Year of the Geek

This seems to be becoming the year of the comic book movie.

We've had The Incredible Hulk, Ironman, Hellboy, and the Dark Knight with promises of more to come; maybe not this year, but certainly soon. Captain America (scheduled for 2011), Thor (2010), the Justice League (2011), and of course what most of this has been leading up to, the Avengers movie (2011). Oh, and how could I possibly forget The Watchmen (2009)?

You know, after X-Men 3 I really wasn't looking forward to Marvel making any more movies. They piled too much in and tried to cover several story arcs in one two-hour movie, it was a stupid move and it made me want to hide from the next big superhero release. And don't get me started on Spider-Man 3...

But, I'm glad I saw Ironman. I'm thrilled at how well Robert Downey Jr was able to play Tony Stark (see the post from my Boss about how awesome he is below). And as someone who reads comics (and also loiters in a comic book store, The Watcher Comics, every Wednesday) I can safely say that Ironman has been the most well adapted comic book movie I've seen thus far. I'm especially fond of all of the throw-in's to the comics that they put into the movie, like War Machine and Nick Fury, not to mention S.H.I.E.L.D.




(apologies for the annoying link to the image-hosting site that shows up underneath this image)

Don't get me wrong though, I've loved many adaptations, even the ones that changed the story ever so slightly and turned the meaning into something else, like V for Vendetta. And from what I've heard, Wanted is a great movie but only if you've never read the graphic novel. I think I'm also one of the few people who enjoyed The Punisher and how very tacky it was.

And more then just that, I'm excited to see The Hulk. I don't even like the Hulk.

I feel like I should talk about the Dark Knight too. Though I still am not sure how I feel about it. I think, after all of the hype it got, I was let down somewhat. Ledger was a fantastic Joker and one of my favorite scenes was the interrogation room with Batman -- I heard that that scene was the first shot and it's where Christian Bale and Heath Ledger got into character, and you can see that happening, and it's wonderful to watch. But, honestly, I was more impressed with Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent, though the transition could have been better, slower... as the corruption of a good man should be.

What I'm trying to get at, more or less, is that it's a good year to be a geek.

So, tell me what you thought of Ironman, Batman, Hellboy, The Hulk, or any other comic adaptation of the past, because I would honestly like to know.