Critics often have a hard time gaugingcomic book movies, in many cases being either too generous or too harsh in their judgment of a superhero adaptation. Ever since the genre’s rise from moderate popularity in the 80s to pop culture dominance in the late 2000s, comic book movies have often bristled with professional movie reviewers in disharmony. After all, with prestige cinema darlings likeMartin Scorsese condemning the superhero genre, it’s hard for many serious critics to accurately judge a given comic book movie.
In most cases, when critics make mistakes in reviewing comic book movies,they’re either being too harsh or failing to grasp the point of the source material, something that is only compounded by the supposedmodern trend of superhero fatigue. This results in many comic book movies being unfairly reviled by highbrow reviewers, either incapable or uninterested in joining in on the base fun. In other, rarer instances, critics will instead overvalue a given superhero film, forgiving its worst sins for very political reasons.
10Blade
58% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
If there’s one film that the modern idea of the superhero movie owes a lot to, it’s 1998’sBlade.Starring Wesley Snips as the titular vampire hunter, this dark comic book adaptation was groundbreaking for several reasons, being boththe first major R-rated superhero movie and the first one to feature an African American protagonist.
From the stylish opening scene to the legendary delivery of Blade’s closing one-liner by Snipes, few comic book movies have managed to live up to the hype of the original Blade.
From thestylish opening sceneto the legendary delivery of Blade’s closing one-liner by Snipes, few comic book movies have managed to live up to the hype of the originalBlade. Blademay be a case of style of substance, a fact recognized by even its positive critical reviews, but it more than succeeds at what it sets out to do, which is the only fair basis by which any film can be judged.
Blade
Cast
Blade is a 1998 film featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular character, who is a half-vampire, half-human vampire hunter. The story revolves around Blade’s mission to protect humanity from a secret vampire society that threatens to destroy the world.
Even then,the plot gripes many reviewers have raised aboutBlade’s supposed lack of heart are quite unfounded, with scenes like Whistler’s death and the reveal of Blade’s mom being earnestly emotionally affecting at times. Not only isBlade’s writing not bad enough to eclipse it’s incredible flair and energy, but it’s actually quite good.
9Venom
30% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Sony’s decision to continue building a Spider-Man cinematic universe without the presence of the beloved web head himself was a controversial one, which has led to critical and commercial disasters likeMorbiusandMadame Web.However, their first foray into the solo Spider-Man character spin-off world withVenomwas actually quite a fun experience.
All 3 Venom Movies Ranked
Venom: The Last Dance concluded Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy in triumphant style, but the trilogy as a whole has certainly had its ups and downs.
Tom Hardy does an excellent job playing both co-leads as Eddie and Venom, representing a lovably dysfunctional partnership with pluck and aplomb. By no means isVenoma perfect comic book movie, having almost endearing flaws that call to mind the awkward superhero stumbling blocks of the early 2000s.
Venom
Venom is an action sci-fi movie that stars Tom Hardy as the titular Marvel anti-hero. When the Life Foundation begins experimenting on alien lifeforms they find on a comet that landed nearby, Investigative Journalist Eddie Brock begins to investigate them. When an infiltration goes wrong, Eddie finds that one of the aliens has bonded to him, forcing him to learn to live with his new uninvited host. Giving him superhuman powers, the two begin to work together to stop the rest of the symbiote’s invasive species.
However,critics were quite harsh on the nascent Sony solo project, often finding themselves at odds with the film’s noisy and uneven tone. For those that can revel in the chaos,Venomis actually quite a fun experience, certainly not a critical masterpiece, but nowhere near the dud a 30% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes might imply.
8Constantine
46% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Bragging one of the highest gulfs between critical and audience score on any superhero film on Rotten Tomatoes,Constantineis a moody, misunderstood treat. Positing Keanu Reeves as the cynical chain-smoking magician,Constantinebrings the paranormal demon hunter from DC Comics to life in a gritty live-action adaptation.
A criminally underrated entry in Keanu Reeves' filmography,Constantineslowly drew enough of a cult following over the yearsto justifythe production ofConstantine 2two decades later. As much as Keanue Reeves' presence as the wise-cracking arcanist is the film’s central strength, it invites an unfair point of comparison for critics to latch on to.
