Spandex, Capes, and
Celluloid:
The Twenty Best Comic Book Films (And Ten of the Worst)
by Steven E. McDonald
Now for a tricky definition - exactly what constitutes a comic-book film? The easiest answer, of course, is to say, "a movie based on a comic book." For most people, that means over-muscled superheros and horribly misproportioned heroines, with a generous helping of sock! bam! pow! visual sound effects, a la the 1966 Batman TV show. This, however, leaves out a large area of comics - and, thus, quite a few movies (not to mention the television programs - which involve adaptations of everything from Archie to Britain's Andy Capp, which saw a brief existence as a Thames Television programme in 1988.)
This is not to say that quite a few of these movies should not be overlooked - merely thinking about the 1997 Batman & Robin is cause enough to generate ten titles worthy of extensive neglect (see the sidebar, Holy Casting Couch, Batman!, Or: Future Funnybook Follies, for more potential anguish.). Television has produced more than its share of stinkers, too - while the Batman television series was goofy fun, and the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series an excellent adaptation, the more routine result is on a par with the unaired Justice League Of America pilot commissioned by CBS. For both movies and television, comics can be a difficult medium to adapt - executives, producers, and directors all begin to get nervous when dealing closely with material as outlandish as the average superhero comic ... and this is before we even consider the budget issues. Cost has killed or stunted the development of more than one comic book movie - the on-again, off-again development of Superman Lives! at Warner Bros. is the direct result of budget estimates that keep soaring well past the $100 million mark. X-Men, now backed by 20th Century Fox with some $70 million, has been around the development track in Hollywood for almost two decades - I was tapped to do a script draft when the project was at Orion Pictures in 1984, just before budget issues caused the company to put the project back into turnaround. The extended rights tangle over Spiderman, meanwhile, is all but legendary, though the project itself is now on the fast track with Sam Raimi in the director's chair.
The flow of comic book movies seems unlikely to abate, however - for producers in Hollywood and Japan, particularly, comic book movies have the potential for spectacle and thus the possibility of selling a lot of tickets and, later, a lot of videocassettes and DVDs.
And now ... brain to power, atomic word-processor to speed - the list!
The Best
20. Captain Marvel (Republic, 1941) Sure, it has a hokey plot and no budget whatsoever, but the practical special-effects people managed to produce some of the most convincing superhero flying sequences ever put on screen. Forget optical effects - in fact, forget stuntmen too. Star Tom Tyler was wire-flown for many of the shots. An entertaining serial that far outshone contemporary efforts such as Batman & Robin (Columbia) and Captain America. Republic had intended to do a Superman serial, but could not negotiate a deal.
19. Dick Tracy (Walt Disney) It could be easy to dismiss this adaptation of Chester Gould's long-running comic-strip hero, but it turns out that Dick Tracy is actually a decent film that makes an attempt to stick close to the roots of the strip. The bizarre villains are there, along with the key supporting cast, but actor/director Warren Beatty wisely jettisoned Gould's later wild forays into science fiction. What remains is a startling primary color scheme, and a fairly clever story that even manages to make Madonna look good as Breathless Mahoney.
18. Popeye (Paramount/Disney, 1981) Directed by Robert Altman, and starring comedian Robin Williams in his first major film role, the movie is a bit of a mixed blessing - the songs, for example, were hardly the greatest. However, the film has enormous energy, thanks to the cast and the wonderful Sweethaven set. Williams does a perfect live-action Popeye, and there seems no doubt that Shelley Duvall was born to play Olive Oyl. The special bonus is Ray Walston as Popeye's acerbic Pappy.
17. The Crow (Miramax, 1994) Marred by the tragic death of star Brandon Lee in an on-set accident, The Crow script, written by horror writer David J. Schow and science fiction bad boy John Shirley, actually manages to streamline the original James O'Barr comic miniseries, giving the story more of a foundation with the addition of central villain Top Dollar (Michael Wincott.) Director Alex Proyas treated the premise with great seriousness, drawing a great performance out of Lee. By no means perfect, the film certainly achieves more than most movies originating in the funnybooks. The film was followed by a bad sequel and a TV series that no-one seemed to watch. A second sequel, The Crow: Salvation, is scheduled for a release in 2000.
16. Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar (Gaumont, 1999) I would never have thought Gerard Depardieu would make the perfect Obelix in a live action version of the French comic series, but he does. Christian Clavier, alas, is not quite as good in the role of pint-sized warrior Asterix. However, the Gaulish village set is brilliant, and it's a treat to see potion-powered Asterix sending entire Roman cohorts flying into the air (and out of their sandals) as he does in the comic. This French production followed several animated movies, and has yet to be picked up by a US distributor. A sequel is in the works.
