comic book geeks rejoice!

In my humble opinion, the most unfairly maligned comic book adaptation ever. Ang Lee took the concept of the Hulk and turned it not only into a great comic book flick, but a great film as well. He took a pretty simple concept and injected it with complex characters, stunning visuals, and "Hulk smash" action scenes to boot. The drubbing it received from critics and comic book fans alike was unfortunate, because Lee successfully brought superhero movies to a new level of artistic interpretation. This continues to be one of my favorite comic book adaptations.

Awesome! I was nervous about seeing this because Alan Moore distanced himself so much from the production. But I can't figure out why, because this was about as faithful an adaptation as I could have hoped for a graphic novel that I love. Hugo Weaving was the perfect choice for V and Natalie Portman owns the role of Evey. Maybe one too many swipes at the fate of America in 20 years, but chilling in that though it was written two decades ago, many of the themes are still concerns today, if not moreso. Great movie, highly recommended!

All right, this isn't a particularly good movie. Mark Steven Johnson has now directed two movies based on second-tier Marvel characters that resulted in second-tier comic book adaptations. Both "Daredevil" and "Ghost Rider" are about as generic as you can get with comic book adaptations. But all that aside, "Ghost Rider" doesn't take itself very seriously, and that's what saves it. Nicolas Cage has pretty much thrown in the towel in terms of being considered a serious actor any longer; his quirky schtick is now pretty much all he has. But with "Ghost Rider", at least he's going out in a blaze of unglory. It's a silly comic book adventure that doesn't strive to be any more than that. And while I never really got into the comic books, I will say that the special effects team nailed it in terms of capturing what Ghost Rider would look like in "real life". The scenes of the Rider flaming down streets and up the sides of buildings, using his penance stare, and teaming up with a Rider from the old West are worth watching Cage's career flame out (sorry for all the fire puns). Go into it with lowered expectations and it makes for a good couple hours of mindless entertainment.