walking fiend
Member
OP is full of win; definitely the best comic-book film I have ever seen, and I have seen A LOT of them. Probably helps that the comic itself is not just your teenage shit.
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Let's discuss the ACTUAL best comic-book film.
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Chiaroscuro
Member
Yes, we are on the same page.
However I can't say that Evey becomes something more than V at the end. V mission is always a revenge mission. He does not want to reestablish liberty in UK, that is a side effect from his actions. He fights the established goverment, but his targets are always tied to his past. He could not be a true anarchist due to his past. His past is a burden.
Evey, in the other hand, was a blank canvas. Naive and ingenue, could be anything. But what V does? He leads her to his vision, but leads through the same experiences that defined him. It is the same mindset. V could not be the absolute free thinker, but his pupil is guided the same way.
I dare to say if Evey really understand the philosophy behind some of V auctions she would not assume his persona at the end. If she is meant to be more, she should have been a different one.
But that is completly off-topic from this thread.
Best family film of all time. So underrated.
I would go V for Vendetta or The Dark Knight as the best all time comic book movies.
Messofanego
Banned
Yo for real, that movie is a ton of fun. A must for action movie junkies.
Fantastic action choreography with a more military style and really brutal violence. If you get the DVD, some damn good commentary about being a female action director and making it on the cheap.
Secret Fawful
Member
Not even one mention? COME ON.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
V for Vendetta grafted 2004 US election rebellious high school bullshit onto Moore/Lloyd's ode to anarchy, taking a brilliant graphic novel with no easy answers and dumbing it down to trite characterizations and a failed sense of profundity. Damn near every idea and theme I liked about the book is ripped out, replaced with pretentious pap. One of the worst film adaptations of a great book I've ever seen, right up there with Watchmen(the only film to ever stick so close the source material and still miss the point completely with flying fucking colors). Fuck this piece of shit movie to the bowels of Hell.
The best comic book film is either American Splendor or Scott Pilgrim. Or perhaps The Fifth Element, for being the closest thing to a european sci-fi comic book I've seen come to life.
The best comic book film is either American Splendor or Scott Pilgrim. Or perhaps The Fifth Element, for being the closest thing to a european sci-fi comic book I've seen come to life.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I feel this re-edit of your post more accurately represents my (correct) opinion on the matter
V for Vendetta is, however, a really good movie. One in which I believe the film does the source material better than the source material. A lot of comics fans sort of instinctively recoil at that, but I think V for Vendetta is pretty rough, and silly in ways I don't think Moore was intending. It reads like it was written by a really young man who still believes in superficial anarchy as a valid political force, and as such, even when it has some strong points to make, it comes off kind of hollow and dumb.
The adaptation streamlines a LOT of that, and jettisons a fair amount of the early 80s silliness, and it improves the story overall, even if it reframes the thematic point of the novel.
It's really well made, too. There's that.
V for Vendetta, as opposed to many comic book films, is simply a good film. That separates it from the majority, which is impressive in and of itself.
Best Film Based on a Comic: Road to Perdition, with V for Vendetta right behind it
Neither of these feel like comics; rather, they're just good movies. People could watch either, appreciate them, and never know they came from comics.
Best "Comic Book" Film: Scott Pilgrim
This movie feels like a comic book. People who aren't into comics would likely find that objectionable actually, though being into games might help.
Best Superhero Film: The Avengers
This is basically what people wanted from a superhero film. Doesn't take itself too seriously, had lots of action, lots of characters pummeling each other, with some humor mixed in. Also has the most enjoyable version of Hulk thus far put on film, which goes a long way to ingratiating it to many.
Best Film Based on a Comic: Road to Perdition, with V for Vendetta right behind it
Neither of these feel like comics; rather, they're just good movies. People could watch either, appreciate them, and never know they came from comics.
Best "Comic Book" Film: Scott Pilgrim
This movie feels like a comic book. People who aren't into comics would likely find that objectionable actually, though being into games might help.
Best Superhero Film: The Avengers
This is basically what people wanted from a superhero film. Doesn't take itself too seriously, had lots of action, lots of characters pummeling each other, with some humor mixed in. Also has the most enjoyable version of Hulk thus far put on film, which goes a long way to ingratiating it to many.
It was. I love that movie.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Scott Pilgrim and Ghost World are right up there for "best Comic Book Movie," as well. Ghost World also improved on Clowes' book, much in the same way the Wachowskis made V for Vendetta a better story overall.
edit: There's "Akira," to consider, as well.
edit: There's "Akira," to consider, as well.
Chiaroscuro
Member
it read like that because it is. As you said, it has a lot of strong points, but the whole falls apart. And I am a fan of Moore's writings.
And even so fails to make a valid point. Like said, V goes as a hero (or anti-hero) something that he should not be IMO.
Captain_Spanky
Member
It's a fucking horrific adaption that manages to completely miss the point of the original book. So no, it's not the best comic-book movie. It's not even a good movie. It's a bland, mushy mess.
Not even one mention? COME ON.
You know I've seen that awful poster like 100 times and never noticed until now that the phantasm's chin is actually Batman's silhouette.
PaleFolklore
Member
Best doesn't mean much when everything else is terrible. V for Vendetta was a chore for me to get through personally.
Mushroomer25
Member
I feel like V for Vendetta is the perfect example of a great film rendered unwatchable by its' own fanbase. On it's own, it's fine - but when the Guy Fawkes mask became a thing, the whole film kind of just becomes even more political than it needs to be. It goes from exaggerated social commentary (which it is good at) to literal social commentary (which it is not very good at).
It's even funnier when you know that Guy Fawkes wanted to turn England into a quasi-fascist religious dictatorship.
Cow Mengde
Banned
TMNT thread?
Yeah, TMNT thread.
