fight sequences, a great character in V, Natalie Portman looking absolutely amazing (before the head shaving), and real life implications that are extremely profound.

Sin City- Also lacking on the nostalgia factor, and not quite the movie V for Vendetta is in terms of depth, but it's a very well made, beautiful film that is a lot of fun to watch. Every story they tell is engrossing and you feel a certain sense of triumph and defeat along with the characters.

Worst

Spider-Man 3- This movie was just complete and udder horse shit. Peter Parker going all... emo/hipster/jazzy was painful to watch, and not in a good way. It was the equivalent of X Pac heat, I hated it not because it was well done evil, I hated it because it sucked. They also screwed the pooch with Venom, Spider-Man's second most iconic villain who had hardly any screen time. And Spider-Man teaming with Green Goblin? That's a huge no-no. When your favorite character in the entire movie is the villain (Sandman), you know you fucked up.

Punisher War Journal- I don't know why Marvel thought remaking the original Punisher was a good idea. I, for one, thought that the original was pretty damn good, and the reason it didn't make that much money was because The Punisher is not a big name superhero. War Journal sucked, I hated how the cops were basically allowing Punisher to run around killing criminals (a big part of the comic books is questioning the morality of vigilante justice that comic books seem to glorify), and how they basically just tried to throw in as many comic book references as possible.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Best: X-Men 2

I could've gone with Batman Begins or Spider-Man 2 or Sin City or even Iron Man, but I decided that this was the best. X-Men 2 is so much more than just another superhero movie, it is a movie about what it means to be human, and what does that really mean. The casting of Brian Cox as William Stryker is inspired as is his performance. It's an improvement on what was a good first outing and the acting is all round good, along with the storyline.

Worse: Spider-Man 3

Some directors need freedom to create good movies, others need constraints, and Sam Raimi is a director who needs constraints. What made the second Spider-Man one of the best superhero movies was the storyline and how well plotted it was, this was awful. They just crammed way to much in here and tried to change far too much. The same plot devices were reused (Jealousy and Guilt) over and over and the villains were uninspired, flat, one dimensional characters. Also the acting was simply BAD.

 

[Captain Jive]

Punisher: War Zone was the shit. In that movie, he WAS Frank Castle. The 2004 movie was OK, but it wasn't The Punisher. The newer one focused on what it was supposed to, Castle killed a shitload of people in a shitload of badass ways. Not to mention that most of the characters were actually from the comics. The 2004 version basically took the name and did whatever the hell they wanted with it.

The best overall would be 300. The way the movie was filmed was just brilliant.

Worst would be Wolverine (how fucking dare you make Deadpool a mute that shoots beams out of his eyes and grows swords out of his hands?)

 

[Mitch Henessey]

As for worst, Batman & Robin. I like campy movies but my god was this one way to over the top. Just about everything in it was shit. I like George Clooney but I thought he was a horrible Batman, I like Arnold but Mr. Freeze was an abomination. The costumes, sets, and acting were all equally terrible. The same goes for Batman Forever, but the difference is that I thought Val Kilmer actually did a halfway decent job with the Batman character. Both of those Batman films in the mid 90's were just horrible and I am so glad that Christopher Nolan revamped that franchise and has done justice to the comic and the character.

Ugh, Batman & Robin was a horrendous piece of shit. I also like Clooney, but I do think he was a terrible Batman. He just never seemed right for this role. Mr. Freeze was for too comical as villain. I love Arnold, but the MR. Freeze character was just a train wreck in this movie. They also had to cram Bane in this film. And why did they feel the need to throw in Batgirl? We don't see her until the very end of the movie, and Alica Silverstone's acting was terrible here. Yeah, she looked hot as she put on the Batgirl costume, but I don't think this film called for this character's presence. I enjoyed Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. She did a good job at playing this evil vixen/seductress. But her performance wasn't enough to save this film. I think Batman & Robin suffers from the same problem that killed Spider-Man 3....they tried to do an all-star extravaganza by throwing so many villains and heroes at you, but in the end, the film just comes off as a HUGE clusterfuck. And just like Spider-Man 3, Batman & Robin failed miserably.

As far as Batman Forever goes, I thought this film was pretty mediocre. I want to say this film was shit, but I thought Jim Carrey was great as The Riddler. He was comical and witty, but he could also be insanely evil. As far as Batman villains on film goes, I think Carrey's performance as The Riddler should be right up there with Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and Heath Ledger's Joker. Val Kimer was okay as Batman, but I could never get into Chris O'Donnell as Robin. He's not one of my favorite actors, and I couldn't stand him as The Boy Wonder. Also, I didn't like Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face. He was supposed to be the more serious villain in this film, but I just couldn't take him seriously. The Two Face character was very awkward in this movie, and this look didn't help him out:

Christopher Nolan did resurrect the Batman franchise, because I thought it was dead before he took over.

Punisher: War Zone was the shit. In that movie, he WAS Frank Castle. The 2004 movie was OK, but it wasn't The Punisher. The newer one focused on what it was supposed to, Castle killed a shitload of people in a shitload of badass ways. Not to mention that most of the characters were actually from the comics. The 2004 version basically took the name and did whatever the hell they wanted with it.

