100 Greatest Comic Book Movies Of All Time
58. Alien Vs Predator
Some would contest that this movie should be on this list at all. Some would look at the humble crossover movie of Alien Vs Predator and say it’s bad, it’s subpar, it’s neither an exciting Alien movie nor is it a good Predator movie. Some would argue that its non-canon nature makes it unnecessary.
To them, I ask: do you hate fun?
Alien Vs Predator is literally a gameshow maze game featuring two of the most important science fiction creations of our time battling it out for dibs on who gets to screw humanity over. It’s ridiculous in all the right ways, an eccentric B-Movie that celebrates the origins of crazy sci-fi movies that W. S. Anderson obviously had the best time ever making. Yes, it’s a bit dark and it might not mean anything, but does it really have to? Monster movie smackdowns are simply monster movie smackdowns, and this is one of the best of its kind. Don’t @ me.
[AM]
57. 300
Not your typical comic book movie adaptation, 300 focuses on the tension between Greece and Persia in 480 BC, collecting together a group of 300 Spartans on a suicide mission to unite their forces against a common enemy. And of course, with director Zack Snyder leading the charge, he really goes full Zack Snyder: creating a violent, abrasive, and visually-intense journey for the soldiers in all their desaturated (and small-pants) glory.
It’s a film about the beauty of war and violence, that revels in its fake bodies and hypermasculinity, and that directly translates gritty graphic novel darkness onto the opulence of ancient Greece. It might be a flawed film in parts, but it never pretends to be anything that its not. And how often have you gleefully screeched THIS IS SPARTA ever since!?
[AM]
56. From Hell
It doesn’t bear much resemblance to the graphic novel it’s ‘based on’, and Alan Moore wasn’t too happy with how is work had been adapted (there’s a shocker), but as a stylish, horror-tinged thriller From Hell really delivers.
This was back in the days when Johnny Depp was an actor rather than a caricature content giving various spins on Captain Jack Sparrow, and delivers a strong lead performance here, which is nicely complemented by the likes of Heather Graham, Ian Holm, and Robbie Coltrane. It’s all very atmospheric too, with the Hughes Brothers capturing the moody aesthetic of Victorian London and capturing the horrifying nature of the Jack the Ripper story.
[JH]