Wednesday 29 December 2010

Best Comic book films of the decade

10: V FOR VENDETTA (2006)


I remember hearing about the comic book for years but never being able to find it anywhere. Finally got the graphic novel on a trip to Canada in a basement comic store in Montreal. It was awesome. Like most people I was terrified of going to see this, when you have a comic book like V for Vendetta you never know what you're gonna get when you go to see the film. A lot of things had changed. It no longer seemed to have the balls of the comic, but the changes they made didn't hurt the film and it turned out to be pretty awesome.

9: IRON MAN (2008)


I've never really liked Iron Man as a character, the only version of him I ever enjoyed was in The Ultimates. Thankfully it appears that was Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favreau's favourite version too. This film has no right to be as good as it is, but it's the performance of Robert Downey Jr and the comedy they manage to inject into the film that turned it into the beast it became. For a while I even forgot how crap Iron Man was, and if a film can do that, it can do anything.

8: HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008)


You can tell Guillermo Del Toro made Pans Labyrinth between the first and second Hellboy films, the mythical world he builds is awesome and a lot of it is straight out of the comic book. Something he never quite managed in the first one. Not saying the first ones bad, it just lacked a lot of the supernatural elements synonymous with Hellboy. He's always been one of my favourite characters and it's a film that could have been done very badly if the wrong director had been attached to it. Hopefully Guillermo Del Toro will get to make another one soon.

7: THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)


I'm going to go on  record as saying I didn't actually mind Ang Lees version of the Hulk. The crazy CGI fest at the end was hideous but up till then I was with it. This one doesn't balls it up in the same way. It seems to mix elements of the comic book and TV series together and creates something awesome. I've loved the Hulk since I was a kid and was giggling throughout the film with giddy excitement. Which can only be a good thing. Kind of gutted Ed Norton isn't playing the Hulk in the Avengers but these things happen in Hollywoodland. Bastards.

6: SIN CITY (2005)


It's not often you go to see a film based on any form of literature and what's on the page is exactly what's on the screen. It was such a strange experience going to see it. As with most of the films on this list I was a fan of the comic but I never expected such an amazing spectacle. The technique they used doesn't always work, The Spirit was fucking hideous, but it would have been horrendous is they'd just shot it like a normal film. Totally blew me away.

5: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010)


Having read Scott Pilgrim I couldn't think of a way to turn it into a film. Thankfully Edgar Wright did, and what a film he made. It has all the elements a fan of the graphic novels could want, and it's a bloody good film if you've never read it. Which can only be a good thing, right? Apparently according to some reviewers you'll only like this film if you're under 30. Fuck you. Fuck you right in the ass.

4: KICK ASS (2010)


Nicolas Cage is awesome in this. Let me say that again, Nicolas Cage is awesome in this. How often have we been able to say that in the last decade. I know the rest of the cast are also awesome, Hit Girl steals every scene she's in, but I still found it hard to get past the fact that Nicolas Cage had managed to be good in another good film. Only took him seven years. Crap I better say something about this film. I fucking loved every minute of it, how's that ?

3: HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)


It's official, Viggo Mortenson brings out some crazy thing in David Cronenberg which allows him to throw his genius at the screen in a new and amazing way. I'd never read the graphic novel of this, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one either. Cronenberg has always managed to tap into something deep down inside of me and this is no different. It succeeds on so many levels. If you haven't seen it, you really have to.

2: WATCHMEN (2009)


They were never going to be able to fit the full 12 issues of the comic into this film. The fact they managed to get as much of it in and not only make a film that made sense but highly enjoyable is a fucking miracle. Terry Gilliam had said for years that it was impossible to make, and he's a fucking genius. Obviously some things had changed which meant some other things had to change but the end product is mind blowing. It's one of the most perfect comic book films ever made and at no point tries to hide away the violence or depravity of the original work. I can't wait for Snyders Superman, the guy knows how to make a good comic book film.

1: THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)


I watched this again recently and it just keeps getting better the more I see it, and I went to see it in the cinema twice. There's not a bad performance in this film. Aaron Eckhart is perfect as Harvey Dent and his turn is probably the best acting performance in the film. Don't get me wrong Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker but Eckhart deserves just as much praise, if not more. I know he didn't die or anything but that's not his fault. The saddest thing about this film is that the Joker won't make an appearance in the next one. The whole 'we need each other' speech gives me goosebumps and is the most accurate portrayal of the relationship between the Joker and Batman I've ever seen on film, very The Killing Joke.

5 comments:

  1. No Love for Raimi? Not even the Second Spiderman? No Keanustine? I'd even put Blade: Trinity over V for Vendetta....

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  2. They were both in the original list, which was 20 films, but they eventually got cut. I really struggled to get this down to ten films. Hard choices had to be made.

    Blame Spiderman 3 for the lack of Spidey though, same for X-men.

    This list is the main reason all the rest were top ten because originally it was going to be top fives lol

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  3. Dude where the hell is 300!! Huh huh!

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  4. Also dark night!! Cmon. Possibly the finest performance from Heath ledger! And some of the best IMAX sequences in a movie!

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  5. 300 was awesome, it was in the short list but didn't make it. I also said that Heath Ledger was amazing in The Dark Knight and that it was my favourite comic book film of the decade so I have no idea what you're talking about with your second comment lol

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