The first Punisher film was kind of boring. I like Thomas Jane, but I don't think he was right for this role. He just came off as being very bland, and he really didn't bring any energy to the character. Ray Stevenson did a much better job with the character. He was bad ass, but he also did a fine job when it came to showing emotion. You actually wanted to feel bad for the guy during this film. Jigsaw made for a nice villain, and I thought this Punisher film was a step above the first one.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

As far as best, I'd have to go with The Dark Knight, X-Men or X2. The reason the first 2 X-Men are far superior to the 3rd, besides the poorer writing, was you could actually feel the tension in the air around the human/mutant relations. The opening of the first one with the conference regarding the matter. In the second one, when Iceman's little brother calls the cops on them and he has to leave his family. It was always on the verge of going to war without actually doing it. When they came to it in X3 it was just underwhelming.

And as far as the worst, some of you are right without even knowing it. The original Punisher was one of the worst comic book movies ever made (Batman & Robin is close). But you're getting the movie wrong. The original Punisher came out in 1989 and starred Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett Jr. It was a horribly cliched movie. Bad writing and bad acting. The only decent part of it was the cops were trying to find Castle and arrest him. It's one of those movies that's almost so bad it's good. But it really isn't.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Clearly none of you have ever sat and watched Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone.

There was nothing wrong with Stallone as Dredd. His chin was naturally crafted for the role and he played it well. Unfortunately, the writers took every opportunity they could to shit all over the Dredd mythos as he went.

Judge Dredd never, and i repeat, NEVER takes his helmet off. If he ever does, you NEVER actually get to see his face, to the point where they'll just black his face out in the comics.

In the film, he takes his helmet off in the first 10 minutes and continues to do so throughout the film. EPIC FAIL!

And Rob Schneider was written in for comic affect. I've no problem with Rob Schneider, but if you need to write him in as comic relief for a fuckin Judge Dredd film, you know you're movie isn't going to do well.......

I hope the remake learns from it's predecessor's mistakes.

And the best for me is Batman Begins. I know, you thought i'd say 'TDK' right? Well the reason i picked BB, is because it's the only Batman film, seemingly in existance, that utilises the less common known members of the Batman Rogue Gallery.

Joker, Two Face, and even the newly announced TDKR villains Catwoman and Bane are ALL villains that have been used before. Batman Begins actually went out on a limb and used Ra's Al Ghul, Carmine Falcone and The Scarecrow.

Now if you'd mentioned these three villains to the average movie goer who'd never read the comics, they MAY have known who The Scarecrow was. So, i choose Batman Begins for being brave enough to venture into unchartered territory with it's characters.

 

[ScruffDog]

Best Watchmen This was word for word the comic book. You really can't do a better job with that story than they did with that movie.

Worst well there are so many to chose from. They fuck up comic books more often than they get them right. There are movie like the new Superman, and Catwoman that I just refused to see because I knew they would suck, but since I didn't see them I can't pick them. So I have to go with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Everything about this movie sucked, they made up a character for Will I AM, and had Deadpool shoot lasers, by far the worst comic book movie yet.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Best Watchmen This was word for word the comic book.

No it wasn't. Such a statement suggests you've never even read the comic book. I'm sure you have, but to say the film is exactly like the book means you either haven't read it, or have forgotten half of what happens in the book.

- None of the prison shrink's mental breakdown appears in the film. In the book, he's presented as a really optimistic person with a bright outlook on life, but after several sessions with Rorschach, he's reduced to a cynical individual and ends up losing his wife as a result. NONE of which is even hinted at in the book.

- The flashback sequence involving Dr. Manhattan's recollection of his accident goes on for about 1/3 of the time it does in the book.

- The news vendor doesn't say a word in the entire film, whereas in the book he gives and represents a social commentary on everything that's going on around him.

- They don't go into half of the Comedian's backstory in the film.

- The two lesbians that appear throughout the book don't appear at all in the film.

- Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, is murdered by skin heads towards the end of the book, much to Drieberg's despair. In the film, Mason only appears in that one scene in the beginning.

- In the film, Ozymandias vaporises his scientists after posioning them once their project is complete, whereas in the book, he opens up his arbaritum and burys them in the snow.

- This one may be wrong, but i'm pretty sure, in the book Dr. Manhattan kills everyone at the press conference when he loses his temper, instead of simply transporting to Mars.

You really can't do a better job with that story than they did with that movie.

-They could have not played 'Hallelujah' in the background of the sex scene. That's supposed to be filled with tension and social awkwardness, and they turned it into a joke in the film. 90% of the reviews of the film i've seen from comic book fans (and not just random ones, i mean journalists) give this as their biggest criticism of the whole film.

- Ozymandias' voice gave him away as the villain the very first time he spoke. His voice just oozed evil. He might as well have shouted 'IT WAS ME!' during his interview when his character is first introduced properly. Now obviously, having read Watchmen first, i knew he was the villain, but i'd be shocked if someone turned to me and said 'I didn't see him becoming the bad guy' at the end of the film.

