Made and Broken: Superhero Trilogies.

In the past decade we’ve seen a lot of superhero movies. Many were great, some were mediocre and some were downright terrible. I’ve picked a group of trilogies for multiple reviews. I’m about to upset a few die hard fans and there are going to be some spoilers.

Sam Riami’s Spider-Man trilogy

Starring the emotional Tobey McNugget Sam Riami’s Spider-Man trilogy was one of the first really big, immensely succesfull superhero trilogies. Everyone who likes Spider-Man couldn’t wait to watch the first of these three when it hit the cinema.

But how was it in real life and how did it hold up over time? Well, it was successful and I did watch two of the three in theaters. But that doesn’t say much, not all my decisions bear many fruits.
I’ll do this one by one. That way we give each movie what it deserves.

Spider-Man
I just need to get this out of the way first. Al Simmons will forever be JJ Jameson in my eyes. He was just brilliant and The Amazing Spider-Man will have to come up with something incredible to match it. There, now that’s been said.
Spider-Man was action packed, it had emotion and it had romance. Willem Dafoe made a great Green Goblin. That’s the good. Here’s the bad: The Peter Parker portrayed by Tobey was a complete moronic whimp. MJ was way too typical. Why pick a great actor such as Willem Dafoe, with such a menacing face when you’re going to put it in a stupid, thin, cheap-looking plastic mask? In the end MJ is caught by the villain and Spider-Man rushes to the rescue.
Best bit: Willem Dafoe confronting the Green Goblin in the mirror.

Spider-Man 2
Enter Doc Oc. Still one of the greatest Spider-Man villains in my eyes. Now this was just incredible. Great action, impressive and well-choreographed fights as well as the most incredible web-slinging you can imagine. In my opinion, it was good. It delved a bit more into the characters.
In the end MJ is caught by the villain and Spider-Man rushes to the rescue.
Best bit: Web slinging through the streets of NY like you’ve never seen before.

Spider-Man 3
Two villains. The CGI for sandman was incredible and the scene of him trying to get himself together (no pun intended) was breath taking. Venom was a skinny guy with little rage, he never showed his venom face and was disappointingly lacking in presence. One of the biggest villain disappointments to date.
In the end MJ is caught by the villain and Spider-Man rushes to the rescue.
Best bit: Nothing memorable at all.

Verdict: Riami really had the web-slinging thing done well and most of his villains were portrayed in such a way that you couldn’t help but like them. The Green Goblin costume was a joke, Doc Oc was incredible, Sandman was mediocre and Venom was horrifyingly terrible. Oh, and in the end of every movie MJ is caught by the villain and Spider-Man rushes to the rescue.

Christopher Nolan’s Batman

Now this was a series that was emotional, dark and generally just awesome. It started with power and then carried on to a definite end. A lot happened and it was a series that most, including myself, was sad to see end.

How did they do?

Batman Begins
The origin of Batman. The movie was filled with information and a good story. The action that there was, was decent. The Scarecrow makes for a devious and mad villain who is creepy in his own way. Gary Oldman does Commissioner Gordon justice. Batman is portrayed as a dark protector who makes the criminals afraid to go out at night.
Best bit: Batman’s first official appearance at the docks…strikes fear into the heart of criminals the way he’s meant to.

Batman. The Dark Knight.
More gizmo’s. A different girl to play the damsel (thank goodness). A cool bike for Batman and a suit that is probably the best Batman outfit to date. The Joker, everyone’s favourite DC villain is brought to life in a manner so mad and so epically unique that it will forever be remembered. The movie flowed well, it had the typical decision-ending, but with a twist…it wasn’t Batman’s choice. It saw a quick (way too short) representation of Two-Face and the story’s integrity was never questionable. Batman is portrayed as a dark protector who makes the criminals afraid to go out at night.
Best bits: Any scene with the maniacal Joker in. Batman jumps a few stories onto a van.

