The Pullbox

Inspired by one of Big Honkin’ Steve, and Derek Russell’s episodes of SHoE, I’ve decided to list off my top 10 favorite Comic Book or Super Hero movies of all time. All these movies have been out for long enough that I’m not worried about spoilers. And in my short reviews of each film, I don’t think I let anything big slip. However, if any films on this list are ones you haven’t seen, you may want to play it safe and skip ahead to the next film.

Check it all out after the jump…

Last to first. Here are my Top 10 Favorite Superhero Movies of all time.

Regardless of the differences, the movie kept the heart and spirit of the comic in tact. A beautiful, dark, and violent story, of a man who loved his fiance so much, that he came back from the dead to avenge her rape and murder.

This movie was brilliantly done for its time. The special effect, the fight sequences, the gun fights, the soundtrack; all great. After reading the comics, there’s lots of things I would’ve liked to see in the film, and certain changes I wish they hadn’t done, however this movie holds a special place in my heart and memory. I still put this movie in every couple of months just to experience it again.

It annoys me tremendously that they continue to make more and more “sequels” and “remakes” of this great story. It stands alone. No sequels or retellings needed.

09) Sin City

Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino at the helm and an all star cast including Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Torro, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Roark, Clive Owen, Elijah Wood and Jessica Alba, among others. This movie is gorgeous. It looks just like the comics that spawned it. You can literally sit down with the original comics and see it, in some cases panel per panel, on the screen in live action.

Robert Rodriguez did an outstanding job with this film. Tarantino’s thumbprint is clearly visible in his scenes. And the actors in this film were all at the top of their game. Watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Usual Suspects, and then Sin City, and try to tell me that Benicio Del Torro is not an incredible actor. Bruce Willis does his Bruce Willis thing better than ever. This is the movie where I discovered Clive Owen’s talent and Elijah Wood was creepy as hell.

It was violent, graphic, and so much fun. Rarely do you get a graphic novel so perfectly translated onto the screen. We saw it again with 300 and will hopefully see it once more with Watchmen. But Sin City was the first to do it, and with a cast full of some of my favorite actors, and two of my favorite directors behind it. I can’t wait for the sequel.

08) Superman Returns

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy Superman: The Movie and most of Superman II. I like The Donner Cut of Superman II better. But out of all five Superman films, I love Superman Returnsthe best. The production quality is the best of all the Superman films with its incredible sets and great costuming. The story pays homage to the first film, uses the second as a jumping off point, and despite repeating the basic “Luthor Wants Land” plot-line, it managed to give us some new stuff like the kid, New Krypton, and the loss of Superman’s crystals.

The cast is another winner for me. With the exception of Kate Bosworth, I’m in love with the cast in this film. Brandon Routh sold me on his Superman andhis Clark Kent. I’m hoping for his return in the next film with more Kent screen time. Spacey was a great Luthor. James Marsden finally got to prove to us he can act. Frank Langella, Sam Huntington and Tristan Lake Leabu were all top notch as well.

And the visual effects are just phenomenal.

Yes, I wish there was more action, or a super-villain in the film. And sure, I think Kate Bosworth was miss-cast. But the homage moments (especially the opening credits) hit such a soft spot in my heart, reminding me of my childhood when I watched Superman: The Movie with my dad. And Routh is practically Christopher Reeve come back to life on the screen. Add to that the amazing airplane rescue and you’ve got one kick-ass Superman film.

07) Blade II

Guillermo del Torro is one of my favorite directors. Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the most beautiful, odd, and original films I’ve ever seen. Blade II, del Torro’s sequel to Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998) is darker, creepier, and more innovative than the original. There’s more action, a great story, and lots of Vampire goodness.

Plus there’s the Reapers, and the group of Vampires trained to take out Blade are forced to work with him instead. Among them is Ron Perlman who del Torro reuses in his Hellboy films. Of course Snipes is the only actor who could’ve done Blade and pulled it off. And one of my favorite writers, David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) wrote this series. Keep Goyer at the writer’s table, and away from the director’s chair, and you’re guaranteed an excellent film.