15. Barbarella (1968) Camp, raunchy daffiness starring a pre-humorectomy Jane Fonda in the title role, along with Milo O'Shea in high deviltry mode as that very naughty boy Duran Duran, although it's Anita Pallenberg who steals the show as The Great Tyrant. It does, not, however, reach the level of glossy raunchiness that was fairly standard for the late Jean-Claude Forest's comic strip. Still fun if you're in the right state of mind.
14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (New Line Cinema) Little did creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird suspect what they were doing when they produced their first small-press comics parody. Before long, Eastman and Laird's creation was everywhere, which led to this movie. It's surprisingly good, with some moments of genuine wit and a few nice stunts. The sequels are easy to ignore, though.
13. Batman (20th Century Fox, 1966) There's bound to be some horror at the inclusion of this version, but it is a genuinely fun movie that keeps with the tone of the comic books at the time. Everyone plays it straight throughout (with the exception of Cesar Romero, who has an excuse for daffiness, considering he's playing the Joker), which makes for a sometimes hysterically funny movie. That dodgy looking fellow ducking in and out of the spotlight during the credits is the producer.
12. Men In Black (Columbia, 1997) Based on a satirical comic book created by Bob Burden (creator of Flaming Carrot and Mysterymen), Men In Black saw Barry Sonnenfeld ramping up the comedy and peppering the audience with a rapid-fire series of gags that used Will Smith as the straight man for Tommy Lee Jones' even straighter man.
11. City Hunter (1993) While the Japanese City Hunter manga had been given the anime treatment, it took Jackie Chan to get it into live action form - preserving the goofy parts of the comic for good measure, right down to Ryo (Chan) being perpetually hungry. Surprisingly, the film has never had an official US release, despite Chan's late-nineties popularity in the United States - Tai Seng VHS video and DVD copies can be found relatively easily, however, though they carry a hefty price tag.
10. The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie (Longford Productions, 1972) Long before Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Beresford co-wrote and directed this Ocker-out-of-Fosters comedy, basing it on a demented comic strip written by Australian comedian Barry Humphries (best known for his portrayal of Dame Edna Everage.) Humphries co-wrote the script, and plays a pair of roles, but it's Barry Crocker as the terminally confused McKenzie who is the main focus, whether he's having run-ins with impossible landlords (Spike Milligan) or dumping cans of curry into his shorts. The tale revolves around McKenzie traveling to England - with a suitcase full of Fosters lager - and the resulting culture clash as Aussie lout meets head-on with Pommy scum. Hard to find, but hilarious. Beresford and Humphries also produced a 1974 sequel, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own.
9. Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (Warner Bros., 1993) An extremely solid piece of storytelling, plus a deliberate PG approach, elevate this movie above the muck. Produced and released following the success of the 1990s animated Batman series, which took a similar approach to one used by Max and Dave Fleischer on their 1940s Superman cartoons, the film features classic voice performances from Efram Zimbalist, Jr. as acerbic butler Alfred, and Mark Hamill, who provides a chilling rendition of the psychopathic Joker.
8. Mystery Men (Universal, 1999) An adaptation of Bob Burden's sometimes highly sarcastic comics (revived briefly by Dark Horse as Bob Burden's Original Mysterymen) with Ben Stiller taking a good part of the screen time as Mr. Furious, whose power is his majestically bad temper. However, it's William H. Macy (as The Shoveler) and Janeane Garafolo (as the Bowler) who really shine. Unfortunately, the main villain, Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), is poorly developed. Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), the arrogant and mercenary true defender of Champion City, is served a little better, but the character is still a thin one. Overall, though, it's a lot of fun, with some actual touching moments, even if the producers could not find room for a Flaming Carrot cameo. The DVD release includes quite a bit of additional material, as well as a commentary from director Kinka Usher and notes from Bob Burden on how the movie project was assembled (and why the Carrot didn't make the cut.)
7. Superman (Paramount, 1941) Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster's costumed powerhouse was very well established by the time Paramount asked Max and Dave Fleischer to produce a series of animated Superman shorts. The Fleischers tried to avoid the job by quoting an absurdly high budget for each cartoon, only to find the Paramount brass agreeing. The result was a strikingly rendered series of cartoon stories that still stand up today - to the point of the 1990s animated series taking its visual philosophy from the Fleischer production designs. The Fleischer brothers were removed after the first nine cartoons. The remaining nine consist mainly of WWII propaganda. Three DVD releases (one compiling all 18 cartoons) provide restored versions of the cartoons.
