Here’s Ryan Reynolds, who will soon be flying high with the success of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” yet again starting up the debate about what is the best comic book movie ever made.
Speaking to Total Film, for this month’s cover story, Reynolds says that James Mangold’s “Logan” is potentially “the greatest comic-book adaptation ever made."
Reynolds’ high praise for Mangold’s darker, and R-rated take on the Wolverine character is shared by many, it was critically acclaimed at the time and laid the path for more intense, and profitable, comic book movies. To the point where two of the highest-grossing films of 2024 might end up being “Joker: Folie a Deux” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” — both have R ratings.
We’ve now been through this cataclysmic comic book movie boom for almost 20 years, spearheaded by an innumerable amount of DC and Marvel releases. Despite the whining that I’ve done all of these years, there have been some diamonds in the ruff within the genre. I can probably count them in less than two hands.
Fact of the matter is that even if a comic book movie is Rated R, that does not mean the director’s overall vision won’t be compromised by studio chicanery. Rarely does a top-notch filmmaker manage to convince a studio, particularly Disney/Marvel, to have his/her own vision, unfiltered, on-screen. It just doesn’t happen.
“Logan” is surely in the top 5 or 10 of the best comic book movies, but it doesn’t really come close to what Christopher Nolan achieved in 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” which is still the best comic book adaptation ever made. Not too far behind, in second place, for me is Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.”
Nolan really changed the game in “The Dark Knight”. Many have evoked the film as this post-9/11 depiction of a world gone to hell — a “hero” committing evil to get rid of evil. This was Nolan’s dark and twisted take on a misunderstood superhero and the crowning achievement of the entire genre. Heath Ledger, if you believe the lore, went insane in trying to master the role of The Joker, winning a posthumous Oscar in the process.