Superhero Movie Marathon

I have decided to begin a Superhero movie marathon in celebration of not only DCU, but my own love of Super Hero movies. Now, I have seen an awful lot of movies, but I have decided to watch every movie starting with the year 2000 (Yes it's late), to the modern day.

The reason I have chosen 2000, is because that for me was the modern boom of Super Hero movies, from silly movies like the old Batman movie series to the more high budget movies such as X-Men, Spider-man, and of course Batman. I shall preview, watch, and rate every movie, letting you guys know what comes next also. If you would like to see the list here it is from 2000 and down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_superhero_films

So to begin with I am watching X-Men! I have seen this film, so I shall enjoy it, I shall review it with fresh eyes tomorrow! I plan on updating this as much as I have spare time in the evenings, which wont be every night.

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X-Men

My first movie on the list see's me watch X-Men. I had seen it before a couple of times, so I am watching it with knowlegable eyes.

Overall this movie wasn't too bad. It was a nice introduction to some of the characters, while resting on the presumed knowlege that you probably know them. Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart had great chemistry and being two of my favourite actors it worked wonders for me. Wolverine wasn't too bad, but the other characters were not the best that I could have seen them being.

As for the action? Not too bad, but not great, for example, Storm and Cyclops seemed terribly weak in comparison to their Comic book selves, and really apart from the villains and Wolverine, the characters seemed very weak.

Overall it's not a bad attempt, the action isn't a superb as I would expect an X-Men movie, but this is only the first in the list.

6/10

Next Up: Blade (I know it's before X-Men, but I want to watch the first before the trilogy).

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Blade

I had seen Blade a good few years back, but I had forgotten what was in store to come!

Watching Blade again as an adult was a pleasant surprise. I always thought it was another silly action movie that took elements of modern dark martial arts movies such as The Matrix. Not only did this movie come out before The Matrix however, it was dark and gruesome, this movie didn't pull the punches. From vampire purely ripping their fangs violently into the necks, to vampires being set on fire, and arms flying off. The characters were pretty one-dimension, but the action scenes coupled with a healthy dose of darkness, really must have made this movie a hit back in the day.

I have pretty much forgotten the sequels also, so I look forward to returning to the franchise later on in the list.

Overall it was a solid film, the characters one-dimensional qualities and of course the cheesy, often childish (in a good way) action hampers this film from being great, but it's a solid, enjoyable film on a dark and gruesome night.

7/10

Next Up: Blade II (Rather than sooner that I thought!)

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The first Blade was a gem in its time as it first incorporated cinematic ideas that would become signature traits later in other movies (wearing shades indoors/or at night, slo mo bullet dodging, stylized martial arts violence, cool outfits, escalating in battle action scenes).

In my opinion all three of the series are worth the time spent watching them as they are quite different in execution, and each has their own distinct style with the first being the most balanced and fresh in ideas and storyline, second being the most dark and grim with twists, third being a pop corn extraveganza with heavy doses of off-beat gritty humor delivered by the exceptional imo Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King.

Blade II

I had also seen this film, but had been a while since I last saw it.

The latest Blade for me, was just as fiery as the original, perhaps not as dark, but certainly superb in the action sequences. Things change in this one, and the monsters maintain their "awesome" factor in this film. I thought this was a solid sequal to a solid franchise and definately really enjoyed it.

8/10

Next Up: Spider-man.

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Spiderman

Spiderman was always a special movie to me, the action scenes, the acting, and the heart-felt emotion that flows through the movie. Yes for a big softy like me, it catches me everytime, this dreamer attitude that Peter Parker displays throughout was marvelous for me, and every actor was portrayed in a strong and well-done way. Kirsten Dunst wasn't always spectacular in this particular form, but he best work from what I have scene at least comes from here. The bloke that played Green Goblin did a pretty good job, and overall it was the scripting, and directing, blended with some pretty strong action scenes that caught it for me.

Although this wasn't the strongest movie for me, I still rate it at a quite high,

9/10

Next Up: Daredevil

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TheHidden01 wrote:

"The bloke that played Green Goblin did a pretty good job,......"