6. The Rocketeer (Buena Vista, 1991) Simplifying the storyline of the original Dave Stevens graphic novel and doing away with the grittier elements (such as the Betty Page-lookalike girlfriend, the hero's obnoxious attitude, and most of the soap-opera) allowed director Joe Johnston to make a film that had its heart in the same place as Stevens' original inspiration: the Rocketmen serials. Bill Pullman's naive Cliff is a classic character, well supported by Jennifer Connelly, Adam Arkin, and Terry O'Quinn (who does a great Howard Hughes.) Timothy Dalton is one of the bad guys, playing Errol Flynn-like Nazi agent Neville Sinclair. It's definitely an old-fashioned good time.
5. The Addams Family (Paramount, 1991) There are some elements (such as the names) that hail from the 1960s TV show, but, for the most part, the movie harks back to Charles Addams' original cartoons, albeit with a more traditional sort of film story stirred into the mix. This was Barry Sonnenfeld's first outing as a director, and he made it pay off in spades with some gleefully anarchic action and hysterical gags, many involving Thing, a hyperactive disembodied hand . There are some quieter moments, though, including a beautifully warped romantic moment between Morticia (Anjelica Huston - perfect casting!) and Gomez (Raul Julia.) Notable also for providing a star turn for Christina Ricci, whose icily sociopathic Wednesday Addams is hilarious. The sequel, Addams Family Values (1993), almost lives up to the first film - and it is Ricci who once again proves a particular highlight during a sequence that mercilessly lampoons Disney's twee Pocahontas.
4. Superman: The Movie (Warner Bros., 1978) Despite its imperfections, this remains one of the best adaptations of Superman to date, and is one of the all-time best comic-book adaptations ever. A great part of the reason for this comes down to Christopher Reeve's portrayal of both Superman and his Clark Kent alter-ego, though a great deal can be said for the film being deliberately structured as a mythological tale, at least in the beginning. Still, the fact that Reeve never once acts as though he feels silly in the costume goes a long way towards selling the film. Superman II was a solid sequel, with a handful of howlers mixed in, but there is little to be said for either Superman III or the well-intentioned Superman IV: Quest For Peace. DVD releases of the Superman movies are planned for late 2000, but extensive restoration work is needed first. Warner Bros. plans a DVD box as well as individual releases.
3. Blade (New Line, 1998) It seemed of such dubious merit at first - an adaptation of a Marvel Comics character who never could support his own title and existed essentially as part of an ensemble pitted against the Marvel version of Dracula. Given an overhaul by Wesley Snipes and director Stephen Norrington, Blade emerges as a powerhouse character in a film that takes on the vampire genre and succeeds in being compelling. The DVD edition is considered to be one of the best from New Line. Meanwhile, expectations are running high for the sequel, directed by Guillermo del Toro (who has Mike Mignola's Hellboy in the works as well) for a 2001 release.
2. Batman Returns (Warner Bros., 1992) Director Tim Burton seems to have a deep streak of childhood darkness buried inside him, and it has a tendency to surface in his work - even more so with this 1992 sequel to his 1989 blockbuster, Batman. Burton not only manages to bring out the dark, weird side of comic books here, he pulls up spectres of childhood, whether focusing on unformed Selina Kyle, soon to take a Persephonic voyage through death to rebirth as the morally unconcerned Catwoman, or on The Penguin, depicted by Burton as a Dickensian grotesque and played by Danny DeVito as a tragically monstrous child. Lost children and absent fathers abound, subtext runs rampant, Danny Elfman's score reinforces the lot with peversely childlike melodies, and Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) is propelled out of his emotional armor. The most telling scene, however, is the last - where Batman concluded with the hero poised ready to do battle with villainy, Batman Returns concludes with a very forlorn, very adult Bruce Wayne vainly searching for the missing Catwoman. Like Charles Foster Kane, he has found the true key to himself - just too late for it to do any good. Not bad for a comic book.
1. Akira (1989) The original manga version of Akira is a long, complex tale that plays out through numerous different factions co-existing in post-holocaust Neo-Tokyo, with a biker gang going up against shadowy military forces and even more shadowy scientific operations, all of which finally come togather over the title character, a wizened child with enough psychic power to destroy the planet. Getting more than a thousand pages of story reduced to a two hour animated movie was a monumental task, but the end result is a breathless roller-coaster ride with elements of grand tragedy and a captivating score. This is a film, by the way, that needs to be seen in widescreen, with subtitles, and a monster surround-sound system. A DVD release, alas, is still pending in the US, thanks to rights tangles.
