Film Script's Top 7 - Comic Book Movies

I know the topic comes entirely out of left field but with Rotten Tomatoes recently compiling the rankings of Comic Book films from 1-94, I figured our own Top 7 lists (feel free to throw in honorary mentions as well) were in order. And it's Top 7 because Top 5 is just too short and Top 10 is just too long.

So let's begin with my own - surprisingly one-sided - list:

6 & 7.) Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2
The reasons Spider-Man 3 was such a disappointment is plainly observable by rewatching the first two films. Director Sam Raimi has Peter Parker run the gamut of comic book hero storylines... origin, to underappreciated figure, to our finally recognized hero. Maybe that's why 3 felt like a lot of stalling - the movie equivalent of spinning your tires - because Raimi felt there was no place for the character to go. Besides, these films are trim, lean and iconic. There are images still burning in my mind from these two while 3 already begins to fade away.

5.) Batman Returns
The only movie that I remember my dad and I walking out on when I was a child... and a movie I avoided pretty much relentlessly until I finally gave in and gave it another chance a couple years ago. I'm glad I did. Maybe my 10-12 year old self wasn't ready for the darkness of the film and Burton's decision to focus the film around its villains instead of our hero, but nowadays - and maybe this says something about the older, more cynical me - but I revel in it. There's gotta be something to a film that so totally scares the hell out of its producers that they lose a Burger King sponsorship and bag the director. Unfortunately, it's also primarily responsible for the fiasco that became Schumacher's films, but you can't blame it on Burton.

4.) Sin City
Easily more entertaining and replayable than Frank Miller's 300, while still as much of a visual, jaw-dropping feast. Sin City establishes character in a way that 300 ignores, while also playing off the old noir pictures of Hollywood's yesteryear. Also, by crisscrossing from story to story, the film plays like a series of vignettes - each story interesting and unique enough to stand on its own. I'd actually love to see this film broken down and watch each story unfold in and of itself. While not perfect - like most Rodriguez' pictures the film is practically devoid of emotion outside of the 'wham, bam, thank ya ma'am' action school style of filmmaking - the film is by far his most roundly complete. Plus, with a cast list this deep you're drawn in for every second.

3.) Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan reboots the franchise after it nearly fizzled into extinction with Begins and, appropriately, tells the story of Bruce Wayne's origin over your typical Batman tale... a story that had thus far been largely ignored, even by Burton's twosome. It's fascinating and adds a depth to a character that had been fairly shallow to that point. With the exception of the casting of Katie Holmes (a mistake already addressed in a recasting for The Dark Knight), Begins is the best of the Batman films - giving him back a pulse, and an audience.

2.) Batman
Yes, the 3rd Batman film on my list - and still largely considered 'the' Batman film. Burton hit it out of the park on his first swing with the bewildering (at the time) casting of Michael Keaton as Batman and letting Jack dance in the pale moonlight. I don't even know what to say about it besides the fact it was the first pure comic driven movie that I'd so thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe it's something about the Wayne Mansion... or that Batman really has no superpowers so he's always wholly a human figure but he's definitely the best superhero and he generally shows the most emotion, teetering on the brink of vengeance over justice. Love it.

1.) The Crow
The ultimate hero figure. Part rock n' roller. Part supernatural. And intensely scary - even to evildoers. He has the ability to regenerate from gunshot wounds. And he's even a romantic at heart, with a backstory that kills... love destroyed, he's given the chance to set things right for one night on the eve of Halloween. Forget any of the sequels, but the original is pure comicbook genius. Dark and dynamic. It's still widely known for the tragic death of Brandon Lee, but what a way to go out. He was a God for a moment in this film. Always left me wanting more.

honorary mentions to: Hellboy, Superman: The Movie, X-Men, Blade, X2: X-Men United, Superman Returns and Blade 2: Bloodhunt

*note: I eliminated such films as A History of Violence and Ghost World because while technically deriving from a comic or graphic novel, they don't fit in with the whole aura of a pure comic book film (namely costumes and villains).