Why Comic Book Movies Are Better Than Original Blockbusters

If anyone asks me what are your top 10 non-comic book movies... I'll simply tell them - well, I don't watch many non-comic book movies at all. Why?... Well, that's also simple... they aren't good enough. Yeah, and it may sound ridiculous, it may sound asinine, or ignorant or whatever - but that's generally it, I don't think modern non-comic blockbusters are as good as comic book movies - and they aren't necessarily poorly done, or bad films for that matter - they should don't hold up, narrative wise.

If you asked me my Top-Non Comic Book Movies - I'd tell you Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Argo and Inception. They're some of the only good stuff out there that aren't comic book related - and you'll notice one of them is novel-based, the other is based off of a real life event, and the other one is completely original. Of all those three - the best is Inception, then Catching Fire, and despite my love for Argo, that isn't that good. So - why are most original modern films weak? Because, again, they're simply weak: They're literally straight up, straight forward action films - lacking substance, they aren't worthy of deep praise.

I'm going back to the recent Edge of Tomorrow, which was, narrative wise, one of the weakest of the year. They didn't develop the characters - did any of you people understand where William Cage comes from and why he was doing what he did? Did anyone notice any character development for Cage? (Not goal developments, but the development of the character as a person), and was Rita a fleshed out character? Were Jay Squad all fleshed out with back stories, origins, motivations etc.? NO, THE CHARACTERS WERE PISS POOR.

If you know me well enough - Characterisation and Creativity are the two most critical elements in filmmaking in my eyes - and proper characterisation (heck, characterisation in general) wasn't present in Edge of Tomorrow, which was rated at a friggin 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.5 on IGN (heck, it doesn't deserve that)... why? What did the film do to make it standout? It was a straight up action flick - it didn't develop it's characters or it's backstories, or their motivations...

Then there's Dawn of The Planet of The Apes, which didn't develop anyone besides Ceaser... yeah, you can argue they developed the primary human antagonist, who's name I forgot, but it isn't worthy of noting if the character development isn't well done and doesn't flow naturally. So - why is it a good film? In Rise of The Planet of The Apes, besides Ceaser and Franco's character, didn't develop anyone - everyone was sidelined. Basically, those are the issues with blockbuster films that aren't comic book films - they don't develop stuff.

Then there's comic book films - you watch First Class, and you see the characters develop: Erik develops into an antagonist, Raven merged into the Brotherhood of Dark Mutants, Charles and Beast were both dynamic characters... Iron Man (2008) developed Tony Stark's character, fleshed out Obadiah Stane's motivation, and a top of that, the romance dynamic between the two leads. Spider-Man 2 was also character driven - we witness Peter's arc, Harry's hunt for revenge, Ock's spiral to madness etc. etc...

Guardians of The Galaxy utilised almost every single character properly - we understood Star-Lord's origins, Gamora's motivations, Rocket developed into a more selfless person etc. etc. So - why don't we find this sort of substance in non-comic book films? (besides exceptions such as Inception) Why don't we follow character arcs in original blockbusters?... It's all straight up action...

I wont dwell on this anymore, because you're smart enough to understand where I'm coming from... this's been bothering me, though - nothing much to add. Thanks, and leave your comments bellow.

- TAS

Star Wars >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Guardians of the Galaxy

Wreck it Ralph >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Avengers

Those are neither based on novels nor are they based on real life events.

Well said :D

@symbioticspider-man:

Star Wars... yeah...

Wreck It Ralph - heck no, man, I completely hated it.

Anyways - I never claimed every single CBM is better than original films, but most modern films are worst than CBMs.

- TAS

Thanks! XD.

- TAS

You're welcome

Why's that, if you don't mind my asking?

I miss the good old fashioned R-rated thrillers like they used to have in the 80s/90s.

The whole narrative was weak - nothing special.

- TAS

@theamazingspidey: Guardians of the Galaxy-a group of people band together and save the world.

Wreck it Ralph-Someone doesn't want to be who he is because everyone hates him. So, he decides to look for a life that will suit him.

I don't see what's weak about it. Guardians was basically Star Wars and Wreck it Ralph was its own thing.

Honestly after a 2nd rewatch, Avengers was pretty meh. I think the hype around a connected Marvel cinematic universe really boosted the enthusiasm of movie goers and comic book fans alike. The only thing that movie had going for it was Tom Hiddleston acting and tthe climax at the end.

