Guilty pleasures or worthwhile cinema?
The super hero genre is an interesting beast. For the contemporary movie fan, the choice of super hero movies is pretty vast, but if you look back into cinematic history it’s easy to see that the film adaptations of super hero stories is something of a recent fad.
Before 2002, you had the two stalwarts of DC Comics battling it out on the big screen – Superman and Batman. When I say battling it out I of course don’t mean in the same film, although if you Wikipedia it, it so nearly happened and god forbid, it still could. Arguably the first superhero movie is the original ‘Batman’, made in 1966 and for those who have seen it; you’ll know what I mean when I say it was of its time. A spin off of the deliberately camp, tongue-in-cheek TV series, ‘Batman’ is the first in a long line of films centred on the caped crusader and to be honest short of the contributions of Tim Burton and most recently, Christopher Nolan, it’s a group of movies that should probably be avoided. Although not possessing as big a back catalogue as the Batman films, Superman has made 5 cinematic appearances – the first four films being released in the late 1970s and through the 80s and the most recent addition ‘Superman Returns’ added in 2006. As with Batman however, not all of them are worth watching, with the original Richard Donner directed version being worth a watch over the recent and revamped Bryan Singer version, illustrating that modern day special effects don’t necessarily make films better.
However, when we think of comic book films, what normally jumps to mind is the spate of Marvel adaptations that occurred in the wake of the success of ‘X-Men’ in 2000. Just to show you what I mean, I will give some examples – ‘Spiderman’ (2002), ‘Hulk’ (2003), ‘Daredevil’ (2003), ‘X2’ (2003), ‘Spiderman 2’ (2004), ‘The Punisher’ (2004), ‘The Fantastic Four’ (2005), ‘Elektra’ (2005) etc. Apparently, the comic book adaptation had become ludicrously profitable and it begs a question in my mind, have there actually been any good ones? Or are they all bilge?
It is important when looking at the quality of comic book adaptations to maintain a level of objectiveness – I have horrendous soft spots for the X-Men film franchise for example, but defending any one as a good film? I don’t know. Guilty pleasures? Certainly. Great cinema? Questionable. That isn’t to say that I am being snobbish about the genre, I’m not, I acknowledge whole heartedly the cultural impact that comic book adaptations have had over the 2000s with ‘X-Men’ creating one of the most iconic figures in modern times, that snarling, sideburn wearing Hugh Jackman of a Wolverine. Comic books lend themselves to creating strong vivid characters, something which can be easily transposed onto the screen but I feel that in terms of story, they just lag behind other films. The comic book world is full of such complex storylines, with characters being created and killed off only to be reincarnated in other forms two or three times. It takes a niche dedicated comic book audience to know the ins and outs of a character making a straightforward transposition to the mass cinematic audience nigh on impossible, leaving the only other viable option, that of the origin story. Unfortunately, the flipside of the complicated convoluted narrative, the origin story is usually horribly straightforward and simple once again proving for a limited cinematic experience and creating an environment for sequels which are equally as limited with Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ stand as anomalies to this pattern. So, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There have been some great moments from comic books movies though – the title sequence from ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ for example, or that moment when Willem Defoe hears Tobey Maguire’s blood hit the floor and spins round, only to see nothing. The moment with the pencil in ‘The Dark Knight’ that saw Heath Ledger’s Joker well and truly admitted into the cult character category. Great moments in films that are the best of the bunch.
However, one positive thing to come from the comic book adaptation revival is the awakening of the graphic novel adaptation. As the name suggests, the stories are altogether more rounded, with films being based specifically on one comprehensive text rather than lots of episodic and less rounded adventures. And when you look at the pedigree of the graphic novel adaptation, it is very good. Okay, there was ‘Watchmen’ which suffered from the convoluted fanboy problem (you needed to have read it first, a prerequisite which should never be necessary for any adaptation) and served to fulfil Zack Snyder’s lust for over the top CGI blood, but look past it and you’ll see truly brilliant films, the likes of ‘V for Vendetta’, a thoroughly believable creation of Britain under a dictatorship in the near future, ‘300’ which although pretty two dimensional had its moments, and the fantastic ‘Road to Perdition’. And although I lick my lips in wait of the announced sequel to ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, I’d take the graphic novel adaptations any day. Actually, the weakness of comic book adaptations can be summed up in one film – ‘Catwoman’. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean, if you haven’t and you have any self respect then don’t go near it even if Halle Berry in a catsuit sounds too good to be true. Because it is too good to be true. It’s crap.
By Charles Dennett 