Constantine
Constantine follows John Constantine, a chain-smoking occult detective who has journeyed to Hell and back. Released in 2005, the film pairs him with a policewoman to investigate her twin sister’s mysterious suicide, taking them into a hidden world of demons and angels in modern Los Angeles.
Many reviewers of the film’s age saw Reeves coming off the back of theMatrixfranchise and were expecting a film on par with one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever made. With such impossibly lofty standards, even the finely-honed fun ofConstantinewas essentially doomed to fail in the eyes of critics, bearing impossible expectationsthanks to Reeves' attachment.
7Eternals
47% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Interestingly,Eternalswas unfairly reviled by both critics and audiences at the time of its release, but whereas audiences have come around on the film after some time to digest, cri tics have remained staunch in their dislike for the MCU’s failed expansion of their world.
The film introduces a new group of heroes to the hallowed franchise, a group of human-looking aliens gifted with incredible powers meant to protect the Earth from insidious predators outside the public eye. With so much set up to get out of the way, the first watch ofEternalscan be quite alienating.
Eternals
Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, follows a group of ancient aliens who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years. The film explores their reunion in the face of an unexpected tragedy and the threat posed by their age-old adversaries, the Deviants. Released in 2021, the film expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
For those willing to return to the project, a finely-tuned character study wrapped up in a millennia-spanning epic is a heaping reward to reap. The A-list cast fire on all cylinders as they navigate their almost Shakespearean tragedy of a situation, and the excitement is added to bysome of the coolest applications of superpowers in the MCU. In the end,Eternalsbiggest problems come from its awkward, vestigial attachment to the MCU in the first place, working much better as a separate story.
6Batman Forever
41% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Similarly toEternals,both critics and audiences are quite sour onBatman Forever,which took the franchise in quite a lighthearted direction after the grimdark holiday misery ofBatman Returns.But whereas some fans have come around onEternals, Batman Foreverremains unfairly lambasted in the public eye even almost three decades after its release.
Coming off of the Tim Burton movies,the film had impossible expectations to fulfill, with its campy tone and new actor replacing Michael Keaton as The Dark Knight himself. Taken for what it is,Batman Foreveris a fantastic exercise in enjoyable camp.
Batman Forever
After Tim Burton’s plans for a third Batman film fell through, director Joel Schumacher took over the franchise with 1995’s Batman Forever. Replacing Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer stars as Bruce Wayne opposite to Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, who play The Riddler and Two-Face, respectively. Batman Forever also marks the first time Robin appears on the big screen since Burt Ward reprised his Boy Wonder role in 1966’s Batman: The Movie.
FromVal Kilmer’s underrated Batmanto the bombastic personalities of Jim Carrey’s Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face, not to mention the phenomenal original soundtrack by the artist Seal, there’s so much fun to be had withBatman Forever.When separated from the tonal whiplash incurred in comparison to the previous film,Batman Foreveris relentless, dumb enjoyment deserving of more recognition.
530 Days Of Night
51% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
A criminally underrated horror filmbased on the IDW miniseries of the same name,30 Days of Nightis one of the most egregiously underrated comic book movies ever. Set in the northenmost town of Barrow, Alaska, the movie takes place during the season-long nightfall that shrouds the small community due to its proximity to the North Pole.
30 Days of Night
30 Days of Night is a 2007 horror film centering on an Alaskan town that is invaded by a group of violent vampires. Josh Hartnett leads the cast in the David Slade-directed film along with Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone Junior, and Mark Rendall.
As the sun sets for the last time in a month, vampires descend upon the hapless town’s inhabitants, wreaking havoc without fear of the sun’s wrath.30 Days of Night’s criticism fails to identify any actual overt problem, with vague complaints about pacing and the blood-sucking villains' stage presence implying a different movie all together.
In truth,the film is a tense battle for survival against some of the scariest on-screen vampires ever created, with the harsh cold of the Alaskan frontier being just as deadly an antagonistic force, as well. As both a horror film and a comic book movie,30 Days of Nightdeserves far more credit.
4Cowboys & Aliens
44% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Because of its ridiculous title alone, it’s easy to see whyCowboys & Alienswas overlooked as B-movie filler by both audiences and critics alike. A rare instance of a film that was written as a screenplay first, only to be turned into a comic retroactively to better sell itself,Cowboys & Aliensis exactly what it says on the tin - Aunique Westernfeaturing sci-fi aliens coming to Earth in an exciting battle for supremacy.
