Worst and/or Least favourite live action film adaptation of a comic book story

[Deck Rickard]

That is a disturbing image indeed.​

In all seriousness, Nolan and co recognised that any Batman reboot had to be completely focused on Bruce Wayne and his journey - the comic story is more about moments of that journey as observed by Gordon ( who's really the main protagonist, he certainly gets the most attention).
After the disastrous Batman and Robin, overstuffed with characters, the reboot had to be about Batman first and foremost IMO.

Damn right. Year One is amazing but I would say Batman Begins is a better retelling of Batman’s origin because it kept the focus on him (and some would argue that it’s the only Batman movie to do so). If they had swapped out Rachel for Selina (and cast someone other than Katie Holmes, obviously), that movie would be bloody perfect.

 

[Iron_Stark]

I voted "Other" for Iron Man Three. While I did love the movie and thought it was one of the best in the entire MCU, it sucked as an adaptation of the Extremis and Haunted storyline.

Mandarin, the REAL Mandarin should've been the main villain, he should've been kicking ass like in the Haunted, he should've been the one to try to unleash the Extremis virus onto the entire world killing most everyone (including himself according to him) while the remaining few become the superpowered "Extremis Soldiers".

sigh

Oh well, missed opportunity.

 

[2kt09]

Thor Ragnarok..."Surtur Saga"...I guess that means no relation whatsoever to eponymous? Wish there was more Planet Hulk because then that leads to WWHulk, which would've been the coolest thing to then collide with the Infinity movies.

 

[jolldan]

Iron Man 3.

Had spent two months reading about this villain's incredible 10 rings and the powers each one of them has and just wondering how Tony would be a match for him.

Instead I got Ben Kinglsey as a cheap knock off version of him and Guy Pearce as a glorified candle.

Awful, awful movie.

 

[Batmannerism]

Iron Man 3.

Had spent two months reading about this villain's incredible 10 rings and the powers each one of them has and just wondering how Tony would be a match for him.

Instead I got Ben Kinglsey as a cheap knock off version of him and Guy Pearce as a glorified candle.

Awful, awful movie.

I was very much the same, although the bit that really pissed me off was when Iron Man invites the Ten rings to attack him at home and then is surprised....when they do!

Even worse, despite having a basement full of spare suits he nearly gets killed by guys in helicopters ! Ugh !

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, IM3 ranks around the bottom for me in terms of MCU movies. I think Thor: The Dark World is probably worse but I could probably watch it again. I’ve never had any desire to see IM3 a second time.

 

[Batmannerism]

Glad to see Wanted got some votes. Not one of Mark Millar's better stories and the movie has pretty much nothing to do with it ...but still manages to be awful.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Out of this llst, I think I will vote for

1. Batman vs Superman ( The Death of Superman)
2. Green Lantern ( the Parallax saga)
3. Justice League ( JLrigins)

The first thing was so bland or boring, cause I hated these versions of the characters. And one of the things that made Death of Superman special is how the other Justice League members fought Doomsday and were battered, bruised, and broken, until Superman came to the scene to stop the big bruiser and kill him with a K.O punch.
I love Superman: Doomsday as an animated adaption even though it doesn't have league members, but it sure didn't make me hate Supes before the fight, I still shed tears when I see Lois holding him as he dies, and she whispers Clark after he stops breathing, I even shed tears as I'm typing this.

The BvS version needed Wonder Woman to chop off his head, she was capable of doing so with ease, but we had to watch a boring action sequence that is still boring when you watch it without the context of the rest of the film.


Green Lantern is basically boring, I have nothing much to say about it.


Justice League made sure at least half of the team look bad, especially stupid suicidal Batman. When someone fixes the tone, they should fix characterization with it.

 

[psylockolussus]

Dark PhoeniX. Since when a storyline from the comics have been mishandled in a movie twice and by the same writer? Only in Dark PhoeniX. Truly the worst.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Glad to see Wanted got some votes. Not one of Mark Millar's better stories and the movie has pretty much nothing to do with it ...but still manages to be awful.

Yeah the comic is a mixed bag; I think the concept is kind of brilliant but Millar does his usual thing and just makes it as trashy and outrageous as possible. It’s tough to get through the whole thing when your protagonist is a rapist and a murderer, and unlike Anthony Burgess or Bret Easton Ellis, Millar is incapable of conveying a deeper meaning to the story or making the character truly engaging despite his despicable traits.

