The Top Ten List—a device designed to cause more controversy than actually be any authoritative piece of writing; it is usually helpful only in bringing out the ire in the reader who finds himself invariably in disagreement with the authors of such a list. Some can be helpful guides to the layman on what to buy, see or read, but most are simply the work of opinionated ‘experts’ writing on a subject that anyone interested enough to read about would assuredly call themselves ‘experts’ too. Why then do people write them?
Didn’t I tell you they cause controversy?
Therefore, Bam!Kapow! staff have compiled a ‘top ten list’ of their own: The Top Ten Comic Book Movies. What makes a ‘comic book movie’? Anything based off of the medium of sequential art, best known as comic books. Not specific to, but including, those most famous of comic book icons that fall within the superhero genre.
The debate raged among the staff here on whether or not we should narrow the subject of the list down to the top ten superhero movies. But what constitutes a ‘superhero movie’? Surely there exists movies that are firmly in the ‘superhero’ genre that have no connections to comic books in anything but a tenuous link to the medium that the genre started in, i.e. The Incredibles. Also, what superhero is in Sin City or Constantine or the comic book Skye Runner for that matter?
Most people tend to use ‘comic book’, a medium, to mean a multitude of literary genres that more or less have some kind of fantastical elements in them. Skye Runner would easily be accepted by the large movie going public as a ‘comic book movie’ because it has readily recognizable fantastical elements. We’ve decided to fight this confusion, lazy thinking, and general use of misnomers by making our list of movies based off the medium of comic books.
For this list, we used the highly scientific method of each making our own top ten lists and then bickering about it for hours on end like ten-year-olds until we came to a rough consensus full of vetoes and demands that if that comic was getting in, then this comic had to too.
Actually, that didn’t even happen. Everyone just turned in a list of their own and I put it all together. Neat, huh?
10. A History of Violence –
David Cronenberg’s adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name had very little in common with the graphic novel after the first forty-five minutes or so of the movie. It had more in common with other Cronenberg films, and as interviews with the writer can attest, it was specifically designed to be a ‘Cronenberg film’ with its gratuitous sex and violence. The climax’s revelation that the main antagonist was a melodramatic, almost cartoon cliché, mobster was a bit of a disappointment, but the movie’s contrast of ‘Norman Rockwell Americana’ with the harsh truth of what violence really looks like is exceedingly effective and entertaining. The character study of a man we desperately want to root for, but ultimately feel repulsed by is one of the movie’s greatest entertainments. Let’s not oversell it though, the movie’s true greatness lies in its ability to seem like it has a deeper meaning underneath all its fluff, but there is none. Getting people to think you’re smart is more important than actually being smart. As Cronenberg said about the film after asked about its subtle message, “It’s just a goof film.”
9. Constantine –
The 100 million dollar movie that only made 70 million. Suffice it to say, there won’t be a sequel anytime soon. Who can explain why good movies do poorly at the box office when trash like Garfield gets a sequel and Daredevil gets a spin-off? The truth is that Constantine is about as good a movie about the subject, demons and modern day warlocks, that you can make without getting bogged down in laborious explanations. They don’t explain that Constantine is casting a spell to see the true form of the angel during the climatic battle; you just see the results clearly and understand that’s what he did. Maybe the lack of spoon feeding was what did it in, or maybe it’s because of an unreasonable dislike to ‘anymore damn movies with a trench-coated Keanu’. Whatever the petty reasoning behind it, no one can deny the visual beauty and wonderful special effects; the casting was almost spot-on (minus the whole Keanu not being British); and the movie was genuinely funny at times, scary at others. In defense of Keanu, would anyone really have wanted him to try a British accent? The problem here was a rare one, they made a great movie, but it wasn’t the movie people expected thereby causing angst all the same. Final word: Peter Stormare’s portrayal of Satan was one of the best I’ve ever seen, if not the.
8. Spider-Man –
The original, the first of what is destined to be the best superhero run in history. Lacking Batman and Superman’s duds and X-Men’s slow start and crappy finish, Spider-Man is a lucky character indeed to have Sam Raimi working on him from beginning to end. The movie isn’t without its faults, some of Spidey’s normally witty ‘fighting banter’ is anything but funny, and that Green Goblin suit is about as frightening as a bad hair day. Yet, these misfires were easy to overlook as Raimi was able to make the superhero story mainly a love story. Women, who’d never read a comic in their life, flocked to the movie. The entire Spidey run could be seen as a four-part soap opera, but with enough fighting and action to keep even the ‘manliest’ man entertained. It was true the core of the character, identifiable teen matures quickly to help others. It was Raimi’s ‘basics first’ attitude that kept the character grounded and recognizable as our Spider-Man, no matter what changes might be made to the details. Again, casting and direction show up as a key component to making a good film (ya think?). There’s no secret to making a good comic book movie: simply make a good movie.
7. X2: X-Men United –
This was the sequel that only seemed to build upon the success of the first movie, and brought the X-Men into fair competition with Spider-Man for the ‘best Marvel movie’. Forget the Ratner failure; this should go down as the last movie of the X-Men. Singer juggles the even larger cast perfectly, and is even able to throw in enough cameos to excite the diehards. The action is easily the best of the three movies and truly shows off the difference between Wolverine and the other X-Men as Logan slashes and maims his way through commandos and Kelly Hu’s alike. Full of competent actors, with a fine bit of restraint shown for those who weren’t, this is also the best of the three films when it comes to acting and dialogue. Singer’s greatest ability though is his ability, like Raimi, to get at the heart of the X-Men, namely the parallels to other minorities among society. The hilarious scenes where Iceman’s parents act like they were just told their son was gay are exactly the kind of moments X2 needed to be relevant today.
6. Blade –
Not much deep relevancy here, nor is there any core concept of the character that the movie captures, other than maybe that he kills vampires. No the greatness of Blade was two-fold: First, it marked the beginning of the comic book movie revolution. Too many people mark X-Men as that movie, but they’d be forgetting the real ‘test movie’ of Marvel’s, Blade. A smashing hit, Blade is also a martial arts masterpiece a year before the Matrix. Which brings us to its second reason for being on this list: it is simply one of the best action movies ever made. At the time, the only complaint heard around the community was the CGI blood in all its shiny glory. Looking past this, Blade is one of the most visually exciting movies I’ve ever seen. The sequels would have a decline in both acting (minus Ryan Reynolds) and in fighting cinematography. Stephen Norrington is the only person on this list to have both a top ten best and a top ten worst. This movie would mark his greatest achievement. This movie is all style, enough substance, and all entertainment.
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