Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Top 5, Bottom 5: Marvel Comics

A few weeks ago I watched my 20th movie based on comics made by Marvel. I'm not much of a comics reader, but I've enjoyed a lot of the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. I like superhero movies that are fun and lighthearted, rather than just crime dramas with capes, and they certainly deliver on that front. So, without further ado, here are my favorite and least favorite movies based on Marvel comics.

Top 5:
1. Spider-Man (2002, #106). There's just something about the original Spider-Man movie that still connects with me. I love Peter figuring out what he can do and what that means for him. I think the Green Goblin is a sufficiently creepy but also delightfully campy villain. It's just a solid film all round for me.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, #285). Oh, man, I loved this movie. It's pretty much exactly what I wanted the disappointing Avengers movie to be.
3. Iron Man (2008, #418). Iron Man's easily my favorite of the cinematic Avengers. I like that he doesn't take himself all that seriously. It's a nice change from the extreme angst of so many superhero movie stories.
4. Kick-Ass (2010, #558). The Nicolas Cage part of the story I didn't care about so much, but I was really engaged in the Aaron Johnson plotline, and even more so Christopher Mintz-Plasse's.
5. Men in Black III (2012, #766). This is the extremely rare case where I liked a sequel better than the original. The characters in this are vivid and fun, the jokes consistently funny, and the plot decently smart for a silly comedy.

Comic book superheros from Flickr via Wylio
© 2012 Helgi Halldórsson, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

Bottom 5:
5. Thor: The Dark World (2013, #1673). I liked the first Thor pretty well, thanks to its enormously theatrical tone. It was fun and campy and enjoyable. This one, however, gets dark and ugly and its plot doesn't really make any sense. A disappointing follow-up.
4. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, #1675). Most people agree this movie was pretty much just a mess. I concur.
3. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012, #1984). This one isn't even fun campy Nic Cage, it's just... weird.
2. The Incredible Hulk (2008, #2092). Another dark, gloomy one. I'm really not sure how a movie that featured both Edward Norton and Tim Roth managed to make me hate it, but somehow it did.
1. Men in Black II (2002, #2107). A truly awful sequel. I'm not sure a single joke landed for me. It's completely terrible.

What are your favorites and least favorites? Which Marvel movies are you looking forward to next?

2 comments:

  1. Ooh I likede Thor 2 and Avengers and Loki...hmm I think I see a common denominator here ;-)

    Heh in all serious totally agree with you about Guardiana of the Galaxy. I loved that movie :-)

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    1. Haha... Loki has certainly attracted his share of fangirls. I get it, but I'm not one of them. It's probably worth noting that I'm not a Thor fangirl either, though.

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