Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2005

 It has been some 10 years after the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss in Edge City, when the legendary Mask of Loki falls into the hands of an aspiring cartoonist named Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) whose new baby son named Alvery (Liam  & Ryan Falconer) is born with the Mask's spectacular powers.As if that wasn’t bad enough, the really big problems start when Loki himself the god of mischief, comes to Earth looking for his mask, under command by his father Odin. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it back. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a working-class magician, occult detective, and con man stationed in London who apparently exists between Heaven and Hell. He’s known for his endless cynicism, deadpan snarking, ruthless cunning, and constant chain smoking. In this film adaptation of Hellblazer (the DC comics in which Constantine appeared) he is approached by Det. Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) who asks for his help proving that her twin sister’s death wasn’t suicide. Both sisters are devout Catholics and Angela refuses to believe her sister would have killed herself. Because Constantine has a reputation for dealing with the mystical she has sought him out. Unknown to her, Constantine is a demon hunter whose sole purpose is to send demons back to Hell. The more that Constantine looks into the death, the more he realizes that demons are attempting to break on through into the human world bringing him into a direct conflict with Satan Himself. The follow-up/prequel to 2003’s Daredevil, where we learn something of the origin of (now dead) Elektra. In this film, Elektra stands as a warrior who makes the choice that tips the balance between good and evil. Not long after recovering from seemingly mortal wounds, Elektra (Jennifer Garner), a strong, mysterious and a lethal synthesis of grace and power, severs all of her ties with the material world, living as an assassin, looking only towards her next kill. However, in an unexpected turn of events, she is forced to decide to either take her life in a new direction, or do something that could ultimately destroy her. View the list »
Although Painkiller Jane was a comicbook-based film of 2005, we are only dealing with theatrical releases (Sorry Jimmy)

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In 2005 we reached 11 comicbook-based films, this time, even though five of them were about superheroes, only three of those five originated in comics (two from Marvel Elektra, and Fantastic Four, and one from DC, Batman Begins), the fourth (Sky High) was an original superhero film as was The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D. Of the remaining three Constantine, A History of Violence, and Sin City were non-costumed superhero in nature, and again, of those three, the first two were both published by DC with the third from Dark Horse. While many overlooked Constantine we believed it to be an amazing work that proved non-superhero comics could work as movies. In the case of A History of Violence quite a few people who saw that powerful work had no idea that it was also based on a comicbook. Then there’s Sin City that — quite literally — revolutionized the way films are made. Director Robert Rodriguez used no sets, no props, and no location shots, choosing to digitally paint the entirety of the film (save for the actors themselves) onscreen.

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The three other films were all based on Indie titles, two of them are sequels (one from Dark Horse: Son of the Mask and the other (The Crow: Wicked Prayer from Caliber Comics) and the final one a true indie from Los Comex.

Once again, the criteria that we are using throughout this series on comicbook movies, is films that either started off in comics, are clearly influenced by comicbooks and/or comicbook superheroes, or have an appreciable amount of their history connected to comicbooks. Films that we are not discussing include anything that appeared on TV (live action — eliminating the very well-made, but made-for-TV Painkiller Jane — or animated), theatrically-released films that were strictly animated, or films that may have had been adapted in comics, but were best known from another medium (i.e.; Star Trek, Star Wars), nor are we considering films that were released direct to video or DVD (eliminating Man-Thing).

Other articles in this series can be found at the links below:

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2004

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2003

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2002

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2001

Comicbook Movies of the Millennium: 2000

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Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing comicbooks for some 30 years. During that time, his reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular comicbook articles and reviews.

