The Year of the Superhero

It seems these days that there is always one superhero movie or another playing at the local multiplex, and this year will see several titles hit the screen.

I’ve been catching up on the X-Men movies – I saw and very much enjoyed Bryan Singer’s The X Men when it was released way back in 2000, but for some reason had never gotten around to watching the others. Until now that is – I recently picked up at a bargain price a dvd set entitled, The X Men Quadrilogy – isn’t that an ugly word …quadrilogy! It doesn’t sit right on the tongue, there’s an awkwardness about it, but I digress and four movies for a tenner can’t be bad. Now I’ve always enjoyed superhero comics but the movies have more often than not left me cold but, as I said, I enjoyed the original X Men movie so I decided to give these a try – watching them over a four day period – one film a night.
I enjoyed all of them, with Wolverine origins being the weakest in my opinion. Yeah I know The Last Stand gets mixed reviews but I  enjoyed that one and found it a fitting end to the trilogy proper. Wolverine wasn’t exactly a bad film, and Jackman was great  but the movie just wasn’t as interesting to me as the X Men movies, though it was cool to see Wolvie beat up on a helicopter. Maybe the X Men work better when presented as a team and the plots of the first three movies were certainly far more layered than the Wolvie standalone. The second and third movies seemed to be loosely based on the Dark Pheonix story arc which I actually own as a collected graphic novel.

Historically Superhero team up movies don’t really work and the pudding seems over egged, becoming far too much to digest – The Fantastic Four movies weren’t exactly hot and think how the Batman franchise went stale when too many villains, not to mention heroes were introduced – Batman Forever was naff and the less said about Batman and Robin the better, but the X Men, in the hands of director Bryan Singer worked well. Of course the emphasis was on Wolverine and Jackman was brilliant in all three of the original trilogy, but then so too were other cast members, especially Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. But as a stand alone character Wolvie just felt lost, the movie too felt small despite some brilliant setpieces, but the Wolverine of this movie seemed more Rambo than rampaging renegade.

Bryan Singer was originally back on board to direct the third movie, but he left the series for Superman Returns (bet he regrets that, now) and Matthew Vaughn came on board as director in February 2005, but left due to the rushed production schedule. Brett Ratner took over in June,  and filming began on August 2, 2005. Maybe it would have been better regarded by fans had Singer remained, but the eventual movie did tick all the right boxes and some of the effects are incredible – moving the Golden Gate for one after Magneto does some cool tricks with the traffic and the final bam,bash,wow fight is a joy.  I picked up the prequel movie, X Men: First Class this week and am looking forward to getting a chance to settle down and watch it.

So as we enter 2012 the film industry is hoping for a good year with several superhero films hoping to generate some much needed revenue. Marvel films are to release The Avengers this May and there are high hopes that this team up will be another X Men, for Singer’s movie did revitalize the superhero movie and without it there would have been no Spiderman, Hulk or Iron Man.  Superhero movies are coming thick and fast at the moment with both Captain America and Thor doing big business last year. And of course the third in the Dark Knight trilogy is also on the way and to say that film is eagerly anticipated would be a massive understatement and that’s not to mention the Superman reboot, The Man of Steel (though that’s not due till 2013) , as well as the new Spiderman pic. And besides the biggies we’ve got another Ghost Rider on the horizon, a new G I Joe and a reboot of Judge Dredd simply titled, Dredd.
2012 is certainly the year of the superhero

COMIC BOOK MOVIES THAT NON-GEEKS CAN ENJOY

Sin City (2005), directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. This is one of the most effective and stylish comic book movies ever filmed - it looks eye popping with actors filmed against a computer generated backdrop. It's all monochrome with a charcoal tint to the images, but every now and then there's a splash of vivid colour - blood, lipstick, the yellow skin of a rapist. Using Miller's film noir influenced graphic novels as a reference point and sticking close to the comic books uber-violence the film doesn't put a foot wrong.

Uncompromising, extreme, intelligent and brilliant.


Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) Okay the film is juvenile and predictable, but then the comic book from which it drew its inspiration was always one of Marvel's younger reader friendly publications. So one can hardly condemn it for being too comic bookish.

On its opening weekend, the film was the highest-grossing movie at the U.S. box office, reaching approximately $58 million which was a full 2million more than the previous movie. Sure it's dumb-arse but it's very good natured and effectively recreates the bickering relationship between Johnny Storm and The Thing. The CGI Surfer looks incredibly cool and although the film copped out by not showing us enough of Galacticus, it never fails to entertains. Well there are some shaky sequences mid-movie that border on slapstick bit it's still good fun. Everything, in fact, a comic book movie should be...hey, no one was expecting Citizen Kane.

The Hulk (2003) - Although the complete opposite of the previous film, this one treats the superhero genre seriously, it is just as underrated. Marvel obviously had high hopes for this one and employed art-house director Ang Lee to give it gravitas. Upon release the film recieved mixed reviews and for the most part the fans didn't think there was enough Hulk in the movie. With a running time over 2 hours it is one of the longer super hero movies - it's an epic tale and its presented in an epic style. Marvel themselves were not happy and rebooted the series in 2008 with The Incredible Hulk, recasting Edward Norton as the doomed Banner. It is generally regarded that the 2008 version is the better film but for my money it is Ang Lee's Hulk which is superior.While there may be more action-packed pictures to be found on this list, there are none as centered on characters as Hulk, so check it out if you like your blockbuster a little smarter – or if you happen to like watching giant green men bash the living crap out of a tank.

Batman Begins - it was a tough choice between this and its sequel, The Dark Knight, but this one just pipped it at the post. True both films are excellent but this one is a much more rounded movie. The thing about this movie is that it was the film Batman fans had always been waiting for - It has a crossover appeal that works for the geeks, the laymen and even for the ladies. It's a truly terrific achievement and a promising start for the series to follow. The Dark Knight followed but where that film lags in the always difficult middle section, this one has no such weakness.

Hellboy II (2008) - Not that this a better film than the 2004 Hellboy. Both are directed by Del Toro and feature Ron Perlman (inspired casting) as the demonic hero from the Dark Horse comic series. For this one the director updated the classic Frankenstein storyline.

Hellboy II opened on July 11, 2008 in 3,204 theaters in the United States and Canada. The film ranked first at the box office, grossing an estimated $35.9 million over the weekend, outperforming the opening of its predecessor, which had opened with $23.2 million.The opening was the biggest of Guillermo del Toro's directing career.

Perhaps the first truly great comic book movie, Superman (1978) still holds up well when pitted against the CGI blockbusters that fill the cinema screens today. You'l believe a man can fly, ran the tagline and for once there was no exaggeration. Chris Reeve made bot a perfect Clark Kent and Superman. Whilst Marlon Brando's over-paid and over-hyped contribution adds little to the movie.

In fact Superman may still stand as the best comic book movie ever made. And for generations Christopher Reeve will always be Superman. Superman opened on December 15, 1978 in America, grossing $134.22 million in North America and $166 million in foreign countries, totaling $300.22 million worldwide. The film was declared a financial success since it beat its $55 million budget. Superman was the sixth-highest grossing film at the time of its release.

There are many other comic book movies worth watching - Spiderman, Watchmen, X-Men - and this list is not intended as a best of. But rather to highlight the movies that someone who has never read a comic book can enjoy equally with the most fervent geek. For instance I've not included Watchmen which is a minor masterpiece, but if you're not familiar with the source material it can be a bit slow. That's not the case with the films here which need no prior knowledge to fully enjoy the material.

All together - biff, bash, wallop