Star Wars, most Pixar movies, Back to the Future are some good non-comic book movies.

@hushofthewind I wouldn't call it meh, but I was slightly less impressed when I watched it for the second time.

I admit that I wasn't raised in the 90's; I was born in 1998. But many 90's movies are better than most of today's. Even 90's movie series which continue up to present day are better.

I can present lots of examples for 90's movies: T2, Die Hard, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Home Alone, The Lion King. And 90's movie series which continue to flourish beyond 1999: Toy Story, dem Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Men In Black. All of them as a series (except maybe Home Alone, but still a fun movie) exceed MCU and TASM movies by lightyears.

And as for CBM's the original Spider-Man trilogy, V For Vendetta, Watchmen, and Blade are the only ones which are unique to me. I'm sorry but few mainstream superhero movies have been able to capture the heroes' characters the same way they have been in comics. I still prefer comics for the superhero genre over movies by a large margin. But since you wrote this neatly and all the words aren't immature rants, +1 for you.

cause Avengers gave such good insight on Hawkeye and Black Widow, oh wait, we learned just about nothing about them

No.

@mrnoital: Reason for that is, would anyone have watched a Hawkeye movie?

@jacthripper: I know I wouldn't be jumping in line for that, but overall in the avengers I don't think any characters really got any development

and as for good movies, I think Bunraku is one of my favorite new movies and outdoes just about any cbm narrative wise.

@mrnoital: Avengers was a culmination of stories. It wasn't story driven, because all the other movies formed the story, then they had them all meet and bust sh!t up.

@jacthripper: oh yeah I know, it's just that is looked as one of the best comic movie

development came in Cap:tfa, and Thor, but most people would say those were okay at best

complaints he makes about other movies easily apply to many comic movies as well

I just saw gone girl a week ago and that is the best movie I have seen in the past five years at least. Better than any movie listed in the op.

I find myself disagreeing with you more every time you make a post. You accusation of "blockbusters" (and since when is Argo a blockbuster? The film had a 45m dollar budget) being straightforward is incredibly weak. You give almost no reasons and your reasons themselves are incredibly poor.

Especially when you claim you care about characters, say GotG is awesome, and yet it has one of the most generic cliche villains seen in almost every film. "I'm a bad guy and I want to destroy the world/universe cos I'm bad". There was nothing remotely unique, creative or well developed about Ronan at all. He was there for no other reason than to show off the Infinity Stone.

To top it off, the film completely wrote itself into a corner and had to have a cop-out ending where the main character dances to beat the villain, because they couldn't think of an actual way, so they drown it in comedy and make everyone forget about the fact that they screwed up.

And Avengers has practically zero character development and even contradicts Loki's past established motivations.

If you ask me, you're letting your fandom blindly lead you around. Some CBM's are good, but to say all other movies are not even worth watching is just an idiotic statement to be frank.

You're just talking about blockbusters, right? I think a lot of the superhero movies are shallow and dull. They're like the one hit pop bands. When people are over the fad, these movies won't be held in any high regard. Other than the Nolan Batman movies and Iron Man, I haven't been impressed. Here's just some of the good movies from 2007 onwards. I'm missing a lot!

Rush

A Separation

Take Shelter

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

District 9

Dallas Buyer's Club

Moneyball

The Warrior

Prisoners

Brothers

Seven Psychopaths

Silver Linings Playbook

The Fighter

The Social Network

Inglourious Basterds

Moon

Gran Torino

The Wrestler

In Bruges

Sweeney Todd

There Will Be Blood

No Country for Old Men

Bronson

The Road

Inception

Let Me In

The King's Speech

Eastern Promises

Bernie

End of Watch

The Fall

Moonrise Kingdom

Flowers of War

Carnage

American Hustle

Out of the Furnace

Big Nothing

Charlie Bartlett

Zodiac

You got some issues you need taken careof.

Beata

You have some seriously low standards man lmao

Do you only like art by Rob Liefield? Do you only eat gas station pizza? Is Stephanie Meyer your favorite author? Was True Blood the pinnacle of TV storytelling to you???

Also, to anybody with even a decent appreciation of film most comic book movies are pretty shallow and mediocre. You really have to rank a lot of them on their own CBM scale.....except for TDKT, MoS, Iron Man, CA:TWS, and a few others.

Your comment is... meh... and I wont pretend to appreciate what you wrote up - considering you're basically insulting my opinion and my standards, I honestly, without attacking you, don't care what you think right now.

