Top 10 Comic Book films.

Top 10 comic book films

In one of the last blog posts, Top 10 Hollywood action films there was a sentence that stated that Superhero films were excluded from the list because while they can technically be considered a genre in themselves, the concept was to make a list about pure action films. This blog post will explore the finest that the superhero film has to offer and will be looking at the top 10 superhero films. For this list a film must have a superhero or comic book character(s) and graphic novel adaptations will also be able to be a contender on this list as long as there has been a live-action adaptation of some form of comic book or graphic novel attached to the film. The films on this list will include all the incarnations of the characters and will look at the characters, action, narrative, direction, special effects and finally acting. The reviews of the critics and box office success do not count to the places on this list.

10. Dredd (Pete Travis, 2012).

In 1995 there was Judge Dredd a film which starred Sylvester Stallone, while the film was not an awful film it is just a bad film, it did have issues and seemed to have an over reliance on clichés. In 2012 there was a remake of this film, and from that we got Dredd. Dredd is directed by Pete Travis and stars Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey, the film is set in the future in a city which is called Mega City One, the city is infected with crime which comes from one building owned by a criminal known as mama. The main characters Judge Dredd and Cassandra a trainee enter the building to take down the crime organisation. Dredd is a film which has some hyper-violent action sequences which are filmed in slow motion which makes the action very easy to follow and understand and alongside this the action is edited in so that you can register the action long enough. This film is like the Raid because the narrative is the main characters locked inside a building and they must fight their way out of the building. The performances by the cast are very good, and Karl Urban is someone who has taken time to learn about the character and he makes for very convincing Judge Dredd, and Olivia Thirlby is very good in her role and while she is not quite experienced as Urban she doesn’t let the film down. There are a few criticisms with this film is that Dredd doesn’t really explore the characters enough and with a bigger budget maybe could have explored the characters in greater depth and give more of a backstory on these characters such as Cassandra and her psychic abilities and understand how Mama became the person that she is because the film just says that the character is the antagonist in the situation and that is all. The second thing would be that while the film is meant to be violent and gory with the action it can sometimes be unnecessary with the level of violence and this can spoil the film slightly. However, this is comic book film which is much better than the first attempt, it is well-directed and well-acted with some good action sequence and this film should get more attention because this is a good action film and a good comic book film and well worth watching.  

9. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo Del Toro).

It is hard to make a sequel which people will like, but there are some sequels which are much better than other the original, an example would be the ninth entry on this list Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The first film was a good film, the action was great and the special effects and practical effects are amazing in this film because Guillermo Del Toro is a skilled director who can combine CGI and practical effects in one seem less shot and this is what an excellent director does. This film stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones and the film is about the mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures. This film is better than the first film for mainly three reasons, the first reason would be that the effects are brilliant and while the first film had great effects, the extra budget in this film makes the effect look amazing in this film. The second reason would be that the action sequences are excellent, Del Toro makes some brilliant action sequences with the action being easy to follow and some excellent fight sequences. The Third reason would be that the film seems to have a much better script and a narrative supports the action better than the other film. This is an excellent film and is underrated compared to the other comic book films and more people should watch this film. There is a lot to discuss with this film and a review of this film will be put up on this blog because this film deserves a review. This is a film which is excellent from the beginning to end and it doesn’t feel like two hours which is the best compliment that you can give a film.

8. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer, 2014).

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a sequel to X-Men: First Class which is a prequel to the original trilogy. This film sees Bryan Singer once again direct this film franchise, this film is which takes place in two time periods, the one-time zone is in the future where the mutants and humans are in a war against sentinels and the mutants are being wiped out because they are seen as a threat to everyone. Eventually, the X-Men send Wolverine back to 1973 to stop Mystique from killing Dr. Bolivar Trask and then stop the humans from making the mutant killing machines. This film stars Hugh Jackman, Peter Stewart, Ian McKellen, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. The X-Men series has had some bad entries but this is a film which is incredible to watch, the action sequences are well filmed and edited together very well because the action is easy and clear to understand. The film is well-directed, Bryan Singer is a very talented director and knows and understands how to get great performances from the actors which he has been given. All the acting in this film is excellent and it is hard to point out an actor who stands out in this film because everyone is excellent. This film has some of the best special effects that has ever been put on film, the CGI has been rendered to a very high standard and has been well incorporated into the live-action elements. This film has the sequence with Quicksilver, this sequence is an excellent example with the special effects and camerawork and this is probably the best sequence in the entire film because of how the filmmakers made the sequence and the fact that they managed to film it in slow-motion. The reason why this film ranks at number eight on this list would be because there is a massive plot hole with the narrative and while it is addressed in the Rogue cut of the film the standard version and this is why the film is in this position.  

