Dr. Kronner's Best Comic Book Movies

So back in July of 2006, Bam Kapow Hall of Famer Michael McDaniel put together a Top 10 list of Comic Book Movies. At the end of said list he also included his 5 worst. Well in the past few years there have been some additions to the genre, so I thought I’d see if I couldn’t update it a bit…

Choosing my BEST list was hard, there are movies I loved like V FOR VENDETTA and 30 DAYS OF NIGHT which just weren’t quite good enough to make the cut. Then there are guilty pleasure movies like PUNISHER: WAR ZONE when he blows that guy up in the air with a rocket launcher. Or TANK GIRL cause I had a crush on Lori Petty when I was a kid. But those are nowhere near high enough quality to be even considered on this list.

And then there are movies I enjoyed like KICK ASS and THE LOSERS which were just too new to include without multiple viewings. Then you have stuff like THE WATCHMEN which was technically done great, but had a story that just didn’t translate well to film. I also decided to avoid movies like ROAD TO PERDITION, which while excellent, really doesn’t have theat comic feel. So this is what I came up with:
 

KRONNER’S BEST

10. 300
 The visuals in 300 were stunning and again, Snyder stayed true to the source. Butler made Leonidas into one of the truly most masculine and badass heroes of the last 20 years worth of film. The fast pace seemed to keep the audience enthralled, and while not exactly accurate, it does deliver a tall tale version of a real event that much of the uneducated masses are largely unaware of.
 

 
9. IRON MAN
Robert Downey Jr. - Could anyone else have played Stark so well? This came out at the right time. BATMAN BEGINS had made superhero movies acceptable and visual effects had reached a point where you’re really not limited in anything you want to do. IRON MAN started off what has become MARVEL’s most ambitious project ever with all the upcoming movies. And that is in no small thanks to RDJ.

8. BATMAN
 When I was 10, this would’ve been at the top off my list. Still to this day certain scenes give me chills of nostalgia. Like when Bruce Wayne briefly turns into Michael Keaton and flips out on the Joker, great. Burton’s Batman owned the summer of 1989 and helped to lend credence to the new, darker Batman. It is also the success of this movie that lead to my favorite cartoon of all time, BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES. The only reason this movie sits this low on the list is that over the years I’ve grown a distaste for Burton, and come to prefer the Nolan films.

7. BLADE
BLADE, much like 300, was a movie where a majority of the audience had no idea they were watching a comic book on the screen. Snipes, in desperate need of a career revival put his stock into this movie and it paid off. The result was a serious look at one of MARVEL’s lesser know characters and Snipes churned out his best performance in years. Kris Kristofferson and Stephen Dorff also added stellar performances making this one of the most under-rated movies of the 90’s. Not to mention I have a soft spot for Donal Logue who looks just like my buddy Mark…

 


6. SUPERMAN II
Now when I say that at age 10 BATMAN would’ve been my #1, it would’ve been knocking this movie back to #2. Even though I’ve preferred Bats to Supes since birth, I loved SUPERMAN II. Stamp as General Zod was awesome, and in the days when special effects still seemed like magic to me, I must’ve watched this 100 times on Detroit’s old FOX affiliate Channel 50’s Saturday Afternoon Matinée. It seemed to me that must have only had the right’s to a handful of movies as SUPERMAN II seemed to be on a regular rotation with Chuck Norris’ FIREWALKER, THE GOONIES, Jim Belushi’s THE PRINCIPAL, and SUPERGIRL. All of which I watched a shitload of times, but none of which had a super-powered show down that resulted in someone being whipped into a giant Coke-A-Cola sign. Though Helen Slater did look smoking hot in that skirt…

5. SPIDERMAN 2
Lately it’s been popular around here to rip on Raimi’s run of SPIDERMAN movies, but I thought the first one was good and the 2nd was great. SPIDERMAN 3 tainted the waters and turned everyone sour towards the previous movies, much like THE MATRIX sequels did to their predecessor. Though a little sappy, I felt like this movie really captured the spirit of the characters. Great action sequences and a very capable Alfred Molina as Doc Ock made for a hugely entertaining movie.

4. X2: X-MEN UNITED
Wolverine finally killed someone. In the kitchen. It was sweet, he was looking for beer. Not nearly as stiff as the first movie, yet far less campy than the 3rd, X2 gave us hope. It was good and seemed to be building towards something better. The created expectations may be part of why the X3 was so poorly received. Plus Nightcrawler was undeniably cool.

3. BATMAN BEGINS
In 2005 I thought this was the Holy Grail. I saw it 5 times the first 2 weeks it was out. It was everything I wanted it to be. Oldman was the perfect Gordon, and Cillian Murphy played Scarecrow as believable, which was something I had doubts about being possible. This is also, as far as I’m concerned, the best portrayal of Bruce Wayne ever. You can knock his ‘Batman Voice’ all you want, but somebody finally got Bruce right, and it was Christian Bale. One of my biggest problems with the ‘89 BATMAN was people, reporters more so, not knowing Bruce. This gave us some history and Caine’s Alfred was great.

2. SIN CITY
Frank Miller’s most ‘Miller-Esqe’ books ever may have been the SIN CITY ones. Dark and gritty, with a classic Noir feel, but still fantastical enough to grab the average superhero fanboy. The Black & White translated awesomely to film and they got a cast to kill for. Maybe the best ever assembled for such a project. Mickey Rourke’s career was saved here and you had actors like Michael Madsen and Brittany Murphy delivering distinctly 1940’s film performances. The voices and deliveries hearkened back to the noir films of yesteryear, which as a fan I really dug.

 




1. THE DARK KNIGHT 
In the summer of 2008 I THE DARK KNIGHT became my most anticipated movie ever. We went to the opening Midnight show and not even the 15 teenage girls behind me squawking about how hot Heath Ledger was could dampen my spirit. Never have I been so pumped about a movie and not been let down. Ledger lived up to the hype and Rachel Dawes’ death was orchestrated in a way as to equally affect both Batman and Harvey Dent. While Dent snapped, Bruce re-focused and put Gotham back on his shoulders. This is, in my oh so humble opinion, the best comic movie ever made.

For anyone with even a remote interest in my opinion, I’ll have my list of worst movies up soon also…