2011 - The Year Of The Comic Book Movie?
In 2012 there is The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Wolverine, and The Avengers just to name a few. It looks like 2012 will be THE year of the comic book movie! But wait, the name of this article is 2011 - The Year Of The Comic Book Movie? The reason for this is someone said this to me, that "Man! 2011 is the year of the comic book movie!" Well, there has been a lot so far. They have ranged from pathetic to really good and have all hit theaters all ready. Priest. X-Men: First Class. Thor. Green Lantern. Cowboys & Aliens. Captain America: The First Avenger. The Green Hornet. That's 7 films based on comic book properties. That's a lot but does that make it the year of the comic book movie just because of quantity? Quality does count for something and most general movie goers realize this, even if they do read too many critics bad reviews that keep them from seeing a movie they may enjoy!
I have seen Thor, X-Men: First Class:, Green Lantern, The Green Hornet and Captain America this summer. All have been good but not great films. Out of the four I would say Captain America was the best. I walked out of the theater satisfied and really pumped to see The Avengers next year. Green Lantern was a fantastic adaption and the critics just didn't really get it I think. Let's hope Warner Brothers green lights a sequel. Thor was a lot of fun and X-Men: First Class, while an excellent film, probably the best next to X-Men 2, I still had problems with the story changes. Havok joins the X-Men before Cyclops. What the hell? Everyone knows Cyclops was there since the beginning, not his little brother! As for Green Hornet, it s what it was and didn't pretend to try and be anything spectacular. I've heard horrible things about Priest and then Cowboys & Aliens, I can wait for DVD on. In a year with so many comic book movies, it's hard to see them all in theaters! So overall it's a pretty decent year for comic book movies, but not necessarily the best year ever. So what is the best then?
I would argue that it was 2008. That year saw The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, and Hellboy II hit theaters. All quality films that did well at the box office, and they adapted their source material very well. The Dark Knight places very high on most people's list and went on to be the number two highest grossing film ever at that time. Iron Man gained a huge fan base and The Incredible Hulk was the Hulk movie everyone wanted to see. Wanted was a very slick and stylish comic book adaption in it's own right. In a list of Top 25 comic films, I would probably place all of them above the films out this year, except maybe Captain America. Perhaps you don't agree with me. Whar did a few other years give us?
2007 saw Spider-Man 3, 300, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four 2, 30 Days Of Night and TMNT hit theaters. Any of those better than 2008? I didn't think so. I mean did you see 30 Days Of Night? It wasn't worth the paper the original comic was printed on! 2006 featured Superman Returns, X-Men: The Last Stand, and V For Vendetta hitting the big screens. All three were very solid films. 2005 featured Batman Begins, Sin City, Fantastic Four, and Constantine. Other than Fantastic Four, a pretty decent group of films there too. Are any of these better than 2008? You can decide for yourself!2011 has been a fantastic year for comic book movies and 2012 looks to be even better. Who isn't excited for The Dark Knight Rises or The Avengers? The freaking Avengers!! Who would have thought years ago we would get a film with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk fighting together in it! It should be awesome! But 2011 is not quite the year of the comic book movie. Perhaps it's 2008 at least for now and a year from now it could be 2012. We shall see. All we know is that comic book heroes and villains will continue to light up the silver screen!