 

[Uncle Chester]

I'm not a big fan of cinemas, the sharp light and the sharp darkness hurt my eyes after a while. But I remember when I lined up to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith on the day it was released in the cinema and almost walked out due to the boredom I experienced

I rewatched the movie a couple of years later and enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

BEST

Batman Begins- This movie seems to be underrated, due mainly to the overwhelming success of it's sequel. The selection of villains was perfect when taking into consideration the main point of this movie was to introduce us to The Batman. A bigger-name villain may have taken focus away from the Batman character.

Christian Bale was absolutely perfect for Nolan's vision of Batman. Liam Neeson is an underrated actor, and was really the perfect choice for his role. Gary Oldman did something no other actor has been able to do; make Jim Gordon relevant on the screen. I can't say enough about how much I love this movie.

Watchmen- I don't know exactly how loyal it was to the source material, seeing as I knew very little about Watchmen before the film came out. I am not a fan of Zack Snyder, but this movie showed he can be almost as much about substance as style. It had an epic feel to it, like I really knew the world was in danger, and that's important in this kind of movie. There wasn't a particular performance that stood out to me, but the ensemble was great.

The Dark Knight- Not only is this probably my favorite comic book film, it's one of my favorite crime-drama films as well (Heat, Thief, Road to Perdition, Eastern Promises come to mind). This movie was very different from Batman Begins, and I think that was for the best. It had a much more epic feel, where you really were concerned about just how far the Joker would go to prove his point. Also, you could easily watch (and enjoy) this film without knowing anything about Batman or his mythology.

Begins was more about Bruce Wayne growing up, and making the decision to become Batman. The Dark Knight focused more on Wayne realizing exactly how far he would have to go to protect an entire city, and still be able to set personal boundaries. Heath Ledger did an amazing job, but Eckhart made the film go. He actually made Harvey Dent an interesting, entertaining character long before his Two Face turn. Hell, even Eric Roberts was solid.

Honorable Mentions: Iron Man (amazingly entertaining), Batman (Tim Burton), Sin City, Spider-Man 2, and X-Men 2.

WORST (these aren't necessarily the worst of the worst, but they were a bigger disappointment)

Daredevil- This movie actually pissed me off. It had such potential, and it was basically flushed right down the shitter. Ben Affleck isn't a great actor, and shouldn't have played Daredevil. Michael Clarke Duncan wasn't as bad as I thought he would, but he was completely underwhelming. And for the love of Christ, Jennifer Garner was beyond annoying and terrible.

Colin Farrell saved this movie from being one of the worst things I've ever seen. He gets nowhere near enough credit for giving a great performance, most likely due to how shitty the picture was overall. His performance deserved a better film.

X-Men 3- Thank you, Brett Ratner. How shitty you are, as a filmmaker, never ceases to amaze me. This had to be the most lazy, pathetic attempt at making a comic book film I have ever seen. I don't how much of the blame should actually be directed toward Ratner, but I'm giving him all of the credit.

There were far, far too many characters, and not enough story. I really wasn't a huge fan of Bryan Singer's vision either, but at least you could tell he cared about the first two movies. Ratner took his paycheck, and went home. Why is Ratner allowed to make big movies??

Spider-Man 3- You can thank this piece of garbage for the series needing a fresh start. The first two installments were so entertaining, as so well shot, I have no clue how this could have happened. I think Sam Raimi is hugely overrated, but the first two Spidey flicks were as entertaining as it can get.

What did this movie have? Way too many villains. Way, wayyy too much Kirsten Dunst. Why did Raimi think it was a good idea to have her sing in this movie? Who in the hell wanted to see those musical scenes? I think those scenes ruined this movie (and the entire series going forward). There have been worse comic book film adaptations, but this was easily the most disappointing. How do you have that big of drop-off from the previous films?

Honorable Mentions: Both Fantastic Four movies, Superman 3 &4, every Punisher film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, Elektra, and many, many more. As I said earlier, the three I chose for 'worst' were not the worst adaptations, but easily the most disappointing. These other films never stood a chance, so why would I care?

 

[Alex]

Best: The Crow

It's an extremely well directed film, staying very close to the comic, with only some minor tweaks. The acting is great (the late Brandon Lee and Michael Wincott stand out the most, although the rest of the cast do great jobs) and what makes it even better is that is was made on a low budget, which just shows how well low budget films can be.


Worst

I won't say I've seen a terrible comic book film, but there are several that were disappointing, if I had to pick one of those it would be Daredevil.

As nickb03 already said, the acting choices were off, Colin Farrell was great but the rest weren't (they could have done so much more with Michael Clarke Duncan) and it seemed they wanted to try a rather cliched storyline instead of having an interesting storyline.

 

[Davi323]

Shit, I can name a comic book movie that makes Daredevil and the Hulk look like a Best Picture nominee in comparison...and I bet NOBODY would have ever thought of it. In fact, it was actually the very first feature film to be theatrically released starring a Marvel comic book character.

Howard the Duck.

I challenge anyone to find me a worse movie based on comic book characters, after actually seeing this movie. This isn't just the worst comic book movie ever made, it quite possibly could be the single worst movie ever made, period.