What do you think was the best & worst film adaptation of a comic book
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
United States
March 17, 2009 7:32pm CST
What do you think was the best and worst film adaptation of a comic book or graphic novel? What are your reasons for choosing this film or group of films? Is there a particular director you feel does a better job of adapting over another or are they equally as talented?
I have several favorites. I like Batman Begins and Dark Knight as I feel they truly capture the essence of Bruce Wayne and Batman, along with other characters found in the comic series. I love Hellboy and truly feel that Del Toro is by far one of the best director's I've seen because of his attention to detail in story telling. I did like the X-Men adaptations and am looking forward to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I've not yet seen The Watchmen but it looks very well done. I enjoyed all of the Spiderman series, as well as The Fantastic Four, and The Hulk. I was disappointed that the same actor did not come through in the second, but I was impressed with Norton's ability. There is by far no director though above Stan Lee, in my humble opinion. I think he's just so personable that he's able to choose people who truly fit the roles of the characters we grew up with in the comic books. I also do recall the old Conan's and have to say for the time period, they were pretty well done lol. And I adored the second ThePunisher. I felt he truly captured just how the man thought after losing his wife and son.
For me, I was not impressed with Dare Devil or Elektra. I really disliked The Punisher with Dolph Lungran. And even though I loved reading The Phantom, I didn't think it translated well into a movie.
What about you?
Namaste-Anora
2 people like this
9 responses
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
I will admit that the Batman starring Val Kilmer was a tad corny lol. I am not sure how I feel about Halle Berry's Catwoman. Parts of it I liked and other parts I disliked. I think that they must have come up with that version because there were two catwomen in the original television series, one was a white woman and one an african-american woman. Though, I think that Halle Berry's version did shed some deeper light on the duality within Catwoman and why she honestly is Batman's female version, in a sense.
Namaste-Anora
1 person likes this
@sanuanu (11235)
• India
18 Mar 09
I have only seen spider man, Aladin and X men. So, I can only rate these three movies.
I liked the movie Aladin as it was better than its comic book. In comic the story was a little different but here in animation they made a little adjustment and it went very nice with a logic too. So, I liked it very much.
The worst is XMen for sure. First I can't understand the logic behind everyone having powers out of nothing. In a movie, one must have a logic behind everything. I didn't read the comic before I watched the movie. I had a chance after watching and I could see there was harldy any difference from the movie and the comic.
thank you.
2 people like this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
Hmm, I always liked X-Men, and thought they did a wonderful job bringing Xavier and Magneto to the screen. And not everyone had powers, just the mutants. I think they really did a good job showing just why Magneto was against any sort of registration. Recall he went through the holocaust and the movie deals with those types of prejudices. I agree though that Spiderman was fairly well done.
I didn't realize Aladdin was a comic book. Who wrote it? I'd love to go take a look at it. The only Aladdin's I've ever seen are the old B/W's and the Disney versions.
Namaste-Anora
2 people like this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
19 Mar 09
That's why I asked lol. I knew the story came from The Arabian Nights but I wasn't sure if someone had done a comic or graphic novel. I know that The Sandman comics have done Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare, so you know maybe we'll see some more older tales brought out in comic book or graphic novel form to appeal to more generations.
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@Gesusdid (1676)
• United States
18 Mar 09
Totally agree Daredevil and Elektra were craptastic in my eyes , its almost as if any comic movie that comes out in Febuary is bound to bomb becasuse the both of em came out in Feb , The Phantom mehhhhh , i guess it was what it was , the cartoon was better than the film , X men series it top notch however they waited 4 flims in to introduce Gambit ? cmon !! lol Fantastic 4 , idk with that flim series beacause they hype it up so much and then you see the flim and your kinda dispointed , Spiderman series is ok , Theyre always going to come out with those , ( sadly lol ) Hellboy is a very underated series as far as the moives go because alot of people dont care for it and are kinda scared of a Devil man running around the movie , plus its called HellBoy so what do you expect , for me , its Great til this day i still watch the 1st flim , the second one was great too , almost too short and too foward with Liz being pregnat and all like that coulda been left out ...but Del Torro is a great director , i think ive seen all his movies , i just love his Honor for bringing and keeping the puppetry and monsters in costume instead of ALL CGI yeah he has a lil bit here and there but , to me hes the only one whos doing it
2 people like this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
LOL. Yeah, I suppose a great many wouldn't want their child seeing the "Devil Man" and "Cthula monsters" lol. My son is 2 1/2 and calls his daddy Hellboy anytime he wears his trenchcoat, so we just laugh. He loves Hellboy. I have to admit, I was a bit umm caught off guard that Liz was pregnant in the 2nd movie. I'm kinda of wonderin' if they'll be doing a third you know? I've not seen all of Del Toro's films but I want to. He's just an incredibly good story teller.
