Comicbook Movies

[usmu]

Do I even have to mention the Batman movies? Which were all very bad movies and at most reasonable representations of the comic. Batman is by far one of the more dark superheroes and the movies are so off base as far as that's concerned.

Superman has also been done to dead. Though I must say I find them more enjoyable (even though hopelesly outdated) and more representative of the comic than Batman could ever be.

I tend not to go to these kinds of movies, because the set looks and imagery. Which is even more difficult to get right than when following a book, which is hard enough as it is. I much prefer animation for comics then live action for pretty much that reason.

[batfreak]

Punisher movie, The only movie (Apart from Tomb raider) where all I can say is:

WHY??????

[JaceSan]

"The Crow" is one of my favorite movies. I didn't even realize it was a comic book until after I'd seen the movie. Of course I was a fan of Brandon Lee before he did that movie. I like movies that should be comic books. (e.g. "Big Trouble in Little China" with Kurt Russell.) As a result I happen to be a fan of most movies that are based on comic books. That's just my taste in movies. "Batman". loved the first two. Michael Keaton and Tim Burton did a great job of portraying the brooding superhero. Still haven't seen "Daredevil" yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it.

[Jelymo]

commentary:

daredevil: AWESOME. GO SEE IT. some of the best casting. colin ferrell as bullseye had be peeing myself laughing. and jennifer garner was a perfect elektra. and ben actually did a kick ass job playing dd.

batman: i hated michael keaton. val kilmer was the best batman, in my opinion.

spider-man: excellent. can't wait for the next one. i heard who the next villain is gonna be and now i forget what they said.

x-men: i loved it, although i really didn't care for storm's role either. and jean was too old. but i've seen the trailers for x2 and hot damn, i can't wait!!!! sorry if this is a spoiler of any kind, but please click HERE. you may have to copy and paste the link into a new window to see it, cuz it's picky. but all i can say is that it starts with a G and rhymes with BAMBIT. and yes, this is a pic from the set, but fans guess it'll be hacked and put on the dvd.

real stuff:

you guys covered all the stuff i know about comic-wise. but the original Blade was pretty good. and it had stephen dorff in it as Frost. accurate to comic or not, he's bloody gorgeous, and that's all that counts. the second blade sucked for three reasons: 1) it was a really stupid plot, if you even want to call that a plot. 2) it had too many stills of wesley snipes. it was like, this: shoot guy, POSE. shot another guy... and POSE. and 3) it didn't have Frost in it. made me very very sad. but i still saw blade 2 for its entertainment value. it was a good mindless watch. the original was still better and had a slightly better plot. much more entertaining.

[GeekGirl]

Warning: I?m apparently incapable of giving only two cents.

My favorite movie as representation of the originating comic: The Crow. Not only did it capture the characters and spirit of the book, not to mention the incredible visuals, but captures the "beat" of a story told in comic panels perfectly. That?s the tricky balance, to me ? a good comic utilizes the format and flow of the page and panels, distilling every action and situation into its purest expression ? how the hell do you translate that to the screen, filling in the blanks just enough (because I don?t go to the theater to watch a slide show, thank you), yet retaining that "essence"? In most comic-source movies, it just comes across as lack of character development.

Daredevil actually falls into that lack of development to me, actually. As a longtime fan of the book, I could connect all the dots, but I thought the movie could?ve been a bit longer than an hour and 40 minutes. But I do agree that the portrayal of the character was true to Romita and Miller. I was looking for two things ? (i) that Daredevil has always been about the ugliness of vigilante justice -- no crooks tied up and left on the steps of the police station here, and (ii) any storyline with Bullseye and Elektra had better end with her hoisted up on her sais. I was afraid that they wouldn?t go there with a superhero franchise prospect, and they did. Otherwise, I don?t quibble about most changes, because hey, adaptation. But I did note that the history as portrayed in the movie does preclude them doing either the Elektra resurrection as in #187-190, or the Born Again storyline, which to me is a shame.

Oh, and the Daredevil movie used sound most excellently. The radar sense and the need for the sensory deprivation chamber came across in a way that it never could on the page.

X-Men: loved the interplay of McKellan and Stewart, and for the most part the characters were on target. I have to admit I was more relieved that they hadn?t ruined it, than thinking it was a great adaptation. But I am looking forward to 2.

Spiderman was everything I could have wanted it to be.

The Matrix, though it?s a bit of chicken and egg. At any rate, that the Warchowski brothers are fans of the comic book medium came through loud and clear. Can?t you just imagine Trinity?s ?dodge this? and then the trigger pull as panels on a page?

[Derico]

Okay, saw Daredevil when it opened & then discussed a week later with a friend - while I thought it was a really good movie he only thought it was good. We got to discussing movies based on comics & how they were. We were discussing it as simply a movie & then as a movie representing it's particular comic. using Daredevil as an example: I thought it was a good movie on it's own but that it was really good as a representation of the comicbook. We also got into trying to remember previous films based on comics. So, let's discuss such a thing here. One per person please & only films released theatrically. By the way, it's been a while since I've postsed so, HI EVERYBODY! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[Branflakes]

*GLOMP*

HI!!!!!! Glad to see you back!

Ok, X-Men. I liked that movie as a movie. An entertaining action movie that also had a better than average plot.

As a representation of the comic: very well done. I don't feel like movies have to stick super close to the comic because many times that harms the movie. I thought it captured the essence of the X-Men (right down to Logan's tendency to team-up with "kids") while keeping the movie believable. I'd like to see better acting from Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry in the next one, and there were other things I thought could be done better, but I really enjoyed the film.

[erisesoteric]

Far and away, the best comic book movie I've seen is Spiderman. It managed to do both things exceedingly well... it maintained the "spirit" of the comic book, while at the same time, making the content approachable. (And Spiderman isn't even a comic that I'm all that fond of!)

Der, I have to agree and disagree with your take on X-men, though. Your dead on on a lot of things, but the movie's treatment of Storm was abysmal, and it ruined the whole thing for me. I can deal with her being a minor character... I cannot deal with the near ending scene where Storm, who has always had issues with the force of her power, and pretty much refuses to take a human life except in extreme circumstances, blasts Toad with lighting at the end of a fight while he was clearly already defeated. That scene angered me, and it still does.

[crazy a]

I'm gradually coming around to accepting the fact that Hollywood will impose some creative license on characters, othewise I'd have Bullseye and Elektra as they looked in the comics. Nonetheless...

....BATMAN with Keaton. As a movie, I thought it was really good. As a representation of the comic...ok, I know the average moviegoer won't know it, but I've read enough comics to know that the Joker, before he was the Joker, did not kill Bruce Wayne's parents. And it pissed me off that the movie put forth that idea. If they want to tweak the costumes or something, fine, but don't put out something that was never there in the first place.

[Neophobic Man]

For good or for bad, I remember the moment the Batman movies lost all credibility with me: In the second one, the moment the giant penguins came out of the sweres wearing rocket launchers on their backs...I mean, things were kinda wacky as it was, but WHOA...

I actually haven't seen Daredevil yet...pity me for missing it so far...

Spider-Man was pretty damn good all around.

X-Men was pretty damn good all around.

I've got Road to Perdition on DVD waiting for me to have some time to watch it...I'm hoping that it will live up to the comic...