That said, the movie basically adapted the first three pages of the comic and then went in its own, STUPID direction. I seriously don’t know how something so idiotic even made it past the concept stage. Imagine that you’re a professional screenwriter and you’re working with a team on a script. And one day you get this BRILLIANT idea and decide to pitch it to the rest of the group. “So like, there’s this secret underground world of assassins. But they get their assignments through a LOOM. A loom that produces BINARY CODE that reveals names of random innocent people that they need to kill ‘cuz if they don’t, the world will end or something. Also, they can curve the trajectory of the bullets they fire from their guns.”

 

[Batmannerism]

Yeah the comic is a mixed bag; I think the concept is kind of brilliant but Millar does his usual thing and just makes it as trashy and outrageous as possible. It’s tough to get through the whole thing when your protagonist is a rapist and a murderer, and unlike Anthony Burgess or Bret Easton Ellis, Millar is incapable of conveying a deeper meaning to the story or making the character truly engaging despite his despicable traits.

That said, the movie basically adapted the first three pages of the comic and then went in its own, STUPID direction. I seriously don’t know how something so idiotic even made it past the concept stage. Imagine that you’re a professional screenwriter and you’re working with a team on a script. And one day you get this BRILLIANT idea and decide to pitch it to the rest of the group. “So like, there’s this secret underground world of assassins. But they get their assignments through a LOOM. A loom that produces BINARY CODE that reveals names of random innocent people that they need to kill ‘cuz if they don’t, the world will end or something. Also, they can curve the trajectory of the bullets they fire from their guns.”

Even a really top level cast couldn't save that one. The bullet curving thing was beyond stupid - the best part of the film was watching James Macavoy hit Chris Pratt in the face with a keyboard.

I totally agree on your assessment of Millar - which is why IMO Kick Ass the film is better than the comic, which is weird mix of teenage angst, Death Wish, 3 Stooges and the fight scenes from Kill Bill vol 1. The film tones all of that down to a manageable level IMO. Kick Ass 2 tones down a truly horrific level of violence, rape etc but still manages to be pretty crappy.

IMO Millar's best works are Red Son and Super Crooks, where he is a bit more restrained.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Even a really top level cast couldn't save that one. The bullet curving thing was beyond stupid - the best part of the film was watching James Macavoy hit Chris Pratt in the face with a keyboard.

I totally agree on your assessment of Millar - which is why IMO Kick Ass the film is better than the comic, which is weird mix of teenage angst, Death Wish, 3 Stooges and the fight scenes from Kill Bill vol 1. The film tones all of that down to a manageable level IMO. Kick Ass 2 tones down a truly horrific level of violence, rape etc but still manages to be pretty crappy.

IMO Millar's best works are Red Son and Super Crooks, where he is a bit more restrained.

Totally agree on Kick-Ass. Millar seems like one of those guys who never knows where the line is. I’m not saying that he needs to constrain himself to conform to familiar tropes but sometimes you have to consider whether it’s really necessary to push the envelope or if you’re just doing it to be shocking. I mean, I think the fact that Wesley in Wanted (based on Deadshot) is a sociopathic assassin is enough to convey that he’s a bad guy; he didn’t have to make him a rapist to hammer home the point.

 

[jmc]

Isn't the problem with this list that most of these are more along that lines of inspirations? Like, The Dark Knight Rises is clearly inspired by No Man's Land but it's in no way a direct adaptation.

 

[Batmannerism]

Isn't the problem with this list that most of these are more along that lines of inspirations? Like, The Dark Knight Rises is clearly inspired by No Man's Land but it's in no way a direct adaptation.

Your comment is noted.

Well where to from here ? ........this does open the door to a semantic argument about adaptation vs film "inspiration". While some films are clearly adaptations e.g. Watchmen,Dark Phoenix , it is also arguable that any time you take elements of a comic book story and put them on the big screen you are adapting the story.....but as I said, this is a semantic argument.

Alternatively you could create a thread entitled "WORST AND/OR LEAST FAVOURITE LIVE ACTION FILM INSPIRED BY A COMIC BOOK STORY"

Or you could just express an opinon on your least favourite and worst live action cbms as adaptations of comic book stories.