7. Iron Man (John Favreau, 2008).

This is the film which started the who Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man was released in 2008 and was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges. The film is about Tony Stark who is a billionaire and while he is on tour and showing his weapons to the military service he is captured by a terrorist group. Stark decides to make a metal suit and escape from captivity to make it home, from this he decides to make a weaponized suit to take out evil forces with the suit. This is a film which is excellent for many different reasons, the first aspect would be that the character development and character arcs are excellent in this film. Tony Stark goes from this billionaire who is a little bit cocky and maybe takes life for granted and then he understands more and starts to appreciate life more after he is kidnapped he makes the Iron Man suit and begins to help other people and make choices which he feels responsible for what is going on in other parts of the world. The acting is excellent and Downey’s performance throughout this film is excellent because when you watch the film you believe that the character is a real person and he has transferred the character well from the source material to the film itself. The action is good and while the action is simple and basic it works well for the film, the film has some good action sequences but there is nothing in this film which is ground breaking but the action is fine and if you want a pure action film then you won’t get it here. Iron Man is an excellent superhero origin film which is excellent and not many people talk about this film compared to other films from the cinematic universe because of how many films they release and people should go back and watch this film and talk about more because this is good entertaining film to watch.

6. Sin City (Robert Rodriguez, 2005).

Sin City is based on a graphic novel which was written by Frank Miller, the person behind the graphic novel for 300 and the graphic novel to Batman: The Dark Knight returns part 1&2. The film was released in 2005 and directed by Robert Rodriguez the director responsible for other films such as Machete and Desperado, and the film also has a directing credit for Frank Miller as well. The film explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption. This is a film which is often forgotten when talking about comic book and graphic novels because many people forget that this is based on the graphic novel series by Frank Miller. The first thing is that the film looks like the filmmakers have taken the images from the graphic novel and then put it onscreen. The film is shot in monochrome with some colours explored like in the graphic novel with the odd Yellow, Blue and Red appearing onscreen. Up until this film was released no film particularly looked like this onscreen with the only other film coming close would be Schindler’s list, but that film didn’t have CGI like this. The film is mainly filmed using CGI but because the film is shot in monochrome the CGI looks amazing and still holds up even 12 years after release. This film has some excellent performances from everyone involved especially Jessica Alba who is good but has had some bad roles in the past but in this film she is good. Bruce Willis is also very good in this film as the character of Hartigan, he has the most character development and you sympathise more with his character compared to the other characters which are featured in this film. This film is unique and because of this the film is ranked at number six on this list because of how unique this film is, and more people should watch this film because it deserves more attention than it gets.  

5. Captain America: Civil War (The Russo Brothers, 2016).

The second entry from the Marvel Cinematic Universe on this list and this won’t be the last entry on the list. Captain America; Civil War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and picks up the story of the Avengers after the events of Age of Ultron. Civil War sees the avengers divided over political subjects, the avengers are introduced to a new piece of legalisation called the Sokovia Accords, this is a piece of written legalisation which controls the actions of the avengers and they are controlled by the United Nations. The avengers are divided over this because Stark wants the avengers to stay together but understands that they need limitations because this will mean that they have control. However, Steve Rogers thinks that the people behind the Accords have political agendas which change over time and that they might need to go somewhere that the need to go but the people won’t allow them and vice versa. The film set up both sides of the argument are done really well and you can understand why both sides have their opinions and why they are divided on such matters. The narrative is excellent because the film doesn’t show you just the one side and the filmmakers want you to choose which side to pick. This is excellent screenwriting because the film gets you to sympathise with both characters and their opinions. The action sequences are good; the action has been choreographed very well, the only problem would be that the action that doesn’t involve much CGI is quite shaky and at times can be hard to follow, but the action that does have CGI is filmed so that it is easy to follow. Overall, Captain America: Civil War is a good marvel film there are many things to like such as some of the action, all of the acting is excellent throughout the film and there are some excellent sequences, but there are some issues that this film has and there could be some better ways to film the action.    

4. Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014).