The "bloke" as you describe him is Willem Dafoe, aside from the fact he is an exceptional actor and the best by far among the cast, the casting itself of this actor for the specific role is spot on. Although he doesn't look similar to the original comic character of Harry Osborn, his weird personal features (large mouth, crazy eyes, voice delivery, manerisms, relatively small frame) and acting style fit the goblin character like a glove. I might go as far as to say HE IS the green goblin for me, a great part imo in making the first movie stand out in the franchise. Apart from the Sandman played by Thomas Haden Church, doing a great job in the 3rd installment I found the other villains that followed Dafoe lacking in persuasively fleshing out their comic counterparts.

rider_xx wrote:

TheHidden01 wrote:

"The bloke that played Green Goblin did a pretty good job,......"

The "bloke" as you describe him is Willem Dafoe, aside from the fact he is an exceptional actor and the best by far among the cast, the casting itself of this actor for the specific role is spot on. Although he doesn't look similar to the original comic character of Harry Osborn, his weird personal features (large mouth, crazy eyes, voice delivery, manerisms, relatively small frame) and acting style fit the goblin character like a glove. I might go as far as to say HE IS the green goblin for me, a great part imo in making the first movie stand out in the franchise. Apart from the Sandman played by Thomas Haden Church, doing a great job in the 3rd installment I found the other villains that followed Dafoe lacking in persuasively fleshing out their comic counterparts.

Yeah I just forgot his name lol

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Daredevil

I had seen this once, many moons ago, but I barely remembered it. To be honest, I wasn't that bothered about seeing this, but I watched nonetheless and the film wasn't bad. Ben Affleck wasn't too bad as Daredevil portraying a tough character. However, I think across the board the characters wasn't great. Kingpin was a good casting, but they didn't explore the character, it just basically assumed we knew him. I have never liked Jenifer Garner, so I didn't like her character, and Ben Affleck was pretty good, but not great.

Overall it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't catch it again.

5/10

Next Up: X2: X-Men United

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Heh heh, 5/10 is a bit harsh, especialy as you state you would see it again.
Hidden, imo you should reserve that kind of score for next to total failures, I would give it a 7/10 as Afleck at least carries the role well, also I liked the way the direction conveyed his sonar power to the viewer.

Agreed on the Kingpin character, but my main gripe is with Colin Farrell as he made for an annoying villain instead of being sinister.

Also although I'm not crazy about Jenifer Garner, I will let it slide, as she was portraying a character of Greek decent, and you kow me Hidden, I am kinda biased to anything Greek.

rider_xx wrote:Heh heh, 5/10 is a bit harsh, especialy as you state you would see it again.
Hidden, imo you should reserve that kind of score for next to total failures, I would give it a 7/10 as Afleck at least carries the role well, also I liked the way the direction conveyed his sonar power to the viewer.

Agreed on the Kingpin character, but my main gripe is with Colin Farrell as he made for an annoying villain instead of being sinister.

Also although I'm not crazy about Jenifer Garner, I will let it slide, as she was portraying a character of Greek decent, and you kow me Hidden, I am kinda biased to anything Greek.

My ratings are worked out like this (I know it's a bit fucked).

Firstly I think how many out of five. Lets say I choose 3, I think a high 3 (Being 6), or a low 3 (being 5).

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X2: X-Men United

This is one of the few movies I hadn't seen (I have seen 3), and I must say I enjoyed this ALOT more than the first film. The characters had far more depth, the two villains were used very well, and the storyline was excellent. I enjoyed the fact that the characters had far more depth, every character was analysed, challenged, and questioned, and it made it feel more like X-Men, more like the team I grew up with.

The only qualms I may have had was the villains themselves perhaps. As much as I love Sir Ian Mckellen he just doesn't suit Magneto for me, he's nothing of how I view Magneto. As for Stryker, I didn't think that character was handled to well, and so it was a slight let down on that front.

