Now, know this...in large part, I haven't read the stories these are based off of, with a few exceptions, which I will note. As such, I cannot discuss adaptation entirely. On the flip side, this does account for why some simply aren't on here.
Also, I couldn't entirely narrow it down to ten this time...so eleven it is. You don't like it, deal with it. Somethings are just better than honorable mentions and deserve a damn number.
You will also not see any manga adaptations or animation at all on this list. I love them as much as the next person. Anime is great, and I adore the DCAU, but I'm sticking to live action, and mangas that have made it to live action American releases are Dragonball and Speed Racer, one of which would never make it on the list, the other, though I love it, deserves to be mentioned elsewhere.
Final rule of note, some movies have comics published before the movies as prequels or in between another medium and film. While there are some great examples of movies that have comics come out first (i.e. Push), they are actually not based off the comics, but spring from the same idea instead. If this were about Super Hero Movies, Push would probably be on it though, so check that out.
First off, some honorable mentions need to go out to some films that deserve more notice than they received.
The first of these goes to Hellboy, which while it's Cthulian backdrop was enough to make me take notice, Nazis, Demons, and John Hurt (who is right up there with Sean Connery in awesome voices...someone should really make a dueling CGI dragon video with their respective dragon characters...).
The second goes to Daredevil. No, not the really bad movie...the really bad movie's director's cut, which is actually pretty awesome, all things considered. Besides, what else proves that Happy Hogan and Foggy Nelson are somehow related?
The final film to get a nod I personally like that should get a mention is Wanted. Not a great film, no, but an interesting one nevertheless. I always really loved the way it ended, and if you haven't seen it, you should ignore anything you've heard ill about it and go ahead and check it out.
So, let's talk the actual list now. As always, this is my list, so my opinions, and again, no animated and I'm still going by one per franchise rule, so no duplicate characters or additional titles in a series of films...so yeah, only one in the Marvel Studios Avenger's line up.
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This was one of the tougher choices for the list, as it, Turtles Forever, and TMNT were all right there. It eventually came down to part of the creation of the no animated films rule, so the live action won out. Who of us over the age of twenty didn't grow up with the Turtles in some form or fashion? The first film was a big part of that.
Encompassing all the wackiness of the cartoon and bringing in quite a bit more of the grit of the comics than they realistically could have had in the original cartoon, this movie told the story of the turtles origins, their first encounter with the Foot Clan, and their leader, the Shredder. It also featured the "true" origin of Splinter which I liked later on, that he was Yoshi's pet, and not Yoshi himself.
Some great fight scenes, and some really good humor too. It's available in every format, and you should check it, and its sequels, out if you haven't already.
10. X-Men First Class
So, I recently went into how much I liked this movie (more into why I thought it should have been an LGBT film, but off topic), and all I can say is go see it if you haven't yet...it's very good, and should still be in some theaters. Definitely the best X-men film in my opinion, though sadly not the best comic film of the summer. Also...you know, Matthew Vaughn...who I'm sure will show up more...
9. RED
A cast to kill for and an interesting plot to run with, RED was a great story about what happens to spies when they retire...not something covered very often. Every single scene is done awesomely, and Helen Mirren was awesome in every single scene she showed up in.
This was the best (again, my opinion) action movie of the year last year. It's got some awesome hand to hand with Bruce Willis and Karl Urban going at it, and definitely some of the coolest gun usage in a while. Check out the trailer below for just a taste.
8. Road to Perdition
While I did say no manga based films would be on the list, Road to Perdition is an American comic inspired by Lone Wolf and Cub, an incredible manga, so it gets an out. It also gets this because it's just a kick ass movie, that lit up the awards crowd long before The Dark Knight made its way to the screen.
This is an awesome films about fathers and sons, the mob, and how the violence you do affects those you love. I don't want to spoil any of this, so if you haven't seen it, this is one I do recommend seeing immediately.
Now, you may be wondering why it's so low though. This movie, as well as A History of Violence, have very little to do with traditional comic books. Granted, comics can be about anything...as evidenced by the new Prince Harry comic, but these films, while good, either have little to do with what we think when we think of comic books. Sin City, Surrogates, and 300 also tend to suffer from this, and though I liked them too, they don't make their way on to this list for the same reason.
7. Men in Black
A drastic departure from what it was as a comic, Men in Black is a prime example of why I love Tommy Lee Jones. He's a great mentor character, he can make bad movies watchable (seriously, Man of the House and Batman Forever, ignore anything but Tommy Lee Jones on screen, and you're watching a good film).
Then there's the whole premise...international agency that polices extraterrestrials (and other paranormal threats in the comics) on Earth (for benevolent reasons in the films, not so in the comics). That's wonderfully absurd in theory, and truly awesome on screen. I'm actually really excited about the third title in the series that's been recently announced...I just hope it's not as bad as the second.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
In case you're like one of the ten geeks who don't know what Scott Pilgrim is, it's a graphic novel series out of Canada about the geek culture, romance, and growing up.
Note: As you may have noticed, in my "Still Alive...Mostly..." blog, I said this was edged out of the top three, I meant top five, sorry for any confusion.
The movie follows the same story line, though much more condensed sadly (this is where adaptation's gonna be a bitch to the rating). The series was awesome, the movie though was much to short, much too hurried, though still awesome. The film really well follows the books up to about the time Roxy shows up, and it's here you can see that the movie was being made before the series was finished. Had they broken up the film into two parts, with the first being "vs. The World" and the second being "vs. the Universe", it could have been a much better adaptation.