The third and final entry from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy is based on a comic book series which hardly anyone knew about. Guardians of the Galaxy is directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel and Dave Bautista. The film follows a group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control of the universe. This is a film which is of an unknown comic book property but Marvel decided to make this film because they thought that the film would be good. Guardians of the Galaxy is a film which is brilliant because it doesn’t take itself too serious, the comedy elements in this film are amazing there isn’t one joke that doesn’t work in the script. The comedy elements are excellent in this film because James Gunn is a talented comedy writer and the film capitalises on the writing, and Gunn is also a director which knows how to take the script and then put the best jokes onscreen. This film is an excellent film because there are so many elements which work about this film, the action sequences are well filmed and entertaining to watch as well as some entertaining comedic elements and this is what is good excellent action comedy director does. The performances in this film are excellent from everyone, but the main performance to focus on in this film would be Dave Bautista. Considering that he has gone from a professional wrestler to becoming an acting is amazing, and when you look at how many roles The Rock had to do before he became good actor, Bautista is brilliant in this film and he is good as Drax. The special effects are also excellent from start to finish, the CGI is excellent because of the high standard but also they have managed to use a mixture of CGI and practical effects and this is something which can be shown.   

3.  V for Vendetta (James McTeigue, 2005).  

V for Vendetta enters this list on number three on this list, there were many comic book and graphic novel films, but for this list the idea was to consider films which don’t get enough attention and to expose the films which should have more attention. V for Vendetta is one of those film which once again doesn’t get enough attention. This is a film which is directed by James McTeigue and stars Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman and John Hurt, the film is set in a future British tyranny, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow it with the help of a young woman. This is a film which is excellent and the first thing is that the cinematography is a great in this film. This film looks amazing and the visuals are good the cinematography makes this film look good. The directing is good, and this shows with the performances. Hugo Weaving as V seems to understand and know communicate emotion of the character and while the backstory of the character isn’t exposed as much as it could be but the moments when the audience is meant to feel emotions for the character. V is one of the best characters that has ever been put to film, the character is clearly and easily understood and he has some motivations that are easy to understand, and you know why he wants to blow up the parliament building. Evey is played by Natalie Portman and she is also good in this film, this is one of the best performances from her and considering she had done the Star Wars prequel films before this film came out, her performance in this is much better than those films and she might be as good here as she was in Leon: The Professional.

2. Superman (Richard Donner, 1978).

This entry might be a very predictable entry on this list, but Superman is one of the best comic book films that has ever been made. Superman is directed by Richard Donner and stars Christopher Reeves, Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando and the film is about an alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero. This is one of the best superhero films that has ever been made because of four main reasons, the first reason would be that the directing is excellent and Donner is a director who understands how to get good performances from the cast of any film. Donner is one of the best directors to have ever existed and he should get more attention but he seems to have been forgotten by many people even though he directed excellent films like the Lethal Weapon film franchise and The Goonies. Everything about this film is flawless, with perfect acting, direction and a very good narrative which keeps us entertained for the entire run time of the film. The film is a film which will be remembered as film which will be put into many archives because this is a film which is a statement to the superhero film and without this film we wouldn’t have had other superhero films like the current wave of superhero films, this is the film which is amazing and shows how that there are many good things about this film and it shows that the filmmakers cared about the film and how they wanted make this film.

1. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008).

This is number one, and like the last entry this might be predictable to put on this list and predictable to put this film at number one, this film is at number one because this is about as close as it gets to perfect and it is one of best sequels ever made. The Dark Knight is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart. The Dark Knight is a sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight takes place just after the events of the first film and when the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice. There is very little wrong with this film, and the only issue with this film would be that the hand-to-hand action sequences are tightly framed and sometimes it can be hard to understand. However, this is a small issue with this film because everything else about this film is perfect. The performances in this film are outstanding, and it has been send by others before but Heath Ledger as The Joker is outstanding in this film. The level of method acting in this film is incredible, and the method acting has given Ledger a great performance because of the intense preparations that he went through for the role. The film has some excellent effects and the usage of practical effects is excellent in this film and it is good to see a director like Nolan use these practical effects over CGI. The Dark Knight is an example of the best comic book film because of every aspect of the film itself, and there is so much care and attention in this film. This is the best comic book film ever made and no film has ever come close since and it will be long time before this film is knocked off because no comic book film has had this much care and passion.