FIVE Underrated Comic Book Movies to Watch on a Rainy Day

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1. The Rocketeer (1991)

Based on the 1982 Dark Horse comic by Dave Stevens; this 1991 film by Disney starred Billy Cambell and Jennifer Connelly. Set in 1938 Los Angeles, a rocket pack designed by Howard Hughes is stolen and later found by stunt pilot Cliff, played by Cambell, who later uses it to become a hero. Seems like the 1990’s gave us a lot of these underrated hero tales. A great Saturday afternoon popcorn movie, entertaining and well what can I say I’m a sucker for a period hero flick. Captain America anyone?

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2. Dick Tracy (1990)

Based on the longest running comic strip, which debuted in 1931. Warren Beatty produced, directed and starred in its 1990 film adaptation. Tracy is the town’s best cop and the only man who can take down the rouge gallery of baddies who try to take the town and make it their own criminal playground. This was a Sin City style, literal translation of the comic strip on to the big screen. From the colors to the costumes to the great makeup work done on all the villains. Watch out for an amazing performance by Al Pacino as Alphonse “Big Boy” Caprice, the criminal mastermind, as well as a very sexy Madonna whose character is a curve ball to the plot of the film. It’s a fun movie and again as a 10-year-old kid in 1990, I loved it and still do.

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3. T.M.N.T. (2007) & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

In 1984 Mirage Studios put out a series of comics created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It was an out of the box idea and it worked. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a long name but a perfect description for these heroes in a half shell. After the comic book series was turned into a kids cartoon series, the popularity became so big that a film was inevitable. A film series started in 1990 proved that this wacky idea of reptilian adolescent heroes was here to stay.

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In 2007 the fourth installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise hit the big screen in a unique way as it was the only in the series to be completely CGI. In my option it is the best in the series because it takes the source material seriously and it is easy to follow as a film being that it is animated and closely resembles the comic and the cartoon. However it must share the spotlight with the original live action film, which started the franchise. It is a childhood favorite of mine and before the 2007 sequel; this was my favorite in the series. Released in 1990, this first installment set up the characters we all love and treated them with respect, which is hard to do in a movie where you have big turtles walking around interacting with people. It has this dark and dirty quality that makes you believe in this world where giant talking ninja turtles are living in the sewers of New York City. A classic at best and the 2007 third sequel brought back the magic. Let’s hope the future will be bright as a reboot is in development for a future film.

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4. Darkman (1990)

The film released in 1990 written and directed by Sam Raimi who would later go on to direct the Spider Man trilogy. Although this film is not based on a comic, Sam Raimi admits his inspiration for the character was comics like “The Shadow” and “Batman”. It would also later spawn a comic book series of its own. It also spawned two sequels. Darkman stars a very young Liam Neeson as Peyton Westlake, a scientist working on a synthetic skin to help burn victims, who ironically is horrible burned after an explosion in his lab caused by some mobsters. He survives and seeks revenge on the mob as Darkman. Ironically a film version of “The Shadow” starring Alec Baldwin was released in 1994 and was a flop. I remember seeing it but don’t remember whether I liked it. Figures. However a year before Darkman, Batman was brought to the big screen by Tim Burton and was a huge success. One could say that 1989’s Batman paved the way for a lot of these hero flicks in the 90’s.

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5. The Phantom (1996)

In 1996 “The Phantom”, was released to poor reviews. It was based on another famous another comic strip from 1936. It starred Billy Zane and was Catherine Zeta Jones’s first big movie here in the states. It had potential and Billy Zane as The Phanton was not bad at all. I was also a period film so I did like it and like the Rocketeer it’s a tongue and cheek campy super hero flick.

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Honorable Mention: A History of Violence (2005)

Based on the 1997 Vertigo Graphic Novel by John Wagner; the 2005 film starred Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris. Viggo is Tom a small town restaurant owner who stops two men from robbing his shop only to later become stalked by a gangster who is convinced he is a former gangster named Joey Cusack. This is not your typical comic book movie. It is an intense movie with real violence. Not for the kids and no so much of a Saturday afternoon rainy day popcorn flick. Yet it gets an honorable mention because it is a great film and its based on