That said, the latter half is still very good and there's a great drinking game there for every time it makes a gaming reference (though be careful, alcohol poisoning is VERY dangerous). Enjoy.
5. Kick Ass
Stop reading and watch this...
This is how I first found out about the film, and from that instant on I had to see it. If you didn't...either two reasons, you're not a geek OR you're dead. If you're reading this, I'd go with the prior...though if it's the latter, good for you, I heard that was tricky.
The adaptation leaves out a bit from the comic's first volume run (I don't know how important it will be to Volume 2's story yet), but it's not entirely missed, and it does make up for it a bit. I like the love story subplot, though it's vastly different in the books. Also, a few interesting side characters, notably Dave's friend, Todd, don't appear in the books.
Oh, and it's directed by Matthew Vaughn. So, pretty high up there because of that too.
Now this is where my choices generally start to diverge, specifically with the top two. Remember, this is my list and thus my opinions, not yours...I would love to hear how your's are different, but do not say I'm wrong because my tastes are different than yours. Thanks.
4. Captain America: The First Avenger
So, this is easily the best comic book film of the summer so far and possibly the best period. While it does complete the original plot of the comic quite well, and this is definitely the first time it's been done properly, this is a great movie even without the comic or the Avengers Series it exists in. The fact that it does exist within it though is awesome.
Since this movie is still in theaters and is only two weeks out, I don't want to get into spoilers just yet, but it's a great film. It also marks the fourth comic book hero Chris Evans has portrayed, making him the runner up to the current record holder in playing comic characters, though his co-star, Hugo Weaving, is one of the many right on his tail for such.
Speaking of...
3. V for Vendetta
While most would point to Watchmen as the better Alan Moore adaptation, I much prefer V. Looking past some of the modernization material, which granted, makes a lot of sense regardless of even what the source's creator believed it to be (an allegory of American Liberalism vs. Conservatism), it's still a fantastic piece.
Some of the other changes are also understandable for fluidity's sake. Changes in Finch and Gordon's characters work, though I wise they kept the part about his relationship with Delia in. I adore how they handled the Valerie aside. Granted, it's shorter than her original autobiography, but the essentials were kept, and it was simply beautiful, especially in contrast with what was happening to Evey in the film.
Also, I really hated "Fate" from the book, and I was really glad to see it was removed by making John Hurt's version of Adam Sutler (Susan in the book) a much more devious, scheming, sadistic bastard, along with his henchman, Mr. Creedy, who gets the best overhaul of the lot.
I make a note to watch it every Guy Fawkes day, but you should see it now if you haven't already.
*Flame Shields to maximum*
2. Batman Begins
I love The Dark Knight as much as the next geek. It's the better film in a lot of ways. It's success, it's plot, it's acting...nearly everything. But part one of the trilogy is still better in my opinion.
For starters, I really, REALLY, like origin stories. I love sequels too, but something about the hero's journey starting out and eventually coming to a place where they can be that hero is really nice. And, yes, while it can be argued that The Dark Knight too was a double origin story of the Joker and Two-Face, the protagonist had really no growth or change throughout, which is rather sad.
Then there's Liam Neeson. There's a lot of reasons this guy plays gods a lot...he's just that powerful with his acting, and him playing Ra's al Ghul was awesome as all get out, especially as that was one of my favorite characters in the comics and animated series (if he really does show in Rises, this could be replaced, or could switch places with number one).
This film does a lot to reestablish Wayne's background, and does a lot of the Year One building of his character that previous films had left out, and the fact that Dark Knight didn't continue this trend really bothered me, and was the most disappointing part of it...he was just Batman throughout...the only time his humanity poked through was when he was talking to or about Rachel. Rather sad really, but it's this lack of character growth that makes Begins the much better piece to me.
Finally, we move into number one, the only film I can truly say I personally like better than Batman Begins and I know I'm gonna get spammed for it, but here we go...
1. Catwoman
...Catwoman?
The hell...?
No, no, no, that's wrong...the real number one please?
1. Stardust
Sorry for the confusion...Michelle Pfeiffer can cause that.
This film flew way under the radar for most everyone, with me only becoming aware of it when Sarah Michelle Gellar showed up as an option for the female lead. I'm still not sure why was such the case as this was a really great fantasy film.
Another one of those casts to kill for, Stardust brings together Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Strong (Sinestro, Frank D'Amico from Kick Ass), Ian McKellan, Ricky Gervais, Peter O'Toole, Jason Flemyng (the current record holder for comic book performances), Henry Cavill (the next Superman), Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian from the Narnia films), Nathaniel Parker, Claire Danes, and Charlie Cox in it's high fantasy/Victorian era worlds.
I honestly can't say enough for why you should see this film if you haven't already, so here's the trailer...
Now, the adaptation of this is nearly perfect. There are a few omissions and additions, specifically Captain Shakespeare, who's just awesome. Robert DeNiro as a sky pirate is worth the entire price of the ten dollar movie ticket. The most notable change comes in the ending. The film pulls out all the stops in a final battle, where as the book has no such climax. Also, the epilogue is different as well, and again, I prefer the films to the original, mostly due to being a romantic.
If you haven't seen any of these, I suggest that you do so as soon as you can...each is worth it for its own reasons, especially Stardust. Share your thoughts and feelings on each, and if there's one I missed (and didn't mention at all) that you feel should've made it on the list, let me know. If you feel that one of these shouldn't be on the list for some reason, share those thoughts, too (and because something else should be is not a good enough reason).
-Sara
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