My Area Of Expertise, Such As It Were
Posted on December 31, 2009 by andrew
Matt Yglesias on the best and worst comic book movies of the decade. The top two are pretty indisputable, but I think Yglesias oversells Iron Man at the expense of The Dark Knight. The former is certainly as rewatchable as Yglesias claims; I think I’ve put on the DVD as background noise four or five times in addition to the two or three times I’ve actively watched the movie since its release. However, the climactic Transformers-esque Iron Man/Iron Monger battle in Iron Man is undeniably stupid. The tension may disappear from the ferry scenes in Dark Knight if you already know the outcome, but I hardly see that as worse than Jeff Bridges hamming it up while wearing an insanely overdone robot suit and standing in front of a blue screen. Enjoyable in a way, but still a little stupid.
I honestly think it breaks down this way: Iron Man and The Dark Knight are both exceedingly entertaining and easily count as two of the best popcorn flicks in years. Both feature absolutely amazing performances, from Robert Downey, Jr., and Heath Ledger, respectively, but Downey merely plays a boozy womanizing billionaire genius whereas Ledger portrays one of the most iconic villains in the world in an entirely new, completely convincing, and thoroughly terrifying manner in what just happens to be his final finished performance before his untimely death. Iron Man is funnier, but The Dark Knight wrestles with its themes in a more serious manner. The supporting cast of The Dark Knight turns in a stronger performance. Most importantly, Iron Man is a paint-by-the-numbers superhero film, albeit one of the best ones we’ve ever seen, while The Dark Knight tells its own story using its own frequently surprising structure. All of that makes The Dark Knight the better movie.
So, the best comic book superhero movies of the decade are:
- The Dark Knight
- Iron Man
- Batman Begins
- Spider-Man
- Hellboy
My personal list of my favorite comic book superhero movies of the decade, which includes most of the same movies in a different order:
- Spider-Man
- Iron Man
- The Dark Knight
- Batman Begins
- Spider-Man 2
And the worst, factoring in objective badness, potential from the source material, and resources available such as the budget and the cast:
- Watchmen
- Catwoman
- Elektra
- X-Men 2
- Daredevil
» Filed Under Iron Man, The Dark Knight, movies
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