Ten Strikes: Marvel's Hits and Misses

By Felix Vasquez Jr

A look at the best and worst that have come from the stable of Marvel Comic characters.

Hit: X2: X-Men United

While it’s good to pay lip service to “X-Men,” the movie that actually showed studios that a comic book movie could finally be taken seriously and rake in big bucks, the piece de resistance was “X2,” Bryan Singer’s wonderful cinematic explosion of the X-Men mythos teaming the X-Men against impossible odds, bringing to life my favorite Marvel character of all time (Nightcrawler—Bamf!) with great success, and giving us a gripping look into the lives of the young mutants at the X-Academy, all of whom teach a large group of soldiers a thing or two when the mansion gets raided. It’s a movie that continues to please on all levels.

Miss: Spider-Man 3

In one fell swoop Sam Raimi took everything entertaining about the series and destroyed it. Though financially a hit, the third installment in the series signaled a tired director, leading a tired ensemble cast through the motions of a tired plot line rendering one of the most influential comic book villains of all time irrelevant (Venom), completely ignoring the Spidey Sense, Spidey’s common sense, and the story of the symbiote, and relatively regurgitating almost everything from the first two flicks. There’s also Peter dancing to disco music in front of a clothing store. Ouch.

Hit: Hulk

I love this movie, and in my book it will always be a misunderstood hit in the Marvel gallery. I continue defending it to this day, unfortunately, and I’m prepared to continue doing so because Ang Lee tried for originality, and was raked over the coals for it. How could you not get cerebral from a concept about a man whose own inner aggression and turmoil manifests in to a symbolic uncontrollable goliath. Marvel wanted “Hulk Smash,” Ang Lee delivered a dramatic more literary adaptation, and he was ultimately punished by everyone who lambasted the man for even the most minute flaws. For me “Hulk” is a masterpiece with ace performances, a great story, and an honestly unique editing and cinematic style.

And as for “The Incredible Hulk”? Yes, it’s good too. It’s very good.

Miss: Daredevil

Say what you want about the all black costumed Daredevil in “The Trial of the Incredible Hulk,” but at least he was played straight and with some sense of dignity. Unlike “Daredevil” which put to shame everything Frank Miller and his contemporaries injected into the neo-noir superhero always faced against impossible odds, while fighting crime in the court rooms. This adaptation featured a ridiculous acrobatic scene at a playground, a horrific neutering of Bullseye, one of the most vicious Marvel villains ever created, and of course, the spin off. That’s only a small list in an even larger scope of the problems this adaptation sported. I await the reboot for this.  

Hit: The Punisher (2004)

Again, this is another faithful adaptation that was punished for… well, being serious. I don’t know what fan boys were expecting but whenever I sit down to watch this reboot, I am always pleased. Sure the Tampa setting is unusual, and the skull fire was odd, but what we receive in return is a gripping story, disturbing ruthless villains, and Thom Jane’s powerful and unforgiving performance as Frank Castle, a man who takes justice into his own hands when the law fails to serve his needs for vengeance. Jane is Frank Castle, mind, body, and soul, and the man is just intense. I’ll take this over Dolph Lundgren any day.

Miss: Generation X

You have to give them credit for trying at least, don’t you? For a television movie/pilot, “Generation X” tried to bring the X-Men universe full circle by featuring the future of the team with a slew of new recruits, attempts at complex back stories, and even bringing to the forefront Jubilee, The White Queen, and Banshee, just to name a few. The problem with the TV movie was that it was too damn boring. All the conflict and coming of age tales were lackluster and depressing, while the villain of the piece (Matt Frewer) injected comic relief failing to induce any sense of menace or doom for the young recruits. It’s not surprising this was never turned into a series for FOX.

Hit: Iron Man

What more can I say about this that hasn’t already? “Iron Man” simply is the cream of the crop of comic book movies. John Favreau took a second tier, utterly lame Marvel superhero and turned him into an international Avenger who’d stop worldwide terrorism and spawn a potentially fantastic franchise, in the process. Iron Man is not only a fantastic science fiction film, but it also manages to be a great action thriller with the genuine feel of a movie serial, while respective stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow pulls off a series of wonderful imitations of “His Girl Friday” with flair. The movie is a pure spectacle, and the fact that the Shell Head is finally a great character is miraculous in and of itself.

Miss: Man Thing

Let’s face it, Man-Thing will always be considered a rip off of Swamp Thing, but the least they could have done is try to portray the character in a light that would forever make Marvel and comic readers re-think the image of the swamp monster. Instead, in this low budget production he’s turned into a clumsy cheesy monster who kills unnecessarily and is embroiled in a plot involving industrialists, loggers, and eco conscious rangers seeking to stop him. Man Thing meanwhile plays second fiddle in his own movie, showing up only occasionally to wreak havoc on villains and protagonists, all the while leaving the film as a stale B movie monster.

Hit: Blade II

While “Blade” is fun, it’s aged considerably and now feels more like a cheesy B movie. “Blade II” however was approached with much more punch that, while not always a home run, proved Guillermo Del Toro was the right man to bring “Hellboy” to life. Part horror movie, part gothic action movie, Blade is now a globe trotting vampire hunter who comes across a new breed of vampires who can’t be killed by a stake in the heart, thanks to a protective shell. More difficult is their insistence on feeding not only on humans, but on vampires, too. Del Toro takes the middle portion of the sequel to stage a ballistic horror film with the new vampires raising hell in sewers and on our intrepid heroes, while Blade is forced to take them on alone. The interplay with Ron Perlman is also a huge plus in this banner sequel… even if the CGI fight scenes were glorified video game sequences.

Check out more of Felix's work at Cinema-Crazed.com