Also, the fight scenes in this film were the best of all three. Snipes was at the top of his game in this one.

Better than the first, and better than the third. Blade II is my favorite Blade film.

06) X2: X-Men United

The best of the three X-Men movies. The first was good, but this one amped everything up a notch. We get to see Wolverine go into his Berzerker rage, Jean shows warning signs of Phoenix surfacing, and the X-Men have to temporarily work with Magneto against Striker. Lots of great geek out moments.

The story’s the best of the three films, and director Bryan Singer gets to expand on threads he started in the first film, while starting new plot lines that he hoped to finish in the third. If Ratner hadn’t taken over, and Singer had done the third film, there’s no doubt in my mind it would’ve outdone the second.

The beginning of the feud between Ice Man and Pyro is seen. Magneto’s prison escape scene was another great geek out moment, and of course, the Phoenix flying through the water at Alkali Lake at the very end was incredibly exciting.

05) The Incredible Hulk

I’m one of those dudes that didn’t enjoy Ang Lee’s HULK. It wasn’t terrible, but there were too many problems with it. It tried to be deeper than you can get with the character. I’m a huge fan of psychological thrillers, and multiple personality plots both of which you could apply to the Hulk character. But you can’t go too far with it. You can’t make it a deep and serious film. This is the Hulk. He smashes stuff. He’s a giant green monster. You can’t take that too seriously.

The Incredible Hulk, on the other hand, took it just seriously enough, while providing enough comic relief, and unbelievable comic action and thrills to make plenty of Hulk fans proud.

I’m a huge Ed Norton fan. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a role where he didn’t have me believing, or a movie I didn’t enjoy. His work in Primal Fear, Fight Club, and the Illusionist is all perfectly crafted stuff. So his casting as Bruce Banner was a huge deal for me. I was happy about it and had high hopes. Tim Roth as the Abomination was another plus for this film.

The acting was great from everybody. Direction was spot on. And the effects were an improvement over the previous film in most spots. Norton’s rewrite of the script was actually quite good. And all the homages to the original TV show were a welcomed treat. The biggest plus? Lou Ferrigno as the voice of The Hulk. Whoever’s idea that was, it was brilliant.

The fight scene at the end with the Abomination was one of the coolest, action packed movie climaxes I’ve seen in recent film history.

Overall, it was a vast improvement over the first film and I hope and pray Norton comes back, at least for the Avengers film, to reprise his role as Bruce Banner.

04) Spider-Man II

Spider-Man, or Spider-Man II? The debate among fans is as divided as Superman: The Movie, or Superman II. Spider-Man was my favorite comic character growing up, and he’s still my second favorite today. For me, its Spider-Man II, all the way. I enjoy the first film, but there were a few scenes/elements I had some serious problems with, including the Goblin’s costume, among others. The second film, however, is practically flawless in my eyes. Spider-Man was my favorite comic character growing up, and he’s still my second favorite today, and this film captured everything I love about the Spider-Man character.

Doc Ock was a perfect villain, portrayed wonderfully by Alfred Molina. Harry Osbourne’s story progressed, foreshadowing his future as the New Green Goblin. In addition to a great story, great direction, a much better action than the first movie, the visual effects were taken up a notch. All the problems I noticed in the first film were gone in the second.

There’s also plenty of geek out moments. The “Spider-Man No More” sequence not only quoted the title to the famous comic storyline, but there’s also an homage to the actual cover, where Peter dumps the suit in a trash can and walks away down a dark ally. J. Johan Jameson’s astronaut son makes an appearance. So does Doctor Connors. Both of these characters set up possible future villains Man-Wolf and The Lizzard. And that famous train sequence is still one of my favorite movie moments ever.

03) Batman Begins

If I had made this list three years ago, this movie would be my #1. We’ve got here the first truly epic Batman film. Fashioned after the first Superman film, where you don’t see Superman in costume until half-way through the film, Batman Begins gives us a globe-trotting Bruce Wayne, training with Ninjas, discovery of the cave, building of gadgets, designing of the bat-suit, and the most bad-ass Bat-Mobile we’ve ever seen.

