Comic-Into-Film (the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

1. The Good

I still think the best of the superhero films might be 1979's Superman. It was faithful to the source material, it had a good story, the acting was great, and the special effects were revolutionary for the time.

No matter what actor they find to play Superman, no one will ever be as good as Christopher Reeve. I'm not saying that Brandon Routh did a bad job, I'm not saying that Henry Cavill will do a bad job, just that Christopher Reeve WAS Superman. Period.

The first two Blade films were also great, though I am tempted to exclude them from this list. Blade, as a character, has never been important in the world of comic books. Most of us never even heard of him before the movies came out.

Hellboy, who shares a director with Blade II, was also a great film. I didn't think the second one was as good, but I am hoping for a third.

Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight might be the best of the superhero movies, alongside Superman. I am eagerly anticipating the third installment in this franchise, The Dark Knight Rises.

Spider-man II wasn't as good as the two Batman films, but it was by far the best of the Spider-man movies. The pacing was much better than the first Spider-man film, and it was dramatic without being corny.

All of the movies from Marvel Studios, have, in my opinion, been good. I am looking forward to seeing them tied together in The Avengers next year. I thought that Captain America was the best of the bunch, with Iron Man a close second. Thor was probably the least effective of these properties, but then again Thor was always going to be a tough sell.

2. The Bad

Superman IV was a mess, but at least it was watchable. Given the BOMB that is Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, the next Superman film might be even worse.

The first four Batman films also didn't do much for me. I thought Michael Keaton was a good Batman, but those movies just plodded along.

Ghost Rider wasn't very good. Nick Cage did a decent Johnny Blaze, but the story was crap and the villains just weren't threatening or scary. I hear that the sequel might be straight-to-DVD, especially since the studio slashed the budget in half.

I thought the X-men movies were boring, but no worse than most of the comic books. There is a definite soap-opera side to those characters, and either you like it or you don't. I don't.

I really wanted to like the first Spider-man, but it just bored me and the Green Goblin's costume looked stupid. The third Spider-man was a mess. Had they left Venom out of it, it would have been a much better film.

3. The Ugly

Spawn gets my vote for worst comic book movie ever. It was boring, stupid, and it didn't make any sense.

Daredevil, and its quasi-sequel, Elektra are also amazingly bad. For years after seeing Daredevil, I refused to see any movie starring Ben Affleck. Fortunately for him, he has since revived his career as a director, and I have a newfound respect for him.

I really wanted to like X-men Origins: Wolverine, but that film was truly bad. For a while a sequel by Darren Aronofsky was in the works, but this has since fallen through.

And let me not omit Green Lantern, which was also a disaster. Martin Campbell might be a good director, but after this one he's probably reviewing his career path. How could a movie with so much going for it go so horribly wrong?