Overall one of the best so far on this list:-

8/10

Next Up: Hulk

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i just decided to join this tpic because i started playing dcu and i like super hero movies
i wont go too much in depth about all the movies because that would take lot of time
ill just start of with Blade although its a bit before 2000 but i really liked that movie although i didn't found it to be the best one in the entire trilogy i would still give it 7/10
next up X-men i cant really say anything like hidden because its the first time that i ever heard about it ( its a bit befroe my time XD) but i liked the movie story line was nice but ones again all in all i didn't think it was the best one 6.5/10

now time for the second part in the Blade trilogy the worst in my opinion didn't like it that much so ill give it a 6/10
X2 was a good movie but i didn't think the villains reached their full capacity it could have been better 6/10
league of extrordinary gentlemen: i loved it the setting was great and I would watch it again when i can 8/10
finaly Hellboy one of my favorite movies i love the way the movie start with the german experiments the only thing I think was a bit too much was the end with the giant beast I would rather have chosen for a more demon like beast and a lot smaller 8.5/10

catwoman: It was good but not really hero like more a life story in my opinion but even though it was good 7/10
Blade trinity: best one in the trilogy in my opinion it also gave the trilogy a bit of a end although i think it was a bit too much 9/10
2005: haven't seen any of these yet XD

X-men the last stand: best one in my opinion I liked it that the phoenix had to be killed by wolverine although he tried not to kill her and convince her to stop I also kinda liked the part at the end with magneto regaining the first bit of his powers by moving a chess piece

Hellboy 2: awesome cant say anymore loved it that at the end they fought the golden army the prince and princess were dont real nice too 9.5/10

The dark knight: I love the way heath ledger acts out the joker the fact that batman doesnt want to kill the joker and that hte joker uses this against him is genius and a the end how he manages to turn batman my using his so called ace into the villain of Gotham by making him take the blame of what the joker made harvey dent do 9.5/10

kick ass: good movie lots of fun the fact that the main character didn't have super powers and that he got beaten up terribly in the bginning gave the story anice start 8/10

I know these are not all the movies on the list and I will most certainly watch some of them the funny thing is the movies above were all watched by me in 2010 and the dark knight one week ago wasn't the first time i watched them obviously

I also thought that this movie was much more rich in character depth. The first one, imo, was very superficial with most of the character presentations, with the exception of Wolverine perhaps, but that was to be expected as in the comic he is the central figure of most issues.

I will also agree Ian Mckellen was abit odd of a choice, magneto is portrayed in the comic as a knowledgeable middle aged bad ass and not a sophisticated old gentleman, but nonetheless Mckellen's delivery is always a delight to watch in any role.

The guy that played Stryker(Brian Cox) is also a good actor and I have enjoyed his performance before in Troy (Agamemnon), imo I think the screen writer went a little rogue on his character as in the comic Stryker is a cold and calculating militarist para-governmental , but in the movie he came across as a sociopathic madman as his motivations where abit blurred, especially in the end.

Kudos to you Hidden for being subjective with your fellow countrymen (Cox is Scotish).

Stryker was more accurately portayed in the Wolverine shoot off movie, but his screen time in that movie was very limited and his impact on Wolverine's controversial personality downplayed as the screen writer reserved that role for Victor Creed, also the actor (Danny Huston) was subpar compared to Jackman and Schreiber.

Btw Hidden I'm under the impression from vent yesterday that you haven't seen "X-Men Origins:Wolverine". If that is the case then you should definately put it in your schedule as it is quite a good movie, especially the first half.

Bit of a spoiler: The movie begins with a very enlightening prologue followed by, imho, perhaps the most ingenius intro credits I have ever seen as it masterfully presents Woverine's and Creed's history together from childhood to maturity and beyond, essentially uncovering to the viewer, in just a couple of minutes, almost 200 years of history and the main reasons of Wolverine's almost bi-polar attitude.

Sorry about the long post, I got a little carried away..