I leave it to you. While you are thinking about it please enjoy this link of Crusaders (Super Rugby) Coach Scott "Razor" Robertson, breakdancing after winning the Super Rugby championship in 2018, something that will also hopefully happen when the Crusaders take on the Jaguares in tonight's final. Cheers.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think it's kind of a gray area. Because while there are some that are true adaptations like Watchmen (even if you think it's a bad adaptation, it tried to adapt that story), most of these would be considered "inspirations" for these arcs. But the problem is that when you have as much content as you do for most superheroes (and when you consider that to fully adapt many of these stories, you'd have to introduce a ton of characters that factor into them), it becomes damn near impossible to do a straight-up adaptation of these stories. So since doing a full adaptation of say, Knightfall or The Death of Superman can't really be done (since doing so would mean introducing a host of Batman villains and Superman allies that you don't have time for), maybe you could argue that TDKR and BvS are adaptations?

 

[The Endless]

TDKR wouldve been so much better if it took more inspiration from No Mans Land.

 

[FunkMiller]

Gotta be death of Supes.

They took one of the character’s most famous stories, about his death and its aftermath on both the world, and the people he’s close to... AND DID IT IN HIS SECOND MOVIE. Which wasn’t even a Superman film!

Utterly cretinous in every single respect.

TDKR wouldve been so much better if it took more inspiration from No Mans Land.

Agreed. And they could have even been really brave, and started with Cataclysm.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Gotta be death of Supes.

They took one of the character’s most famous stories, about his death and its aftermath on both the world, and the people he’s close to... AND DID IT IN HIS SECOND MOVIE. Which wasn’t even a Superman film!

Utterly cretinous in every single respect.



Agreed. And they could have even been really brave, and started with Cataclysm.

Yeah, I remember that Goyer, who wrote the original script before Terrio got involved and included all his gods and demons BS, was quoted as saying something about once you have Batman and Superman fight, you've run out of ideas. And then they not only have that be their second movie... they also KILL Superman in it. Like... they actually DOUBLED DOWN on how much they had run out of ideas. Imagine if Iron Man died in Iron Man 2, or Cap died in The Avengers. Their deaths likely wouldn't have had much impact (though they would arguably have had more than Superman). Just a horrid mess all around. Snyder, Goyer and Terrio should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Travesty]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, without a doubt. The potential for an actual adaptation of that material is wild, and they threw it all in the bin. An absolute disgrace.

Yeah, this was my pick as well, and I also mentioned it in this thread. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it, because it's that bad. I don't even think anything on that list comes close?

 

[Deck Rickard]

LOL, it’s probably because we’ve managed to repress the memory. But thank you both for making us remember that horror!

 

[Batmannerism]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, without a doubt. The potential for an actual adaptation of that material is wild, and they threw it all in the bin. An absolute disgrace.

Yeah, this was my pick as well, and I also mentioned it in this thread. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it, because it's that bad. I don't even think anything on that list comes close?

While I still think Wanted is a reasonable contender for the bottom spot, LOEG is hard to beat as both a truly crap film and a terrible adaptation. It's almost as if they planned on making as bad a film as possible and succeeded. A real low note for the end of Sean Connery 's career, although he also started in Zardoz, so he's no stranger to the bottom.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

At least he got 17 million out of it. That's like 1/6 of the whole budget though, I can't imagine what anyone was thinking with this film.

Tom Sawyer is Sean Connery's bastard, can it get any more exciting than that?
Or am I confusing things and projecting stuff?

 

[Deck Rickard]

Wait, did they make Tom Sawyer Alan Quatermain's son in that movie? I may have forgotten that part.

What was hilarious about having Sawyer there is that if he was actually supposed to be the character from the Twain novels, he would have been a senior citizen by the time of the events of the movie. But maybe Shane West just ages really well.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Wait, did they make Tom Sawyer Alan Quatermain's son in that movie? I may have forgotten that part.

What was hilarious about having Sawyer there is that if he was actually supposed to be the character from the Twain novels, he would have been a senior citizen by the time of the events of the movie. But maybe Shane West just ages really well.

That's how I remember it in the Nostalgia Critic review of that movie.

 

[Herofan]

V for Vendetta, The Last Stand and especially Rise of the Silver Surfer of The Coming of Galactus definitely deserve shame for what they did to the source material but I think the worst was Iron Man 2 of Demon in a Bottle.