Ranking the 2021 Superhero Movies

    Recently, I posted a full-length review of Spider-Man: No Way Home. That got me to thinking about how many superhero flicks that were released, and that I watched throughout 2021. Despite the lack of reviews on this blog, lately, I have seen 12 of them. The line of demarcation is at number 10. The bottom two are the only ones I don't like. The rest are a grand time, at least for me. I mean, I'm a superhero guy, so take my opinion with a grain of krypton. Anyhoo, here's how I rank 'em.

12. Thunder Force

My very basic theory on the very talented Melissa McCarthy is this: if she's in a movie directed by her husband, Ben Falcone, it's probably garbage. If someone else directs her, there's a chance it's pretty good. This is directed by Mr. Falcone, and it doesn't prove me wrong. The premise is actually a good one. The world is overrun with supervillains so Oktavia Spencer's character invents a device to give herself superpowers. Through some shenanigans, both her and McCarthy's character wind up with powers, and away we go. The problem is in the execution. Falcone is a poor storyteller. The root of it seems to be the rose colored glasses through which he views his wife. Love is blind, I get it. But, he refuses to put any restraints on her. He just points the camera at her and lets her go. The result, as always, is a bunch of gags that go on far too long. Even ones that are initially funny are wrung dry by being dragged out for no good narrative reason other than Falcone wanting to include every single one of McCarthy's antics until she tires of doing them. Ones that aren't funny at all are made worse because she generally resorts to trying to force laughter by throwing her body around. In the hands of capable directors she's proven to be an amazing performer in both comedic and dramatic roles. When the director is putty in hers, things don't go so well, and that's the case here.

11. Venom: Let There Be Carnage

I fully understand people who think superhero movies have gotten too long. However, this one is too short. It runs 90 minutes and feels like all of its connective tissue is lying on the cutting room floor. What's left is an incoherent string of loud, but not so thrilling action sequences, shoddy cgi, and terrible humor. Tom Hardy gives it the ol' college try in the lead, but nearly everything around him is crap, including the normally reliable Woody Harrelson. It's a full-on, no brakes used, trainwreck.

10. Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2

Part 1 of this animated double-feature gives us a nice setup. Part 2 fumbles the ball a bit. It leans too heavily into the Halloween part of the title and starts injecting as many Bat-villains as it can possibly squeeze into its runtime. And of course, the Joker figures prominently among them. This story could definitely, and probably should have been told without including him. I'm a huge fan of the character, but in this case, he feels like a crutch for an insecure storyteller. Instead of trusting their ideas to do the job on their own, they fall back on bringing in Joker to do Joker things. It's not a bad movie, just one that allows itself to become overstuffed and ultimately plays it too safe.

9. Eternals

One of the keys to success for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that, for the most part, they've handled their origin stories very well. They're fun introductions to characters with whom we may or may not be familiar. They may have bitten off more than they can chew with this one. There are so many characters and so much mythology to be explained that there are long stretches of this film devoted to expository dialogue. Combine that with a more serious tone than the rest of the franchise and the film moseys along at a snail's pace. To make matters worse, it feels as if it adds nothing to the saga Marvel's been building over the last 13 years. I'm sure efforts will be made to increase this film's importance in the MCU, but as of now it doesn't feel needed. Give it kudos for trying to do something different than the rest of the franchise. It just seems like the payoff will come with a less clunky second movie now that we're all up to speed on who these people are.

8. Black Widow

This one is a fun, fast-paced spy flick that liberally borrows from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The performances from Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour, and especially, Florence Pugh carry the film to the heights it reaches. Some odd narrative choices and a third act that disintegrates right before our eyes keeps it from achieving loftier status. Click here for my full review.

7. Batman: Soul of the Dragon

I'm predisposed to love this movie. Of course, it's a Batman flick. On top of that, it's set in the 1970s and borrows heavily from martial arts cinema, including Enter the Dragon. In fact, one of the main characters looks suspiciously like the iconic Bruce Lee. Lots of hand-to-hand combat and focuses on Bruce Wayne, much more than Batman. The end is a little too easy, but I still had a blast with it. 

6. Injustice

I started looking around online after watching this one and was shocked that people don't really rock with it. I thought it was pretty amazing. It features Superman becoming unhinged and going full bad guy. That's about as scary a proposition as comic books have to offer. The film handles it really well. Like the movie at number seven, the solution is too easy. That's a common problem for the DC Animated Universe, as they all run less than 90 minutes and have to wrap things up quickly. 

5. Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1

We focus Bruce Wayne's early years in the cape and cowl and his hunt for a serial killer. It combines this by leaning even more heavily into the film noir style popularized decades ago by Batman: The Animated Series. Watching him learn on the job is intriguing and the mystery he's dealing with is even more so. 

4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I was a yo-yo on this movie's string during the first two acts. The scene on the bus and then the scaffolding scene very much gave me Jackie Chan in the MCU vibes. I was totally here for that. I was a bit annoyed by Awkwafina in the sidekick role, but willing to overlook it. This had a real shot at claiming the top spot on the list. Then the third act happened. That's when it turned into a lame fantasy featuring giant dragon fights. Please, Marvel, for the next Shang-Chi movie give me much more martial arts that incorporate the fighting environment and much less Lord of the Ten Rings.

3. The Suicide Squad

I don't hate the first Suicide Squad as much as you. Probably. That said, I know it's not actually good. This one is, even though it has many of the same problems. The difference is that this one is sure of what it is from the very first frame and embraces all the goofiness that comes with that. How else would you make the audience completely buy in to exploding polka dots and giant starfish?

2. Zack Snyder's Justice League

Ahhh...the movie the fans made., or rather, got made. We can talk about how it all came to be another time. Here, the finished product is what's important. And that finished product is superior to the Snyder/Whedon/WB execs mashup version of Justice League that was shoved into theaters a few years back. It ramps up the character development, and tones down the Marvel-esque humor to give us a proper superhero epic. 

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home

By now, you've heard all the hype. Even if you haven't seen it, it's quite possible it's been spoiled for you. The reason is because it's so ridiculously fun, people can't help but talk about it. What makes something that sticks with us is Tom Holland giving the very best live-action performance of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man that we've ever seen. 

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