The Worst
10. Annie (Columbia) John Huston directed this big-budget adaptation of the stage musical based on the long-running Little Orphan Annie comic strip. It's a lumbering, graceless, effort crowned by a corpse-stiff performance from Albert Finney, who shaved his head to play Daddy Warbucks. A sequel, Annie: A Royal Adventure!, was aired in 1995, and Walt Disney has a new (non-musical) version on video shelves, and planned for TV broadcast. An earlier film adaptation appeared in 1938, the latter produced by David O. Selznick for RKO Radio Pictures.
09. Captain America (1992) Directed by schlockmeister Albert Pyun, and starring Matt Salinger (the son of novelist J.D.), the film never even made it to US theater screens, and for good reason - we are not talking about the plastic ears on the costume, either. Almost as horrible as the two TV movies produced in 1979.
08. Batman Forever (Warner Bros., 1995) It all began to go wrong here, yes it did. Joel Schumacher came aboard as director, and everything went to neon, silly angles, and screaming high camp. Val Kilmer took over from Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, not only seeming lost in the part, but hardly presenting the father figure type of character that might have made Chris O'Donnell's Robin fit in - instead, Kilmer and O'Donnell look like a couple of frat boys in search of a kegger. Never mind Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey trying to out-camp each other as Two-Face and the Riddler, the catastrophic script, or the fact that this movie could single-handledly deafen moviegoers (the next film, Batman & Robin, actually managed to be even louder.)
07. The Crow: City Of Angels (Miramax, 1994) Vincent Perez essayed the role of the Crow-resurrected seeker of vengeance this time, obviously having little need to do something worthwhile with his talents. The film has an interesting look at times, a sort of Peter Greenaway tone if Greenaway were to do perfume commercials or rock videos. The script and direction are abysmal, however, and headaches result about halfway through when trying to make sense of either the story or the images.
06. The Fantastic Four (Concorde, 1994) In the end, this cheap, fast adaptation of the origin of Marvel Comics' heroic team ended up being hidden away - which doesn't mean that it has been hard to get hold of. Unfortunately, it isn't worth much of an effort to find it - no budget, bad effects, bad sets. The only plus is some reasonably okay acting. A big-budget version is in the pipeline from Fox, with Raja Gosnell directing, though this has encountered budget difficulties repeatedly.
05. The Guyver (New Line Cinema) Terminally bad adaptation of a Japanese manga that has seen several anime adaptations already. A young man comes into possession of an alien artifact that turns him into a super-powered, armored fighter. The Guyver costume is good, but the other special makeup effects are Power Rangers-level, the fight choreography is weak, the script is pathetic, and poor Mark Hamill is lost at sea as a doomed CIA agent. The sequel, Dark Hero: Guyver 2, sees the alien armor driving the hero out of control and through an even worse storyline.
04. Howard The Duck (Universal, 1989) Sort-of kind-of based on a satirical comic book created and written by Steve Gerber, Howard The Duck is the film that George Lucas would rather everybody forget he was involved in. It was actually written and directed by friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, who had helped out with American Graffiti and Star Wars: A New Hope, but the whole package was a shambolic mess, with a hysterically bad midget duck suit stuck front and center throughout. Definitely duck soup.
03. Tank Girl The film has its adherents, mostly because of actress Lori Petty, but it really is a horrible mess that its director simultaneously disowns and takes responsibility for, at least in terms of bowing to studio-demanding compromises that purged about 90% of the elements that made the comic a unique experience.
02. The Phantom. Lee Falk, creator of The Phantom, should return from the grave and punish those responsible for this ghastly film. Billy Zane is a good-looking and likeable actor, but he was at sea in this film. At least the costume for the Ghost Who Walks stayed true to the original, without the silly padding that producers seem to feel is a requirement these days.
And The All-Time Winner Is
01. Batman & Robin (Warner Bros., 1997) Directed by Joel Schumacher in an ecstasy of tastelessness that easily rivals anything directed by Ken Russell, the fourth entry in the Warner Bros bat-franchise was so excessive in its awfulness that Schumacher himself developed the tendency to apologize for it whenever the subject comes up. Those who like to keep track of the gory details point to everything from Alicia Silverstone's awful performance as Batgirl to the repeated padded rubber butt-shots and ever-larger nipples on the costumes. The most telling point, however, is the moment when, trapped in Mr. Freeze's escape rocket, Batman (George Clooney, poor devil) slaps a device against the wall of the capsule. "What is it?" cries Robin (Chris O'Donnell.) "It's a Bat-Bomb!" the Rubberized Crusader yells back. Truer words could not have been spoken.
©2000 by Steven E. McDonald
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