Film Adaptations of Comic Books

[keilj]

Anyone have favorites, or ones they did not like, of movies made from comic books? (For obvious reasons) I put Sin City at the top - with everything quite a ways below

[BienvenuJDC]

I really liked Iron Man and I will say that nothing that Stan Lee has been involved in has disappointed me. The man is a master at what he does.

[keilj]

I really liked Iron Man and I will say that nothing that Stan Lee has been involved in has disappointed me. The man is a master at what he does.

Second best on my list is probably The Spirit (though I know many did not like that movie). I thought it was really good. (and Scarlett Johannson and Eva Mendez did not hurt things either)

[inbetween]

batman beginns and returnes (burton did it great!)
the crow (part one and two) (even though these are only inspired by comics)
.... these are thw once I like!

[Drkshadow03]

I really liked Iron Man and I will say that nothing that Stan Lee has been involved in has disappointed me. The man is a master at what he does.

Agreed. The first Iron Man was probably one of the most impressive adaptations of a comic book into film.

[Mr.lucifer]

The dark knight.

[pooteeweet]

The Dark Knight and Superman Returns -- I know Superman was not that 'great' of a movie -- but I like the story and how it picked up after Superman II.

[mtpspur]

Well Jonah Hex was a mess. If only they had stuck with the character from the comics--could have been on a level with Outlaw Josey Wales as Hex has much drama and layers to his character. The Phantom wasn;t bad --just wasn't great and perhaps 10 years too late to be effective. The Spider-Man movies have been excellent especially the second one with Doc Octopus. I like the Batman movies but have never been in love with them. I'm a snob where he's concerned. Unless it looks like Neal Adams it will always fall short.

[fontelroy]

I thought 'the Watchmen' was a masterfully made movie. It perfectly captured the graphic novel in a way I thought impossible. It had the best soundtrack since Donnie Darko and had amazing acting, and costumes. It seems like comic adaptations only work when they have respect for the source material EG. The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Ironman etc.

[The Comedian]

Some of the great comics have been made into adequate films: American Splendor, Ghost World. . .

[Rores28]

Sin City is the obvious best, maybe the only comic book movie that could go toe to toe with the graphic novel itself.

Watchmen was very good but still lacking when compared to the graphic novel.

A majority of the classic superhero movies are basically terrible. Exceptions being Spider-Man, Iron Man, and X-men trilogy. And really I think the X-men trilogy was the only really remarkable one... the alternate Dark Phoenix story I thought was great.

Ghost World I felt was a fantastic book that turned to **** in movie form.

American Splendor was really good too.

I also loved V for Vendetta, but I can't compare to the book, yet I'm in the process of reading that now.

I heard League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was crap too movie-wise but I haven't seen or read it.

[lavendar1]

Persepolis, Road to Perdition, 300.

[Desolation]

The Dark Knight
Kick-***
Watchmen
Iron Man 1 & 2
The Incredible Hulk (with Ed Norton)
V for Vendetta
The first two Spider-Mans

I'm really excited for Green Lantern, The Flash, and Thor.

[andrewoberg]

I thought 'the Watchmen' was a masterfully made movie. It perfectly captured the graphic novel in a way I thought impossible. It had the best soundtrack since Donnie Darko and had amazing acting, and costumes. It seems like comic adaptations only work when they have respect for the source material EG. The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Ironman etc.

I loved "Watchmen" too, especially the twist on how the comic plays out its climax, but thought the soundtrack was terrible. Jimi playing as they fly over the Martian landscape? Tripe!:ack2:

[Scheherazade]

Ghost World. . .I love both the book and the movie.

:)

[Gustavo L.]

The first Batman by Tim Burton, The Dark Knight, and my favorite: Oldboy, based on a manga.

[Thom Holliday]

I only saw Watchmen last night. I think I put off watching it for such a long time since I became disillusioned with the adaptations of V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I am happy to say though, that the adaptation of Watchman was much, much better than previous Alan Moore adaptations. I felt that the film was extremely faithful to the graphic novel, bar the missing inclusion of 'Tales of the Black Freighter'.

The Dark Knight, based upon earlier comic book incantations of the Joker, is the only other great comic book adaptation which springs to my mind. Mind you, the video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum is awesome, probably the best video game I've ever played to be honest! If you own a console and you're interested in Batman, you would be ridiculous to not play it.

[RobinHood3000]

My favorites:

The Burton Batman films
The original Richard Donner Superman
Iron Man

I enjoyed The Spirit, although mostly for the experience and not so much for its film merits. Frank Miller seems to be becoming a filmmaker of ego - like Tarantino, but with less inherent understanding of the medium. Makes for a great Halloween costume, though.

I haven't seen Watchmen, though I've been meaning to. I love the graphic novel, for sure.

I love The Punisher, with Thomas Jane. It took what is a very controversial, very sociopathic comic book antihero and made him palatable for mainstream audiences as well as enjoyable to watch for comic book fans.

V For Vendetta is a passable film, but it's a guilty pleasure film that tries to masquerade as intellectual fare. It compares very unfavorably with the powerful graphic novel. Compared to the book, the film is grossly heavy-handed with its ethical and political anvils. Given how heavy-handed the book is already, that's really saying something.

I find Nolan's Dark Knight saga...overhyped, to say the least. Batman Begins was nearly unwatchable for me on repeat viewings out of frustration with the atrocious writing (including an Italian mob boss saying, unironically and with a straight face, "You got spirit, kid, I'll give you that") and cringeworthy abuse of basic science. Many have excused this with the fact that it's a comic book movie, but I feel that once filmmakers commit to trying to make a realistic depiction of a comic book hero, including a much-lauded sequence following the development of Batman's gadgetry, they lose their right to using comic book conventions as justifications. The Dark Knight improved on Begins in almost every respect, but runs about a half-hour too long and rushes its third act to an unwieldy title drop. And I have trouble listening to the score, which struck me as sort of a two-trick pony. I've never been a big Hans Zimmer fan, though.

Oh, and the first Men In Black was excellent. The second...not so much.

I'm really hoping the Green Arrow film does well (some of the oldies of the forum will understand why), but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. For one thing, it's being written by David Goyer, who wrote the aforementioned Batman Begins in addition to some pretty bad comic book adaptations (Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, the best part of which was actually David Hasselhoff, impressively enough for the Hoff). For another thing, the plot barely even centers around Green Arrow; the writers hardly seem concerned with his role in the film at all. The only reason he's in it is because the writers needed a hero that wasn't in current film use to slot in the protagonist role for a movie that takes place in a prison for supervillains. Based on some interviews I read, the writers seem more enthused about the B-list villains involved than about Green Arrow.