Yeah Wolverine comes up after a while, I'm going down the list and it's quite low down actually hehe

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The Incredible Hulk

I saw this a few days ago, and it was the first time I had ever seen it. It was way better than I expected. I thought the scripting, and story telling was excellent and the overall flow of the film was superb. The only complaint if I have any was Eric Bana didn't seem to be the same as the comics, and same as the story perhaps, but it did work to some degree. I thought the General was played well, the father was done well and overall I really enjoyed this film.

Much better than I had thought and so far definately one of the best.

8/10

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The Punisher

Having seen this movie with a fanboy many moons ago I knew what was coming, but had forgotten alot. John Travolter played a solid villain in what was a very dark movie. This is a nice teenage movie imo, good action, fucked up torturing and an easy to follow plot. The characters lacked depth and was very easy to understand. It's nice to sit down and watch on a one off but nothing to write home about.

The action scenes were cool, the darkness wasn't as bad as some would have you believe and it wasn't too bad.

3/5

Next Up:- Spiderman 2

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Spiderman II

I have seen this movie many times before and for me it is one of the iconic movies of all time, for ME that is, not saying it is for all. This film maintains the drama and emotion of the first while doing something that several superhero movies haven't, and doing it well, questioning who he is and why he does it. It's real, Spiderman is never going to have it easy, it's not slip into roles and have it smooth and a great life, it's hard, and it's tough. Tobey Mcguire plays this perfectfully, maintaining a positive work ethic, which steadily declines until he is rewakened into an enlightened Spiderman. Harry and Mary Jane are explored alot deeper in a much more exciting and interesting way, and the Daily Bugle maintains humour to keep it flowing. Otto Octavious was very different to the comics for me, but it worked for the movie.

A spectacular movie that is definately a film that impacted heavy on me as a young teenager (which I was when it was released), and still does today.

5/5

Next Up: Catwoman

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Catwoman

Shitty girl-power centric movie.

Nuff said

2/5

Next Up:- Electra

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As I said on vent about Catwoman, a stupid girly venture for lobotomized wannabe models, MAJOR FAIL!

Where did you find something that
was worth the 2 points you gave it.
And i'm not talking about the story. Crappy acting,
worse dirrecting, I'd give -2/5.

Flatline78 wrote:Where did you find something that
was worth the 2 points you gave it.
And i'm not talking about the story. Crappy acting,
worse dirrecting, I'd give -2/5.

1/5 would mean I had to turn it off.
2/5 had, two scenes of fighting which was mildy interesting.

If it wasn't for the fight scenes it wouldn't have been worth it. I'm reserving 1/5 for the real awful. Catwoman is bad, but not cat sick rush to turn off bad.

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I'd have to disagree, fight scenes were a blur
shot from really close, so we don't see Berry
sucking at fighting and I actually slept during
the film ( maybe the good fight scenes were during,
those minutes I dozed of), anyway I wouldn't put
myshelf through it again like you did, gratz on the nerves
of steel

Flatline78 wrote:I'd have to disagree, fight scenes were a blur
shot from really close, so we don't see Berry
sucking at fighting and I actually slept during
the film ( maybe the good fight scenes were during,
those minutes I dozed of), anyway I wouldn't put
myshelf through it again like you did, gratz on the nerves
of steel

BALLS OF STEEL.

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Electra

I had never seen this film and found it actually pleasantly surprising. See this is how a heroin should be. It shouldn't be I'm a woman look at me, I need common pop music christine aguilera singing to prove it, girl power! It is just a woman being normal and ordinary. What I especially liked was the darkness, Elektra was fucked up, she wasn't a happy go lucky girl, she was hurt and battered by her life haunted by the past. The action scenes wasn't too bad, and unfortunately many of things wasn't explored. Characters outside of Elektra wasn't very indepth, and it didn't explain why "The Hand" and the opposite light side had these powers. It made it intriguing at the start, but these answers didn't come at the end ran out of steam which was a shame as the start was mysterious, exciting, and wonderful.

A good film nonethless:-

3/5

Next Up: Batman Begins

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