If you’ve missed out on the previous two portions of the list you can find them here (Part 1 and Part 2) as we move into part 3 of the list. Now we realize that not everyone is going to agree with us so we want to hear from you! Are we way off in our assumptions? Is Punisher:War Zone in fact the BEST movie rather than the worst one… if so we REALLY, REALLY want to hear your argument! Let’s carry on with our journey from worst to first.
26 – Constantine
This one genuinely surprised us. Definitely drifting away from the comics, Constantine still managed to be an engaging movie with some pretty sweet action, great visual effects and a visually compelling take on Hell. All of this in spite of Keanu Reeves being horribly miscast.
Box Office – Domestic: $75.9, Worldwide: $230.8
25 – The Wolverine
With First Class breathing new life into the X-Men, The Wolverine was meant to kick start the new ‘interconnected X-Men Universe’ since literally everyone wants some of that Avengers money. The movie is actually pretty good but we kept wondering what the Darren Aronofsky movie would’ve looked like. Under James Mangold, it was dark, hella violent, and it features not only some pretty cool set pieces but also samurais and ninjas. Wolverine cuts them all asunder, just in case you’re wondering. While not as good as we’re sure the Aronofsky version would have been, it still was good enough to redeem the Wolverine character that Fox tried so hard to ruin.
Box Office – Domestic: $132.5, Worldwide: $414.8
24 – Thor
We here at COG are die-hard Thor fans. Love him. With that in mind, we really liked this one, even though it lacked something. It’s a really good origin story and Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddelston absolutely own their roles with some solid support from Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Jaimie Alexander and Clark Gregg but it should have been much better. The problem was he was so Earth bound… we know it’s such a nitpick, especially considering the great comic they drew from, but we wanted Thor to be doing god stuff, not hanging out with a clearly bored Natalie Portman.
Box Office – Domestic: $181, Worldwide: $449.3
23 – Hulk
This is a controversial one. It’s pretty maligned and we don’t really understand why. Ang Lee is a great director who made an art house CBM that was edited together like a comic book page and featured a more introspective look at the Hulk vs a ‘Hulk Smash’ style movie. Sure, it’s far from perfect; We still don’t even know what happens in the last 10 minutes of the movie! But it definitely is much, much better than people give it credit for.
Box Office – Domestic: $132.1, Worldwide: $245.3
22 – Punisher
Thomas Jane is cast (the best yet) as Frank Castle, who’s burdened with striking vengeance against John Travolta and his crime family after the violent murder of Castle’s whole family. Violent, dark and gritty, with some lighter moments in the middle bring a little more humanity to the Frank Castle killing machine while the third act is everything we wanted from a Punisher movie. It also features possibly the single most unnecessary death by bow and arrow in cinema.
Box Office – Domestic: $33.8, Worldwide: $54.7
21 – The Amazing Spider-Man
Sony really pushed Spidey fans to the brink with what may be the quickest reboot of all time, launching this one just 5 years after Spider-man 3 and 10 years after the original Spider-Man. However, this actually turned out much better than we thought it would with Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield playing their roles perfectly. It also set up a whole new realm of possibilities in the Spider-Man universe as they begin to utilize the Ultimate Spider-Man books and only time will tell if this pays off for Sony or not.
Box Office – Domestic: $262, Worldwide: $757.9
20 – Blade II
Easily the best of the series, you’ve got Blade working with vampires as they fight SUPER vampires! Guillemero del Toro used his horror roots to keep this action gorefest from flying off the rails like the 3rd one did and managed to solidify himself as a great action director as well.
Box Office – Domestic: $82.3, Worldwide: $155
19 – Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The follow up to Hellboy brought back all the original cast (except they let Doug Jones do his own voice for once!) but with a bigger budget and Del Toro getting free rein on this one and it turned out much better! We didn’t even mind Selma Blair in this one. It also touched on a lot of the darker roots of Hellboy, aka how he’s going to destroy the world, but never lost the humour that’s so crucial to the Hellboy series. It also featured amazing creatures and make up and a bad ass villain with some serious action in it. Oh, how we want that third one that will never be made…
Box Office – Domestic: $75.9, Worldwide: $160.3
18 – The Incredible Hulk
Marvel’s Hulk movie was definitely more ‘Hulk Smash’ then its predecessor, but it still failed to capture audiences in the same way that the other Marvel movies have. I guess people have a hard time waiting for the Other Guy to show up and care less about Banner in general. Whether fickle audiences care about Bruce Banner’s struggles or not, this movie featured the Hulk finally doing battle with a worthy rival in Abomination and it was pretty awesome. With Mark Ruffalo taking over the Hulk role in The Avengers and winning fans over, maybe he can finally bring a Hulk movie that is fully satisfying. Fingers crossed for Phase 3.
Box Office – Domestic: $134.8, Worldwide: $263.4
17 – Kick-Ass
Innovative, hyper violent and funny, Kick Ass was everything we wanted from a comic book about people being super heroes. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a pitch perfect cast, Chloe Grace-Moertz gives a star-making performance as Hitgirl and, surprisingly, Nicolas Cage makes a bang on Big Daddy. A must see for comic book fans.
Box Office – Domestic: $48, Worldwide: $48.1