Yeah, TMNT thread.
I'd forgotten how little sense the end of the Watchmen movie made. The weapon the US has been using to ensure military hegemony over the Soviets for however many years goes beserk and blows up cities around the world including Moscow. They aren't going to care that New York blew up as well. If they don't immediately counterlaunch they certainly aren't going to want to work together.
Cloud Strife
Member
ITT: Opinions.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Perfect Blue
Banned
Runners up: The Adventures of Tintin, Oldboy, and Ghost World.
The book doesn't really endorse anarchy as a (completely) legitimate response to fascism, and Moore himself wrote that he was relatively politically inexperienced when he made the book.
Despite that, though, the book is a considerably more nuanced story than the Wachowskis'. Like Viewtiful said, the movie was really just a dumb and vapid kneejerk response to the Bush administration and a not-so-subtle endorsement of 9/11 truthers. The comic doesn't offer any easy answers to its political framework while the movie offers an extremely easy answer to its story.
Femmeworth
Banned
I don't know, I hear Blue Is the Warmest Color is pretty good.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I dunno, I don't think the book is all that more nuanced. Just sillier. The lack of answers in the books seems to come from Moore's inexperience, really, and so it ends the way someone who can't come up with an answer ends a story. The Wachowskis do offer up an answer (an easy one, yeah) but there's a legitimate sense of completion to the story which helps, even if that completion DID lead to the fetishizing of V - an after the fact bit of business that sort of colors the film on rewatch now.
I feel like V for Vendetta is popularly misunderstood much in the same ways Fight Club is misunderstood by its fanbase. Fight Club doesn't muddy its themes to the extent V does, though.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Love V For Vendetta, but the best comic book movie is The Rocketeer.
I'm not sure if I'd call it the best, but there are certainly some great scenes in that movie.
http://www.earwolf.com/episode/punisher-war-zone/
There's also a great 'How did this get made' episode about the movie. (with the director as guest)Yo for real, that movie is a ton of fun. A must for action movie junkies.
Fantastic action choreography with a more military style and really brutal violence. If you get the DVD, some damn good commentary about being a female action director and making it on the cheap.
http://www.earwolf.com/episode/punisher-war-zone/
whatsinaname
Member
This was a fun movie.
crimsonspider89
Banned
V for Vendetta, so beautiful.
This is how you do a dark and edgey comic to movie.
This is how you do a dark and edgey comic to movie.
Chiaroscuro
Member
This was a fun movie.
But nowhere near its source. L.A.?
Macmanus
Member
Persepolis is #1 for me as well. The movie version of Oldboy and the manga share the same name. That's about where the story similarities begin and end.
I had a lot of guesses about what this thread would be about. V for Vendetta was not one of them.
I thought that was one that really came up short by cramming everything into two hours. You lose the sense of time passing and most of the little touches showing the changing moods of the citizens.
I thought that was one that really came up short by cramming everything into two hours. You lose the sense of time passing and most of the little touches showing the changing moods of the citizens.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I've no trouble with V as an adaptation, though yes, the film's focus on fascism relating to modern day social issues (like persecution of homosexuals, islamophobia) is a bit too wonky if you think too much about what the actual Guy Fawkes partly stood for.
However I see the film not as simple and direct, but not simple-minded or vapid; rather distilled to make just a few key points with striking imagery. It's not supposed to offer any real world political solutions, and I feel the film actually does a good job of not trying to present some kind of undefined anarchy is a fix. Emphasis is placed on V realizing his way cannot define the future and he hands that choice over to Evey. The film thematically seems mostly about the human cost of fear and political groupthink; we don't see what the citizens of England do to rebuild democracy after they're woken up by V, the core point of the film about the process of waking up itself.
I think it is really a very powerful film for getting across what it is trying to say, but it's easy to be cynical about if you go in looking for some kind of sophisticated political examination.
However I see the film not as simple and direct, but not simple-minded or vapid; rather distilled to make just a few key points with striking imagery. It's not supposed to offer any real world political solutions, and I feel the film actually does a good job of not trying to present some kind of undefined anarchy is a fix. Emphasis is placed on V realizing his way cannot define the future and he hands that choice over to Evey. The film thematically seems mostly about the human cost of fear and political groupthink; we don't see what the citizens of England do to rebuild democracy after they're woken up by V, the core point of the film about the process of waking up itself.
I think it is really a very powerful film for getting across what it is trying to say, but it's easy to be cynical about if you go in looking for some kind of sophisticated political examination.
MeBecomingI
Member
And we're done.
thecouncil
Banned
*nodding* thought so... thought so...
Just wondering why it wasn't getting more shout outs in here.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
Yeah, gonna go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
They just nailed it. And then some.
They just nailed it. And then some.
This was a fun movie.
Dude quits smoking. Fake Constantine is fake.
Chiaroscuro
Member
To the ones saying TMNT: yes, the movies are faithful to the animated series, but not to the darker original comics.
the original TMNT was surprisingly dark considering it was being made off the popularity of the cartoon/toys rather than the original comics.
I thought this was gonna be about A History of Violence
It's an adaptation of a comic.
I did too. Not because I agree (I love the movie but never read the source material) but because I expected something little known as an adaptation or obscure in some way.
John Rabbit
Banned
hmm.
I thought the Akira anime did a disservice to the much better manga series. Same goes for Nausicaa for similar reasons. Too much was cut out to condense the story to 2 hours.
American Splender would probably be my pick for best comic book movie. I never got around to Ghost World.
I remember seeing this in theaters and not being a fan. I can't remember much about it though. I'd have to do a rewatch.
"There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING."
That explains much.
Messofanego
Banned
Fucking get to it! Funny but gets really emotional. The art school scene is legendary. One of my favourite movie endings.
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