Since "Jaws" defined what it meant to be a blockbuster film, people have annually escaped the summer heat in the movie theater. No genre of films fits the mold for blockbusters better than comic book movies. For the past few years comic book movies have dominated the box office. This summer was no exception, with comic book movies seemingly coming out every week. Marvel Studios was busy this summer releasing "Thor" and "Captain America: the First Avenger." Other notable comic book movies include "X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, and Cowboys & Aliens." Here is a brief review of what each film brought to the table.
"Thor": "Thor" kicked off the summer for comic book adaptations and is a pivotal movie for the upcoming "Avengers" movie. I actually thought that "Thor" gets more things right than it does wrong. It is a necessary piece to the "Avengers" movie set to come out next summer but overall did not feel too forced. One thing "Thor" does well is take something that seems other worldly and turn it into science that we just do not fully understand yet. However the subject material limits "Thor" from being a very good film. There is just only so far one can go when a large part of the plot involves Frost Giants.
"X-men: First Class": I have to admit, I was very, very cautious about First Class, but I have to say it did win me over. What First Class does is put the X-Men in the 1960s to keep time continuity with the previous films, but it also serves to give the film a new take that the previous X-Men films hadn’t shown. Also setting the film in the 1960s helps to better point out the similarities between the mutants struggle and the fight for civil rights (you can’t tell me that Professor Xavier is not Dr. King and Magneto is not Malcolm X). What makes the entire movie is the interaction between James McAvoy (Charles Xaiver) and Michael Fassbender (Eric Lensherr or Magneto). The way these two actors bounce off each other really steals the whole show. Unfortunately, like all large cast movies, the minor characters just don’t get the same development that the lead characters do. Overall though the movie is definitely worth watching, if not just for McAvoy and Fassbender’s performances.
"Green Lantern": Ryan Reynolds in a superhero movie? Haven’t I seen this before? Yes, unfortunately (for him and for us) Reynolds was Deathpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." While "Green Lantern" is at the very least entertaining, it just is not something you haven’t seen before. The biggest downfall of this movie is the complete over dependence on CGI. This movie looks more like a cartoon at times than a live action film. For example, why does the suit have to be CGI? I know it just appears from the ring, but can it not come out and still look like real clothing? Maybe I am the only one, but I for one miss the days of animatronics and good costume design opposed to CGI (normally the cheaper of the two).
"Captain America: The First Avenger": Speaking of good costume design, "Captain America" definitely gets things right in that regard. The suit in "Captain America" is a very good mix of real world elements with a little out there material built in but still feels believable. One could say the exact same sentence for the movie as a whole. The script has some cheesy moments, but I feel like the film being set in the WWII era makes this a little more forgivable than most films. The acting, while not great, is passable. Chris Evans does a good job of portraying Captain America as just a kid with a good heart trying to do what is right. Tommy Lee Jones brings his classic sarcasm to this film and really helps provide some of the best moments in the movie. "Captain America" is definitely one of the better comic movies to come out since "The Dark Knight."
"Cowboys & Aliens": Some of you are probably wondering what Cowboys & Aliens is doing on a list of comic book movies. Well, little known fact, "Cowboys & Aliens" is based off a graphic novel. Now that that is out of the way, how was the movie? "Cowboys & Aliens" does a good job of mixing the western and sci-fi genres. There are classic western scenes with standoffs in a saloon as well as classic sci-fi scenes inside the alien mother ship. Surprisingly, these two genres mix well together. But really "Cowboys & Aliens" only scratches the surface of what a western/sci-fi movie could be like. If you are interested in seeing more of what these two genres together looks like, check out the short film "Connected" (go to youtube.com and search “Connected short film” and it is the second link).
Well there is this summer’s batch of comic book movie adaptations. As big as this summer was for comic book movies, next summer appears to be an even bigger one. Next summer sees Christopher Nolan’s last Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises," Mark Webb’s (500 Days of Summer) take on the web-slinger in "The Amazing Spider-Man," and finally the "Ocean’s Eleven" of comic book movies "The Avengers" will be coming out. So stay tuned true believers, same bat time, same bat channel.