I'm not able to discern your tone because it's text, but from where I'm at - it looks like an insult. Thanks,

- TAS

Thanks - but I'm fine. Would you like to join the bandwagon, you know... the... um... others who cant regard opinions?

- TAS

I wont defend both GOTG and Avengers - because GOTG's antagonist was weak, and Avengers didn't develop their characters properly. However, many other films (Spider-Man 2, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises etc.) developed their characters properly. On another note - I wouldn't claim that every single CBM is better than modern blockbusters, and that blockbusters are horrible.

So, don't tell me my fandom is leading me blindly around, because, if you looked above at my post, I did compliment a number of original films (Inception, for one), and to say I'm letting out an idiotic statement, and that I'm blindly being lead around, is an intended or unintended insult, and I'm hoping you'll revaluate what you said. Thanks,

- TAS

Go watch Gone Girl a great R rated thriller

Edge of Tomorrow was a great movie, but I get your point though, many movies don´t develop characters besides the main one, but also many movies are great and considered by critics to be better than most CBMs.

Disagree

Dude if those are the only films on your non-comicbook list, you need to watch more movies in general.

I can say without a doubt, Gone Girl>>>>>GotG,TAS 2, CA:TWS, and DofP

Depends on what comic book movies are being compared to blockbusters. It also depends on the blockbusters you're comparing comic book movies to.

The answer is simple: don't watch blockbusters

This!!!

@mrnoital: but-but we learned she has red in her ledger : (

Edge of Tomorrow was pretty fun to watch. Reminds me a lot of Source Code.

That's one hellofa strong statement...

I personally really dislike comic book movies in general. There are a few exceptions.

I find superheroes don't translate well to movies and TV.

Hate to say it, but you have some awful taste in movies if you think comic movies are the best coming out.

Lincoln, Take Shelter, The Departed, and 12 Years a Slave are just some recent examples off the top of my head that completely dwarf comic book films, and there are many others.

The only CBMs I consider to be actual good MOVIES overall, would be

(1) Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

(2) Spiderman 2 (Maguire)

(3) Watchmen

(4) Iron Man

Any other CBM doesn't hold up, IMO.

Yeah - it's a good watch, but it's pretty weak.

- TAS

It isn't a statement, though... :)

- TAS

Did you know that hate to say it doesn't excuse your awful communication skills in this specific situation - considering you outright, straightforward insulted my standpoint?... I could attack you, and critique you, and bash you for not including First Class or Days of Future Past in your list of comic book movies which you consider hold up well, but don't you reckon that's a tad bit rude, and a tad bit silly. Thanks,

- TAS

Disagreed. It's the other way around imo.

It's cool - and thanks a lot for being respectful of my opinion ;)

- TAS

@theamazingspidey: I don't really care, I disagree with your opinion.

That's cool - look at the other people who disagreed with me... and we respected one another's opinion... it isn't that much to ask for.

- TAS

"Yeah, and it may sound ridiculous"

No, it does sound ridiculous. Different strokes for different folks and all that jazz.

@theamazingspidey: Cool, you can disagree with me all you want too, ya know. Everyone has different opinions, I just don't like yours and you may not like mine.

Bullsh**

Heh, I'm not sure how to interpreter your comment, so I wont respond at all >___>

- TAS

When having a discussion it is not disrespectful to attack ones opinion, tnow attacking someones character because of the opinion they have is disrespectful.

Hm... sorry - I don't understand your comment, sorry - I really don't. Can you please come again?

- TAS

Agreed.

i feel like you dont watch a lot of movies. you clearly are so willing to accept the character development in CBMs as top notch, but for no reason whatsoever disregard character development in other films. let me try what you did in reverse.

The characters in Guardians of the Galaxy werent developed enough. There wasnt enough time in a single film to fully flesh them out so you cant really care about them.

In Edge of Tomorrow it mainly follows 1 characters personal development and you can really feel feel the pain of the character and see how this journey changed him forever.

See, it is so easy to over simplify what is so very subjective in order to make your opinions appear as facts.

@averywetfrog:

I didn't accept the character development in CBMs as top notch... I simply wrote it's better than the ones in original, modern blockbusters. Not all - but most, and if you disagree, that's cool - to each his own.

- TAS

@theamazingspidey: "top notch", "better", or whatever. i stand by my point. is till think you should watch more movies