Best of 2017 – Ranking the Comic Book Movies of 2017

The 2017 movie year is officially over, so now begins the lists.  Over the next week or so, I will be counting down the best and worst movies and performances of 2017 over a number of lists.

I am going to kick it off by talking about the comic book movies of 2017.  As usual, there were a number of comic book movies that were released this year and, as usual, we had our good, our bad, and our ugly.  We had seven comic book movies released in 2017, with each studio being represented. Here is my ranking of all the comic book movies of 2017.

7 – JUSTICE LEAGUE (Zach Snyder/Joss Whedon)

Justice League is yet another DCEU misfire and arguably the most disappointing film of their entire universe.  Bringing together the iconic group of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg on the big screen for the first time should have been a monumental achievement.  But it wasn’t.  This was a flat, uneven film with some of the worst CGI I’ve seen in recent memory.  After Justice League, it looks like the DCEU is in near shambles, if not for a little sliver of hope that I will get to later down the list.

6 – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (James Gunn)

What hurt Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was the originality and surprise of the first film.  Nobody saw it coming and nobody saw it being that good.  However, with Vol. 2, we knew what to expect from our characters, and that killed a lot of the greatness.  The movie is still a lot of fun, with Kurt Russell crushing it as our villain Ego and Michael Rooker giving one of the best performances in any MCU film as Yondu.  This isn’t the best Marvel movie, but it’s still a blast to watch.

5 – LOGAN (James Mangold)

This one is a lot higher on many people’s lists, but it never quite clicked for me.  The movie never felt complete.  There were a number of storylines and characters that are really random with no motivation, like the super-human clone and why his powers are disappearing randomly after he showed no signs of them going anywhere in any previous X-Men of Wolverine movie.  And it was also a little jarring to Wolverine, a character who has spent his whole career in a PG-13 atmosphere, take a complete 180 and be thrown in a dark, bloody, ultra-violent film.  Hugh Jackman is sensational, however, and rides this character off into the sunset as good as he possibly could.  Logan is a good flick, but not as good as it’s talked up to be.

4 – THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (Chris McKay)

I anticipated The LEGO Batman Movie to be a lot like The LEGO Movie (2014) and be more like a parody of a Batman movie rather than actually be a Batman movie.  This is easily the best incarnation of Batman since Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and the movie is as much of a Batman movie as any that have come before it.  It perfectly pays homage to the old films while also diving into classic Batman storylines like his relationship with the Joker and his loneliness.  It is also filled with tons of great action and comedy.  This is a great movie that went under the radar this year.

3 – SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (Jon Watts)

Spider-Man: Homecoming proved that Marvel is nearly invincible.  Since the dawn of the new millennium, we have had five Spider-Man movies, which averages out to a little more than one movie every three years.  You would think we would have web-slinger fatigue by now.  Think again.  Homecoming, Spidey’s sixth film, is as fresh and exciting as the first time we saw Spider-Man on the big screen for the first time back in 2002.  Tom Holland is magnificent as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Michael Keaton is one of the best Marvel villains as Vulture.  The film plays out more like a high school coming of age film rather than a standard comic book film.  Spider-Man: Homecoming is smart, fun, and exciting and one of the most impressive creations from Marvel.

2 – THOR: RAGNAROK (Taika Waititi)

Thor: Ragnarok is a testament to director Taika Waititi and just how talented he really is.  The first two Thor films are two of the weaker Marvel movies, with lackluster action and forgettable side characters and villains.  Ragnarok is the exact opposite of that and then some.  Fueled by a techno, 80’s soundtrack and a neon backdrop, Ragnarok has a unique feel unlike any other Marvel movie before it.  We get a batch of new characters mixed with the ones we know and love, a villain who actually has some good motivation, and an appearance from Hulk, which is just amazing.  With a captivating story, bold filmmaking, and some of the best action pieces Marvel has ever put out, Ragnarok is one of Marvel’s very best.

1 – WONDER WOMAN (Patty Jenkins)

I mentioned the sliver of hope for the DCEU and that sliver is Wonder Woman.  Wonder Woman was my favorite part of Batman v. Superman (2016), so I was excited for this movie, but had my reservations based on the DCEU’s track record.  This movie blew me away.  Director Patty Jenkins made one of the best comic book origin movies ever.  She gives a full picture of who Diana is and why she is the way she is.  This is a big scale war movie about one woman against the world.  Gal Gadot became a star playing Diana and she is simply perfect, bringing the physicality and giving Diana emotional range and motivation.  The ‘No Man’s Land’ scene is one of the best things I saw on screen in all of 2017 and you can’t help but fall in love with the romance between Diana and Steve Trevor (a dashing Chris Pine). Wonder Woman is not only the best comic book movie of 2017, but one of the very best movies of the year.

What were your favorite comic book movies of 2017?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.