Most Underrated CBM Perfromances?

[Young Superman]

michael chiklis as the thing.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

Patrick Wilson for Nite Owl II
Brian Cox for William Stryker
January Jones for Emma Frost - i never saw her as bad, not amazing but not as bad as she's made out to be
Eric Bana for Bruce Banner

 

[BH/HHH]

Wesley Snipes as Blade. His performances should be praised to this day. Instead people refuse to give the movies or him any praised. Himself mostly revamped a pretty uninteresting character and Snipes with his look and acting turned him into one of the most hardcore characters I've seen in a comic book movie.

He was phenomenal in the first two, I'll admit people don't really talk about him now but I think thats a backlash from his poor behaviour from the 3rd one and the fact Snipes is abit of a *****e. But he did something really special with the first two and that shouldn't be forgotten.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Have to agree about Billy Crudup as Doctor Manhattan as well, that was a superb performance and he really brought the character to life. I personally thought everyone except Ackerman was great in the movie but even than she wasnt bad, just not as good as the others.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

People rip on Snyder but Watchmen was a triumph of filmmaking imo.

The sountrack, the score, the actors, the theme and politics for me it all worked.

The ending was even better than the Comic imo.

What i loved most was the way we were given the excellent backstory of the individual characters, it fleshed them out greatly. Shame we didn't get them for all characters.

John going from the scientist all the way through to weapon of mass destruction was one of my favourites scene in movie history. The score something & Prophecies was so haunting.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

People rip on Snyder but Watchmen was a triumph of filmmaking imo.

The sountrack, the score, the actors, the theme and politics for me it all worked.

The ending was even better than the Comic imo.

What i loved most was the way we were given the excellent backstory of the individual characters, it fleshed them out greatly. Shame we didn't get them for all characters.

John going from the scientist all the way through to weapon of mass destruction was one of my favourites scene in movie history. The score something & Prophecies was so haunting.

Agreed, I cant believe people criticise the movie so much, I loved it, and the DC was even better, the DC is in my top 5 CBM's still to this day.

Manhattan's origin story was possibly the best part, it was done perfectly, and again expanded upon in the DC. And yeah the cast was great, Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl II and The Comedian were especially amazing.

 

[BH/HHH]

People rip on Snyder but Watchmen was a triumph of filmmaking imo.

The sountrack, the score, the actors, the theme and politics for me it all worked.

The ending was even better than the Comic imo.

What i loved most was the way we were given the excellent backstory of the individual characters, it fleshed them out greatly. Shame we didn't get them for all characters.

John going from the scientist all the way through to weapon of mass destruction was one of my favourites scene in movie history. The score something & Prophecies was so haunting.

the only thing I didn't like in Watchmen was the strangely placed use of Hallelujah

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Matthew Modine as Foley. I don't understand the hate. I thought he was great; hilarious at times.

 

[BH/HHH]

Matthew Modine as Foley. I don't understand the hate. I thought he was great; hilarious at times.

See I can't agree I thought he was terrible.

 

[Brain Damage]

Matthew Modine as Foley. I don't understand the hate. I thought he was great; hilarious at times.

Same, really don't understand it.

Also, though he does have his loyal fans, Thomas Jane's performance as the Punisher deserves more praise.

 

[the last son]

He was phenomenal in the first two, I'll admit people don't really talk about him now but I think thats a backlash from his poor behaviour from the 3rd one and the fact Snipes is abit of a *****e. But he did something really special with the first two and that shouldn't be forgotten.

I would agree with that. I just feel Blade and Snipes deserve more credit for getting the ball rolling on comic book movies. Everyone loves to just credit X-Men, but I think Blade got the ball rolling.

 

[SuperFerret]

I don't think Blade should get credit for getting the ball rolling, simply because he wasn't a well-known character before the movies and most people had no clue it was based on a comic book. It's more along the lines of MIB than X-Men.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

the only thing I didn't like in Watchmen was the strangely placed use of Hallelujah

You had to actually be Nite Owl in that scene, he was like "YES! Hallelujah, it works"

Same, really don't understand it.

Also, though he does have his loyal fans, Thomas Jane's performance as the Punisher deserves more praise.

I though he did really well too. Only issues with that movie imo was Travoltas hair and the overuse of the neighbours

I would agree with that. I just feel Blade and Snipes deserve more credit for getting the ball rolling on comic book movies. Everyone loves to just credit X-Men, but I think Blade got the ball rolling.

It's generally because Blade was a vampire movie and X-Men a superhero movie. And people knew X-Men were Marvel Characters.