Batman. The Dark Knight Rises.
Well, where to start? Following two great movies and two great villains comes Bane. A really big guy with Sean Connery’s voice who tries really hard to have a presence that could rival that of the two previous villains but falls short. Bruce Wayne can barely walk but gets all fixed up quickly. Many things happen that makes no sense at all. Once Bane is revealed to not be the main villain he is quickly killed off in the shortest most bland demises ever. Selena Kyle is a cat burglar, she steals from Bruce Wayne (a big no no in Batman’s eyes), she apposes Batman and in the end decides that she wants to be a good guy, Batman forgives her without trial and they live happily ever after. Batman is NOT portrayed as a dark protector who makes the criminals afraid to go out at night, but rather the entire movie plays off in daytime and there is absolutely no mystery to the story.
Best bit: Opening scene…then it goes downhill from there.

Verdict: Two great movies that follow each other are broken by a third with a bad story, too much Hollywood overkill and a story with no mystery, where everything is explained to the last letter. Dark Knight wins here. No competition.

Jon Favreau’s Iron Man

I love Iron Man. I really do. Almost as much as I love Batman. I loved the comics and I loved the animated series. He’s a cool character and Stan Lee himself said that Robert Downey was meant to play Tony Stark. I couldn’t agree more.

That’s for the superhero, but what of the movies?

Iron Man
Tony proves himself by building an incredible piece of armour in the middle of the desert. He’s rich and smart and the adventures of him becoming Iron Man are just awesome. It’s fun to watch, entertaining and never dull. Tony reveals himself to be the man in the suit, but who cares? Only he can be Iron Man. Pepper Pots is likeable and doesn’t get herself into trouble all the time with bad guys, because she’s clever enough not to. In the end Iron Man fights a version if his suit made by someone else.
Best bit: Iron Man takes out a tank and walks away like a boss.

Iron Man 2
Iron Man is famous and everyone loves him. Who wouldn’t? A man obsessed with a bird doesn’t like Tony Stark. Tony’s chest piece poisons him, but that’s fine because he can just create a new element. Iron Man pees in his suit. Iron Man fights his friend in another Iron Man suit (War Machine), but Jarvis doesn’t bother to just switch the other one off to stop them from causing damage. Scarlett J makes an appearance and gets to show a picture of herself in underwear. Tony drives a Formula car and they just allow the race to go on, without anyone really bothered. A lot on unnecessary things happen that has nothing to do with the story. In the end Iron Man fights a few versions if his suit made by someone else.
Best bit: Nothing stands out. War Machine shows how awesome he is and Black Widow’s well choreographed fight.

Iron Man 3
Post Avengers battle in New York Tony Stark suffers from anxiety problems. His suit that once had to be bolted onto him to ensure it’s strong and rigid can now fly across the USA in separate bits and just latch onto him. The villains are for once a bit unique, though their power makes them very unstable, which means they explode like a bomb at times. Their fights are very entertaining though and the bad guy does a decent enough job at being bad. War Machine’s password is Warmachinerox. Pepper is also turned into one of the ‘projects’ that the villains are with hot abilities but it’s easily reversible even though the experiments were completely unstable throughout the entire movie. The whole movie feels crippled by having had Iron Man in the avengers.
Best bit: Villain cuts Iron Man’s suit with his hot palm. The Hulkbuster suit makes an appearance.

Verdict: Iron Man 1 wins here by far. The sequel leaves much to be desired and the third only beats it by a small margin.

Ambitious opinion:
Three big hit trilogies start of well and each ends badly. Spider-Man makes a great sequel, then brings in two villains for the third and overdoes it. Batman starts of great, brings in an incredible sequel, then brings in two villains for the third and overdoes it. Iron Man kicks off with an incredibly exciting story and then the formula gets weak over the next two. Each series ends with big theatrical explosions and too much overkill. Spider-Man ends with a life size Sandman, Batman ends with a street brawl between hundreds of people and Iron Man brings in all his suits to the last fight. They’re all proof that bigger isn’t always better. Let’s hope the next superhero trilogy gets it right…