I did remember after typing, as there were so many to choose from lol, that I really liked Ghostrider. Even if it had a some corny lines, the effects were really well done.
And I agree, why did it take so long to introduce Gambit?? Though I've always been a Wolverine fan.
Namaste-Anora
@Gesusdid (1676)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Liz pregnat , ughh , that really ddint need to be apart of it , i mean whats the baby gonnna do join the team ? lol it should be possible that a third should be made they have alot of story to tell , Abe , no one knows about the story of Abe maybe we can get a story of his people or something , theres always Hellboy himself , a nice third flim about him battling the father he never knew the Devil himself but he the devil wants their un born baby inside of Liz ??!! ..that would be cool ..
GHOST RIDER ughhhh i was sadden , i didnt know anything about the story line , and it starred Nicholas Cage , and IT CAME OUT IN THE MONTH OF FEBUARY!!...and forever thru out the whole movie he kept saying these corny one liners or tried to be serious but it wasnt called for you know? terrible flim
Gambit , yeah like everyone feels my pain of why this guy wasnt in the first flim , idk , HE BETTER BE IN THE WHOLE WOLVERINE FLIM til the end , as of matter of fact since theyre doing these charactor installments , next to wolverine is Magneto , and i thought its supppose to be someone else but GAMBIT needs his own flim
2 people like this
@kukaisiton (702)
• Philippines
18 Mar 09
definitely the daredevil.comic book adaptations are supposed to be cool but itsjust so corny, i dont even get why ben affleck would star in such a film. oh and another one is catwoman. though i love halle berry, i just dont like it at all
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
I always liked the idea behind Daredevil, but I agree it was just well a let down in that the screen version seemed to be very different then the comic book version. I really am torn on how I feel about Catwoman.
Namaste-Anora
1 person likes this
@Theresaaiza (10487)
• Australia
19 Mar 09
I have seen Daredevil and Elektra. Like you, I didn't like it. I think Ben Affleck looked stiff and awkward in doing the fighting moves.
The best for me is XMEN. All of it!
2 people like this
@Theresaaiza (10487)
• Australia
20 Mar 09
About the HULK by the way. How come they replaced the original stars in the PART 2? I mean, being unaware of the events that led to the replacements, it had me thinking that probably the original casts were so lousy they had to replace them. What happened?
1 person likes this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Yeah, it was really obvious that he didn't know what he was doing. I think that's why I liked the second Punisher so much is that the man playing him did most of his own stunts and worked very hard to learn how to move so it had a natural and smooth feel to it.
Of course, just last night we were watching an old Green Hornet starting Bruce Lee as Kato, and darn even if it was corny for the day Bruce could move!!!
Namaste-Anora
1 person likes this
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
18 Mar 09
I would agree with most of your choices for best and worst. My all time favourite super hero is Spiderman and I feel the movies did the books justice, although I was a little let down by Spiderman 3, I think it was a case of too much soon.
I think the new Batman franchise takes some beating with regards to comic book adaptations, as you say they really captured the real essence of the characters. The casting in the new Batman movies was right on the money. Christopher Nolan really gave us what the fans wanted.
I would rate Iron Man very highly too. I think Robert Downy Jr was perfectly cast as Tony stark and really nailed the multimillionaire playboy image. We should see great things to come from the Iron Man franchise, especially with Samuel L. Jackson cast as Nick Fury
The bad movies that spring to mind straight away would be Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, the villain choices were great but the movies really were bad, even the dialogue makes me cringe.