Critics lambasted the film for its jarring tonal shifts, struggling to balance its two genre influences. While this issue is admittedly one that MCU darling director Jon Favreau did indeed struggle with, the strengths of the film should be given more credit.
Cowboys & Aliens
Cowboys & Aliens is a sci-fi western directed by Jon Favreau, starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. Set in 1873 Arizona, the film follows a diverse group of settlers and Native Americans who must band together to combat a mysterious alien threat. The unexpected fusion of the Western and sci-fi genres evokes a unique struggle for survival and unity against an otherworldly invasion.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford both deliver energetic star performances, demonstrating a clear enthusiasm for the bargain bin novelty concept.Cowboys & Aliensis no critical masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, butdeserves at least cult status via the strength of its characters alone.
3Black Panther
96% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Black Pantheris by no means a bad film. But judging by the jaw-dropping 96% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, one might be let down by the film upon a first viewing, with the overall quality truly ranking among the average standards for MCU fare. As great as T’Challa and Erik Killmonger are,the movie’s predictable narrative, cringy aged humor, and terrible CGI provide more than enough faultsto justify knocking it down a peg or two in the eyes of star-struck critics.
Black Panther
Black Panther follows King T’Challa as he returns to Wakanda to assume the throne of the technologically advanced African nation. Faced with internal and external challenges, T’Challa dons the Black Panther mantle, uniting with allies to protect Wakanda from potential global conflict.
In truth, the representational implications for Black Panther as the first major MCU solo film to be headlined by a person of color eclipsed the actual quality of the film itself when it came to many reviewers' thoughts.
The film’s importance for representationmight be accurately represented by its lofty percentage of winning reviews, but the number is by no means indicative of the movie’s actual quality. With the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman,Black Pantherhas only taken on an even more mythical status, all the harder to separate from its strength as a film.
2Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
91% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsis a curious case for critical evaluation due to its very structure.The film almost feels like two different movies haphazardly stapled together, with the tense martial arts choreography of the first act far outshining the eyerolling CGI fantasy army battles of the third.
Just like withBlack Panther, the important step of representation the MCU made withShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsmade critics afraid to leave overall negative reviews.
As a whole,Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsis certainly not deserving of its critical acclaim, as evidenced by the fact thatShang-Chi has yet to reappear in the MCUmain storyline after three years. Just like withBlack Panther,the important step of representation the MCU made withShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsmade critics afraid to leave overall negative reviews.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: This film introduces Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Confronted by his past, he becomes entangled with the mysterious Ten Rings organization, which challenges his identity and abilities. Released in 2021, the movie explores themes of family and legacy.
It’s great that Simu Liu was able to give the franchise the Asian representation it so desperately needed, but in all honesty, he only has passing charisma as a leading man, not to mention the film’s tonal inconsistencies and the awkward pacing of its genre-shift finale.Certainly not a terrible film,Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsis still definitely over-praised.
1Thor: Love & Thunder
63% Critical Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Unlike many Marvel Cinematic Universe films that get an unfair rap from professional movie critics,Thor: Love & Thundergot off shockingly easy. The natural evolution of Thor’s degradation from a powerful god to a comedy punchline in the MCU, the film mires its promising premise in awkward humor, from annoying screaming goats to the uncomfortable ogling of Chris Hemsworth’s impressive physique.
10 Marvel Movie Adaptations Where You Really Should Read The Comic First
As great as Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men movies are, they’ll always benefit from a thorough read of their original comic source material first.
Yetmost critics were strangely ambivalent towards these obvious flaws, still insisting thatThor: Love & Thunderis a worthy addition to the MCU roster. Indeed, the relatively high critical praise ofThor: Love & Thunderhas less to do with the film itself and everything to do with its director, industry darling Taika Waititi.
Thor: Love and Thunder
In Thor: Love and Thunder, the Norse god teams up with King Valkyrie, Korg, and the Mighty Thor, Jane Foster, to thwart Gorr the God Butcher’s quest to eradicate the gods. This cosmic adventure sees Thor confront new challenges as he navigates his return from retirement.
Even though Waititi’s comedy stylings ran up against a wall in his second Thor project, the mere attachment of his name seemed to hypnotize critics into thinking the film could only do so much wrong. Instead,Thor: Love & Thunderis truly proof that even respected directors can stumble appallinglywhen at the reins of acomic book moviethey feel no real passion for.