But wait, there’s more! We also get two Super-villains we haven’t seen on screen before; The Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Ghul. Plus Carmine Falcone and Mr. Zsaz both make appearances.

But wait, THERE’S MORE! Christian Bale’s the best Batman I’ve ever seen. And the rest of the cast was absolutely top-notch. We’re talking about brilliant veterans like Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, and Tom Wilkinson. And a newer face, just as brilliant as the rest of the cast, Cillian Murphy as Doctor Crane/Scarecrow was just great!

The fight scenes are fun. The fighting style was unique and interesting. The gadgets are classic Batman. The Tumbler/Bat-Mobile makes me want one really bad. And there’s so much set up for future sequels, including that geek-out Joker Card reveal at the end.

Christopher Nolan won over a generation of Batman fans with this film. He knocked it out of the park. And he had help from a great Super-Hero Film writer, David Goyer, who wrote all three Blade films, Co-wrote this one, and The Dark Knight. He’s also behind the hopefully upcoming Green Arrow film. The entire creative team behind this film was just stellar and I was so happy they all returned for the sequel.

Notice I didn’t mention Katie Holmes? Yeah… there’s a reason for that.

02) Iron Man

I actually never got around to review Iron Manfor the Pullbox. I’m glad I’m doing this list. It gives me the chance to finally talk about this amazing movie. I’ll try to keep it short.

Robert Downey Jr. was fantastic. It’s as if the character of Tony Stark was created so that Downey Jr. could play him in a movie someday. He was charismatic, witty, funny and callous at first, heroic later. The rest of the cast was also pretty great. Gwyneth Paltro was adorable in the role of Pepper Potts; a character that’s basically meant to be adorable. Jeff Bridges was devious and a convincing villain as Obadiah Stain. And despite having a voice a tad higher than I’d imagine Rhodey of having, Terrance Howard was actually quite good as well. 

I look forward to the expanding of secondary characters like Rhodey and Happy Hogan in a sequel.

Like The Incredible Hulk, this movie was full of geek out stuff. Rhodey looking at the armor and muttering “Next time, baby” to himself, the original cartoon theme song was Rhodey’s ringtone, and the home and armor computer was named Jarvis. Not to mention that the original armor created in the caves looks like it jumped off the pages of the original comics, and the upgraded Mark 3 looks like it jumped off the page of modern comics.

This film was more faithful to the source material than any other movie based on a comic character with an extensive history, including Batman Begins. (“Character with an extensive history” obviously does not apply to Sin City or 300, both of which were very faithful films to their source material.) The only two things I can think of, off the top of my head, that were tweaked were Obadiah’s story and Jarvis being a computer, instead of a real butler. Otherwise, the whole thing is pretty “dead on balls accurate.” (It’s an industry term.)

The visual effects were the best I’ve seen yet. Every single armor flight sequence looked so realistic, you’d swear they actually built a flying suit and filmed it in action. The final fight sequence was another one for the books. Even the explosion of that big energy reactor thing looked authentic. A big, fake, 100% CG energy explosion is pretty difficult to pull off. But they did it. Leave it to the director of Elf to completely surprise you with an amazing, CG heavy, summer blockbuster action film.

The whole movie is amazing. If The Dark Knight didn’t exist, this would be my #1 Favorite Comic Book Movie. And the sequel is already sounding pretty darn good.

01) The Dark Knight

Ironically, my number one choice requires the least amount of elaboration. I’ve already reviewed this film, EXTENSIVELY. So lets cut to the chase. This is, in my opinion, (and in thousands of other people’s opinion’s as well) the best comic book movie ever made. Even though it changed certain things from the source material (like the Joker wearing make-up and Harvey Dent’s accident) it still managed to hit the characters dead on. This film gave me so much. It gave me the Joker I’ve always wanted to see on the big screen, Jim Gordon’s journey to commissioner reached its climax, Rachel Dawes payed off, Bale returned as Batman and the realism aspect remained well executed.

The stunts were great. Joker was psychotic and genuinely scary. And Aaron Eckhart was the silent gem of the film, as I like to refer to him. The movie was flawless in my eyes. Go read my review if you don’t believe me.