Another that I did see on cable a while back was Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. starring David Hasselhoff as Fury, it was really bad, it was one of those made for TV movies.
I am planning to see The Watchmen this weekend, I have very high hopes for this one as I am a huge fan of the book.
The bad movies that spring to mind straight away would be Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, the villain choices were great but the movies really were bad, even the dialogue makes me cringe.
Another that I did see on cable a while back was Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. starring David Hasselhoff as Fury, it was really bad, it was one of those made for TV movies.
I am planning to see The Watchmen this weekend, I have very high hopes for this one as I am a huge fan of the book.1 person likes this
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
18 Mar 09
I would recommend Iron Man as a fun rollercoaster ride of a movie. The origin sences were very close to the comic books, if just updated a little with todays current events. I am glad the Batman franchise was rebooted brought out of the sillyness of those last two in the series. I do hope the quality of the movies do keep up.
One thing I will say the last few years have been an exciting time for comic book fans as the superhro movie genre seems to be going from strengh and i am sure there are many more movies to look forward to.
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@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
I agree. I hope Stan Lee lives to see all of his comics made into movies because he has some amazing things to share. That said, a lot of the graphic novels being made into movies are doing some stupendous things and I'm looking forward to many years of this type of entertainment. Comics really do have some valuable life lessons to teach. I'm hoping they'll re-do Wonder Woman some time soon. Something a bit more like the comics.
Namaste-Anora
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@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Mar 09
I've not yet seen Ironman but I have to agree you couldn't find a better actor to cast as Tony Stark! Oh my gosh, I agree. Those two batman movies left me sincerely disappointed. I agree, Chris Nolan has captured the duality of Batman/Bruce Wayne and was able to present it in such a manner that we still find ourselves liking Batman, but questioning his ethics.
Namaste-Anora
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@modstar (9605)
• Philippines
19 Mar 09
I haven't seen The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren but the same, the worst is The Punisher from the other guy before The Punisher: War Zone. The best of course, i think belongs to Dark Knight, no doubt. But let's give credit to graphic novels too. Sin City and 300 are equally good. I haven't seen Watchmen yet but i'm sure it's not the worst. Daredevil is just above The Punisher. The Phantom sucks too or maybe the plot is just not really interesting. X-men, Fantastic Four are just below Spiderman which is below Dark Knight.
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
19 Mar 09
I haven't seen the most recent but I did like the actor in Arthur, he played Daganon. I did like Thomas in the second Punisher though and I really liked John Travolta. I didn't care too much for Sin City's story line but I'll give it credit that it was very well done. I loved the colorization they did to emphasize certain parts of the story line. I really enjoyed 300!! Though, some parts were a bit umm "whiny" for me and seemed to undermine the tale of 300. The Phantom, well I think it truly took Billy Zane in a direction he didn't want to go and now the poor an is playing bit roles.
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@thedailyclick (3017)
•
19 Mar 09
So far the best comic book movie for me is Iron Man, it is so entertaining and has a bit of everything from action, through to comedy and drama, balancing each so that it doesn't become too one sided. Plus unlike other recent comic book adaptations the hero of the piece isn't just another super hero with a troubled psyche.
As for the worst, well Ghost Rider is probably the one I least enjoyed but that's partly because I had high expectations before I saw it and it failed to deliver. Hopefully if they do go ahead with the sequel it will be much better.
1 person likes this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
19 Mar 09
I still need to see Ironman but all of the previews and reviews I've read make it look very well done.
I can appreciate the entire Ghostrider argument. I enjoyed it, yet I did find it rushed and full of just one too many one-liners. I think that's some of the issues with a well done movie is that we all hvae these built up expectations from our own reading of the comic/graphic novel and if the movie fails us we are disappointed and may find it difficult to find something good lol. And, the dialogue is not as advanced in film as it is in the comics, so I've noticed. Some of them are, but it's almost like the film versions get dummied down.
Namaste-Anora
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Yeah, it depends upon what comic it's based on for me. I haven't liked all of the lol. Namaste-Anora
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