5) Spider-Man 2: Positively great superhero movie that really embodies both the spirit of the characters and the spirit of the comics. The character of Doctor Octopus was the right amount of comic accuracy with the right amount of reinvention. Well acted by Alfred Molina. I think the two scenes that really make the movie stand out are the fight at the bank and the fight on the train. Those truly are two of the best fights in comic movie history.
4) X2: X-Men United: X2 is one of the more serious, less action oriented comic book films. It's also heavily inaccurate in regards to the comics. However, throughout the movie the performance are solid, and it's free from the groan inducing moments of most comic book films. It presents the mutants emotional struggle very well. I had thought to put
X-Men First Class in it's stead, but ultimately I found some of the movie's hokey-ness to be a drawback. The monologue(s) by Brian Cox, particularly the one at the end, are stellar.
3) Captain America: First Avenger: I think this film is much better than I initially gave it credit for. I think it's most annoying element is the early divorce HYDRA makes from the NAZIs, which honestly is more of a personal issue. It follows the same formula as
Iron Man and
Thor because it is a Marvel film, but it does it better in my opinion. First, Steve Rogers takes on a Kal-El like quality of just wanting to be a hero for the sake of being a hero. Second, it's a superhero film that feels epic. In
Spider-Man 2 and
X2 I feel the movies felt confined in a space. I even can say the same for
Iron Man. Captain America took us on a long journey, and while it sacrificed a little depth it created an awesome portrait of a superheroes career. Plus I think the ending is over the top great, probably one of the only films to not let me down in the third act.
2) The Dark Knight: Of course this one was coming! It's honestly a very well made film that has been called
The Godfather of superhero movies. Which I guess I agree with since
The Godfather part 2 is even better. What makes this movie great? Really it's Heath Ledger. He even makes up for Bale's voice.
The Dark Knight is, at times, a confusing story but the performances all make up for it. It really shows Nolan's shrewdness for casting decisions, the cast works well together as a unit, in addition to being great individual performances. It has some of the best monologues in comic movie history, especially Joker's final speech, and of course his speech to Harvey Two-Face.
1) Watchmen (The Ultimate Cut): It has to be the Ultimate Cut because it includes everything, that unfortunately was cut from theaters. This is
The Godfather Part 2 of superhero movies, in part because it's so long. It lacks the standout of Heath Ledger's Joker, but every performance is solid. The whole movie looks like a comic, has proper action, but the story and characters are what is so great. It raises such interesting questions to the audience about the nature of heroes, but of course it's written (mostly) using Alan Moore's own words. To me, that's the thrill. Seeing a man who knew comics finally get such a good adaptation of his work. I even, get ready to hate, LIKE the new ending. I felt like it made good sense, especially when I think the book's ending is more of a comic fan nod that wasn't quite as accessible as this. The scene where Rorchach dies is probably the most powerful scene in comic movies. Well written, well acted, well paced, in addition to great costumes and set pieces. Also, it's got sex and nudity, not even
The Dark Knight can claim that.
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