There have been numerous superhero movies adapted from comic books since I was a child. I mean, superheroes are almost in the same mainstream level as fairy tales. Girls had their princesses while we boys had their superheroes. I had my own superhero favorites from both the Marvel World and the DC World, the two main comic milieus that houses heroes like Batman, Spiderman and Superman. The problem with adapting a comic book to a movie is that there are certain expectations from the audience, especially those who have been collecting these comic books for some time. What are needed to be taken in consideration are the look of the actor, the manner in which the hero is portrayed by the actor (both hidden identity and hero persona), and the special effects. The storyline is pretty straightforward.
So here is my list of the best comic adapted movie based on the criteria mentioned above.
THE BEST
Superman/Superman II (1978, 1980). This version of Superman starred Christopher Reeves. It was a unanimous vote that Reeves look was perfect for Superman. What added icing to the cake was the man, not only was handsome enough to be Superman, had great talent to portray Clark Kent with enough humor and dorky-ness making the contrast between Kent and Superman distinct. Moreover, for a film that was made during the late 70s the effects were pretty good. Finally, they were able to make a man fly without making it look as if he was just lying down with the backdrop moving.
Spiderman I/Spiderman II (2002. 2004). Yes, there has been a big gap between Superman II and Spiderman. As a matter of fact, there was a 22 year gap between the two films. Suffice it to say, that the reason will become apparent in the worst superhero movies. In any case, Tobey Maguire, like Christopher Reeves, had the perfect look for Peter Parker. Tobey Maguire looked like a common Joe that just happened to be stung by a special spider, from which he was able to gain
supernatural powers. But without his costume he still looked and behaved like the common Joe. The transition to Spiderman is not as drastic as that as Kent to Superman, as Spiderman pretty much retains the personality of Peter Parker except for the crawling on walls, and the swinging on webs. Spiderman has a mask, you see. The effects of the movie were good but what was the best was the balance between the action, the development of Parker’s character and the love story between Parker and Mary Jane Watson. The pacing of the movies allowed for all three to happen giving the audience a fantastic adaptation of the comic book series.
Batman Begins. (2005) Filmmakers had to wait for Christian Bale to grow up. How many people actually expected that the boy from Empire of the Sun would turn out to be the best Batman? Surely, he is the only Batman that actually looked like Bruce Wayne; he looked rich and intimidating at the same time. He definitely looked Alpha male unlike all others that portrayed Batman. The darkness of Batman’s character was also portrayed by the Gothic look of Gotham City – the set, the costume and the dark alleys. The gadgets and especially the bat car were impressive as well.
Iron Man (2008). Yes, this is the most recent but it has to be said that this has been one of the best
comic adapted movie so far. The choice of Robert Downey Jr. was making me apprehensive at first as this guy was pretty intense in his acting. I also knew that Robert Downey Jr. was very picky with the roles that he portrays. This gave me the hint that the movie must be good albeit wrongly cast. Of course, I was proven wrong. Downey’s casual and laid back portrayal of Tony Stark was perfect. He was able to portray Stark, who still retained his flamboyant, playboy ways while showing the inner change and the focused direction that he has taken as Iron Man. The movie was properly cast as well with Gwyneth Paltrow being Ms. Pepper Potts. The chemistry of both actors was just right for the underlying tension between them. The effects were simple but impressive which makes it just right for the movie.
V for Vendetta (2005). Many will say that V for Vendetta was more talk than action which doesn’t really portray a true hero. In a sense this is true, but what has to be understood is that V was not fighting just one man, supernatural creature, or powerful entity. V was fighting against a particular paradigm as well as the people or government trying to enforce this paradigm. So essentially, he is the true hero at the same time superhero because of his skills. Well it’s very hard to say that Hugo Weaving is the perfect V as he was using a mask all throughout the movie. However, this is where talent kicks in. Weaving was able to portray a character using his voice alone – through inflections of his voice he was either able to show sadness, anger, ruthlessness and love. So in that sense, Weaving with his extraordinary talent was the perfect choice for a superhero behind a Guy Fawkes mask. The effects were simple but accurate to the story. Some may say it was slow but it was very close to the actual comic which makes it a very good adaptation.
This is the first part of my comic book adapted movie week. If you’d notice the first two franchises – Superman and Spiderman – don’t include the third movies. I don’t know…somehow I think the producers got caught in the success of the first two they got all discombobulated in making a good story for the 3rd.
More next time on the worst movies adapted from comic books…