 

[BoredGuy]

People rip on Snyder but Watchmen was a triumph of filmmaking imo.

The sountrack, the score, the actors, the theme and politics for me it all worked.

The ending was even better than the Comic imo.

What i loved most was the way we were given the excellent backstory of the individual characters, it fleshed them out greatly. Shame we didn't get them for all characters.

John going from the scientist all the way through to weapon of mass destruction was one of my favourites scene in movie history. The score something & Prophecies was so haunting.

I liked Watchmen, but I couldn't disagree more strongly with the bolded statement
The movie's ending made no sense, and just totally blew it

I also felt Laurie got short-shrifted pretty severely in the film version, too
Her figuring out Comedian was her father had no emotional weight whatsoever, compared to the GN

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

Well they did set up the public distrust of Dr Manhattan with the Cancer subplot, that combined with the device to block his foresight and his growing desire to leave Humanity and lack of care shown for them fed into the ending more than a surprise tentacle monster showing up

 

[Young Superman]

michael clarke Duncan as kingpin/

 

[DarthDaveBanner]

Say what you will about the movie, but Ray Stevenson was a great Punisher (his Volstaag was hilarious too).

 

[BoredGuy]

Well they did set up the public distrust of Dr Manhattan with the Cancer subplot, that combined with the device to block his foresight and his growing desire to leave Humanity and lack of care shown for them fed into the ending more than a surprise tentacle monster showing up

IDK, my thinking is still:
If America's homegrown Superman started giving people cancer and then attacked every city on Earth, the other major foreign powers wouldn't be all "oh we're so sorry America, here let us help you" it would be more like "f**k you America! why didn't you control your weapon?!" Maybe if only New York had been attacked it would work, but otherwise, the plan is very stupid.

And also, the alien thing was set up perfectly if you paid attention while reading the GN. The whole island sub-plot that set it up is what tipped Comedian off to the whole plan in the first place!

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Well they did set up the public distrust of Dr Manhattan with the Cancer subplot, that combined with the device to block his foresight and his growing desire to leave Humanity and lack of care shown for them fed into the ending more than a surprise tentacle monster showing up

Agreed, for the movie Dr. Manhattan being the threat which brought everyone together made a lot more sense.

IDK, my thinking is still:
If America's homegrown Superman started giving people cancer and then attacked every city on Earth, the other major foreign powers wouldn't be all "oh we're so sorry America, here let us help you" it would be more like "f**k you America! why didn't you control your weapon?!" Maybe if only New York had been attacked it would work, but otherwise, the plan is very stupid.

And also, the alien thing was set up perfectly if you paid attention while reading the GN. The whole island sub-plot that set it up is what tipped Comedian off to the whole plan in the first place!

If you include the island and alien monster stuff in the movie though it would be at least 4 hours long, there was no way they were ever going to do that and I really think of many scenes they could have dropped to make way for it. In terms of the movie, Manhattan being the threat makes sense, and him attacking all major cities is what would have made people unite against him.

I'm sure afterwards the US would have declared War on Manhattan and revealed to the world his erratic behaviour in the weeks/months leading upto the attack, some of it was already broadcast on TV, like his talkshow meltdown. Also, I am sure the world knew that the US couldnt control Manhatten if he didnt want to be controlled.

 

[BoredGuy]

I dunno, I don't buy it

There's no way the world would ever forgive us, especially after he had been our weapon for decades. Even if we said "oh yeah, he's been acting real funny these past few weeks" Russia and China and even our allies would respond with "well why didn't you f***ing WARN us!?" Maybe it would unite the rest of the planet in their hatred for America, but the US would become a pariah-state, shunned by all other nations into third-world status. Maybe North Korea would understand and be our friends.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^I just dont see that happening, as its said by Nite Owl at the end the world thinks John is watching them, if they were to do anything against another country John would destroy theirs in a heartbeat. At least thats what they believe because of what Ozymandias did.

 

[Brother Jack]

Matthew Modine as Foley. I don't understand the hate. I thought he was great; hilarious at times.

Well, the character was meant to be disliked through most of the movie. He spends most of it a cowardly ass, mismanaging the police force.

 

[Batmannerism]

Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern.......no just kidding he really sucked.
Although he was hilarious in Blade Trinity, a real show-stealer. Can't believe they cast him as Deadpool (great casting) and then sealed his
mouth shut......wtf ???!!! the whole point of Deadpool is that he's a nutcase who constantly shoots his mouth off !