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  •  The follow-up/prequel to 2003’s Daredevil, where we learn something of the origin of (now dead) Elektra. In this film, Elektra stands as a warrior who makes the choice that tips the balance between good and evil. Not long after recovering from seemingly mortal wounds, Elektra (Jennifer Garner), a strong, mysterious and a lethal synthesis of grace and power, severs all of her ties with the material world, living as an assassin, looking only towards her next kill. However, in an unexpected turn of events, she is forced to decide to either take her life in a new direction, or do something that could ultimately destroy her. 
  •  John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a working-class magician, occult detective, and con man stationed in London who apparently exists between Heaven and Hell. He’s known for his endless cynicism, deadpan snarking, ruthless cunning, and constant chain smoking. In this film adaptation of Hellblazer (the DC comics in which Constantine appeared) he is approached by Det. Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) who asks for his help proving that her twin sister’s death wasn’t suicide. Both sisters are devout Catholics and Angela refuses to believe her sister would have killed herself. Because Constantine has a reputation for dealing with the mystical she has sought him out. Unknown to her, Constantine is a demon hunter whose sole purpose is to send demons back to Hell. The more that Constantine looks into the death, the more he realizes that demons are attempting to break on through into the human world bringing him into a direct conflict with Satan Himself.
  •  It has been some 10 years after the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss in Edge City, when the legendary Mask of Loki falls into the hands of an aspiring cartoonist named Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) whose new baby son named Alvery (Liam  & Ryan Falconer) is born with the Mask's spectacular powers.As if that wasn’t bad enough, the really big problems start when Loki himself the god of mischief, comes to Earth looking for his mask, under command by his father Odin. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it back.
  •  Based on the comic created by Javier Hernandez and published through his own imprint Los Comex. The story is about an individual who is trapped in a purgatory between this world and the next, 21-year-old Diego (Wilmer Valderrama) who wanders the streets of L.A. in search of a human sacrifice for the vicious Aztec gods that control his soul. Unfortunately, the sacrifice they want is Diego’s own girlfriend, Maria (Angie Cepeda). The Dead One is the story of Diego's fight against the dark gods for possession of his soul, as well as for the soul of the woman he so dearly loves.
  •  Brought to us by the folks who gave us Spy Kids, the story deals with a couple of pint-sized superheroes ostensibly created by  Max (Cayden Boyd) who is something of a dreamer. However, when Max is ridiculed by his classmates, he somehow manages to conjure up his perfect dreamworld — the Planet Drool. However, his dream becomes more powerful than even he suspects, and his dream super-heroes, Sharkboy (a very young Taylor Lautner) and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley), appear on Earth claiming that they need help from Max to save their world. As it turns out, an alien intelligence is interfering on Drool and darkness threatens his beloved Planet. Now only Max, the powerful dreamer himself, can stop the problems. They then take Max on a wild and dangerous journey to the fantastic Planet Drool. 
  • In this epic re-launch of the legend of DC’s Dark Knight Detective, we are made privy to the origins of The Batman. After his parents were killed, as a child, and being raised in the lap of luxury, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) relocates to Asia when he is mentored by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ra’s Al Ghul in how to fight evil. Upon discovering How about Ducard plans to destroy the evil in Gotham City Bruce stops him and returns to his home. Once again in Gotham, Bruce adopts the image of a bat in order to strike fear into the hearts of criminals and becomes known as Batman. 
  • One of the founding blocks of the Marvel universe finally gets their own film.* Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), the brilliant but timid and bankrupt scientist, is convinced that evolution can be triggered by clouds of cosmic energy, and has calculated that Earth is going to pass one of these clouds soon. Together with his friend and partner, the gruff astronaut muscle-man Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), Reed convinces his arrogant MIT classmate Dr. Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who is now CEO of his own enterprise, to allow Richards access to Von Doom’s privately-owned space station. Joining Richards is his former lover, Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), who is also his assertive chief genetics researcher Sue’s Johnny (Chris Evans), a maverick, hot-headed playboy pilot. While in space, they are accidently exposed to the cosmic radiation and upon their return, they each begin to mutate, developing fantastic powers. Soon they find themselves in conflict with Von Doom whose megalomania has gone to his head. _____*There was an unreleased FF film completed in ‘94 that was never released (but is available on (bootleg) DVD). According to an interview between Stan Lee and Kevin Smith, Lee indicated that — unknown to its cast and crew — this film was never intended to be released, and was made only because the studio that owned the rights would have lost those rights if it didn’t begin production by a certain date. 
  • Created out of whole cloth, and drawing upon iconic superhero archetypes, this film is about a “superhero high school” where second-generation kids with powers are trained to become superheroes. The story follows Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), the son of a pair of very famous superheroes: Steve and Josie, A.K.A. the Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston). Unfortunately for Will his powers have not actually kicked in as of yet. Now he and his best friend, Layla (Danielle Panabaker) are facing their first day of school. However, with no apparent powers of his own, Will seems destined become a mere sidekick. If you thought your high school years were tough, imagine how it would be if the bullies and mean girls had superpowers, and you didn’t. 
  • Adapted from Frank Miller’s ground-breaking eponymous comic the film follows four interconnected very gritty crime stories. These include one about Marv (Mickey Rourke), a muscular brute who’s looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie (Jaime King), a man fed up with Sin City’s corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop (Bruce Willis) who risks his life to protect a girl (Jessica Alba) from a deformed pedophile, and a hitman looking to make a little cash. 
  • Concluding the story of James O'Barr’s Crow, in this fifth and final installment in this film series, Jimmy Cuervo (Edward Furlong) is a broken-down ex-con eking out a living in a polluted mining town on a reservation that would run him out of town if not for the remainder of his probation. With his time almost completed, he plans to start a new life with his girlfriend Lily (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and split for good. Only Luc Crash (David Boreanaz) and Lola Byrne (Tara Reid) who are the leaders of a local gang of Satanists murder Jimmy and Lily in a brutally ritualistic slaying which they hope will conjure the rebirth of the Antichrist. Only they merely manage to invoke the legend of the Crow instead, and now Jimmy is on a one-man path of vengeance to avenge their deaths.
  • We think we know people, even people we’ve known for years. This film proves otherwise. Here is a story of an (apparently) mild-mannered man, named Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), who lives a happy and quiet life with his lawyer wife (Maria Bello) and their two children in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana. Then one night their idyllic existence is shattered when Tom foils a vicious attempted robbery in his diner. Celebrated as a hero, Tom’s life changes overnight as he attracts national media attention, forcing him into the limelight. Uncomfortable with his newfound celebrity status, Tom attempts to return to the normalcy of his ordinary life only to be confronted by a mysterious and threatening man who arrives in town believing Tom is the man who wronged him in the past. Now Tom and his family are forced to fight back against, what they believe to be. A case of mistaken identity.
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, Comic Books Examiner

Robert J. (“Bob”) Sodaro is an American born writer, editor, and digital graphic production artist. Sodaro was born in Norwalk, CT and is best known for writing for numerous publications in the comicbook industry press during the ‘80s & ‘90s. He is currently the Vice President of Media Relations...

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