For 2013, got to say Henry Cavill as Superman. Cavill's performance was understated, his man of steel was a man of few words, but you always know what he's thinking -he communicates brilliantly with facial expressions and body language. He had good chemistry with both Diane Lane and Amy Adams, really what more can you ask from a Superman film ?


Tom Hardy as Bane......well, to be honest the whole character concept was just executed poorly (which is big coming from me, as I'm a huge Nolan fan) . I just think the way the character was written and his look was designed prevented Hardy (who is a superb actor) from really strutting his stuff. So maybe not underrated, just creatively stifled really.


If anyone deserved more accolades for Watchmen, it was Jackie Earle Haley. Rorschach was always going to be one of the most difficult characters to cast/portray, and Haley nailed it. To be honest, I thought Crudup was dreadful as Doctor Manhattan, his voice was soft and whispery, whereas I've always imagined the character having a very cold, emotionless tone. Plus the execution of the character (much like Bane), not the best really, it was just so odd hearing that weak little voice come out of that massive bodybuilder physique - kind of like a badly overdubbed Schwarzenegger film. Also, for some reason, a big swinging glowing blue penis doesn't work onscreen....outside of porn films, put some pants on that guy. Yes, I know he wears no clothes because he doesn't care what mere humans think and has moved past human concepts like modesty.
However, the audience might not, for the love of God, put on some ****ing
pants ! (and btw, he ain't that well endowed in the comic )

Originally Posted by CyclopsWasRight
Well they did set up the public distrust of Dr Manhattan with the Cancer subplot, that combined with the device to block his foresight and his growing desire to leave Humanity and lack of care shown for them fed into the ending more than a surprise tentacle monster showing up

That part of the character was well executed. And if you think about it, I thought the idea of Dr. Manhattan threatening humanity actually made more sense than Moore's ending. That a weird tentacle monster wiping out NYC would unite humanity ? When you think about it a bit.... Meh.
but you forgive it because the rest of the story is just so captivating ( I was a massive Watchmen fan, I bought it when if first came out in the 12 issues. Man, issue 11 and 12 really do your head in). But a home-grown god blowing up major cities across the globe, as a warning to mankind, yeah that worked IMO.

The Comedian, damn, the actor's name escapes me.....oh wait, Jeffrey Dean Morgan ! Anyway, he did pretty well with the role. Given that the Comedian is a total *******, and a baby killing monster, you do kind of feel sorry for him (well just a tiny bit). Good casting, well executed (especially when he beats up those protestors !)

Whoever said Michael Chiklis as the Thing, agreed ! He was as close as anyone was going to get to that character. Great casting, and well executed. To be honest, I also thought Chris Evans was a much better human torch than captain America, but that's just IMO.

Also, everyone who said Eckhart as the doomed Harvey Dent. Totally agreed. His "two-face" was a little OTT, but he spent 2/3 of the film building sympathy for the charcter and did a great job. If anyone gets the short end of the stick in TDK, it was Harvey. Batman's injuries and losses
are nowhere near as significant as Dent's -at the end I felt much more
sorry for him, than Batman.
While Batman puts himself in harm's way, he has a lot of amazing resources and skills to back him up (and the benefit of not having to rely on a corrupt police department). Dent's just a guy, a smart, idealistic guy, but he really represents the ordinary man and in TDK the ordinary man
gets screwed !

And last but not least.....Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. In general, I though Ang Lee's Hulk was a really worthy effort - a little more complex than the regular superhero film (didn't like the process that created the Hulk, that was a bit too confusing) but overall it was a good film, that had a comic book feel (on purpose), really really underrated.
Of course the real show-stealer was Nick Nolte, as Banner senior, best mad scientist in films ( of course on TV, John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop, in Fringe is even better). A pretty reasonable adaptation of the absorbing man, a classic Hulk foe. And Bana was good in the lead, not great, but good (always think Bana's underrated).


Of course this is all IMO.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

I think if HULK was released after a movie of hulk mostly smashing stuff (avengers) it would've been recieved better.

Jeffrey dean Morgan was excellent as The Comedian.

I feel bad for Reynolds. Whenever in a CBM, the movie around him fails. He does good in his roles, but often the roles are just written wrong.

 

[BoredGuy]

^I just dont see that happening, as its said by Nite Owl at the end the world thinks John is watching them, if they were to do anything against another country John would destroy theirs in a heartbeat. At least thats what they believe because of what Ozymandias did.

well then that Earth is full of dumbasses
I'd be screamin from the rooftops that my government just murdered millions