Last week I asked my friend to use their brains, dig deep
within their souls, and give me their choices for their top 5, and bottom 5,
comic book movie actors/actresses. Some
surprising conclusions came to surface, especially when I started making my own
bottom 5. Most of the top actors were men, while most of the bottom 5 were
women. I don’t think this is
sexist. I enjoyed both Michelle Pfeiffer's
and Anne Hathaway’s portrayals of Selina Kyle, but they just aren’t in my top
10, but I would say top 20 perhaps. I think this has more to say about
Hollywood than the actors and actresses. How most directors and
producers look for the prettiest face, rather than acting ability, to bring out
the best in the characters. I would also
blame the writers and studios who allow such great characters to be belittled
in these roles that are strong female fictional role models, but still are seen
mostly as a love interest for the male hero.
I only blame the thespians themselves last.
Anyway, I started whittling down my list there was one
male that came to mind; Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider was pretty bad. However, I watched the first film while doing
stuff around the house and never even bothered seeing the sequel. So while I don’t like most Nicolas Cage films
I thought it was unfair to judge him on something I didn’t bother to really
concentrate on. I’m also giving the cast
of Batman and Robin a break. I’ve seen
the five leads of that film in other things and I know they all had the acting
chops to play what their characters should have been, but again it just came down to
bad directing, writing, producing, etc.
Finally, a fan favorite in this category is Jessica Alba as the Invisible
Woman. While I agree she wasn’t my 1st,
2nd, or 3rd choice as Sue Storm I think she did a better job
than the following actresses.
5) January Jones as Emma Frost/The White Queen
Anyone read Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men? How about Grant Morrison’s New X-Men? Emma Frost is more than just arm candy for
Sebastian Shaw. In X-Men: First Class she had hardly
any emotion or sass. Emma Frost is a
down right bitch, and a great character to read. She’s not just a Barbie doll who turns into a
chandelier. I know Miss Jones is on a
hit TV show, Mad Men, but this is major motion pictures. You either bring it, or you get left out of
the sequel. I rest my case.
4) Famke Janssen as Jean Grey
Imagine you’re a 16-year-old girl who is dating a shy, and
timid, field leader of the X-Men. Now
imagine you get the powers of a god, use that power to kill billions, kill
yourself because of what you did, and then realize it wasn’t you at all, it was
copy of you, and while you were asleep in the water some "thing" was living your
life and getting freaky with your boyfriend!
That’s just half of Jean Grey’s story.
Before all that happened Jean was the girl-next-door that
all the boys as Xavier’s school wanted to hook-up with. She was sweet as Sue Storm and as powerful
as Charles Xavier. So why did they get
the villain from Goldeneye to play this innocent young woman? I never liked her, I never got what Scott and
Logan saw in her, and I never saw Jean Grey in her. I cheered when Wolverine killed her in X3. That, and Iceman going full-ice, were the only good parts in that film. I’m too mad about this. I’m moving on.
3) Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios
The Man Without Fear always seemed to have a blind-spot when
it came to Elektra, and so did 20th Century Fox when they cast
Jennifer Garner. I mean, I thought Garner
looked really hot in Daredevil. I’m also glad this allowed her and Ben Affleck to work
together more because then they ended up getting married, and they are one of my
favorite Hollywood couples. But Garner should not have been Elektra.
Elektra is a killer.
She’s not nice, she likes to play with Matt’s emotions, and get him into
trouble. But Mr. Murdock didn’t need any more help in that category. Garner is too non-threatening and I just didn’t
buy it. Personally I think her and Famke
Janssen should have switched roles. Then
neither of them would have been on this list.
2) Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
I’ve never been a big Spider-Man fan. While I enjoy the finer parts of the
character and mythology I’ve left the web-head obsession to my brother. And because of his passion I know more than I need
to know, and one thing I know is that Kirsten Dunst couldn’t play the real Mary
Jane Watson if you stretchered her six inches, gave her a boob job, and every other
word out of her mouth was ‘tiger.’
MJ is a supermodel for Christ sakes! I liked Maguire as Peter Parker a hell of a
lot more than I like Andrew Garfield, but Dunst is not Mary Jane. Mary Jane is confident and sassy. She’s so hot that no one can understand why
she is dating, and married, Peter Parker.
Dunst is the girl-next-door who would have made a good Gwen Stacy, but
as MJ I’d have rather have seen someone who actually makes me say, “ wait a sec.....he’s with her?”
1) Halle Berry as Ororo Monroe/Storm
Of course this had to be my #1! I’m a big X-Men fan and this
is one of the biggest tragedies in movie/comic book history! I prayed Bryan Singer would not bring her
back for X-Men: Days of Future Past, but since he has I pray she doesn’t have
more than just a few lines. Just because she’s
the #1 black actress doesn’t mean she has to play the #1 black, female,
superhero. I think Halle Berry totally
deserved her Oscar for Monster’s Ball, even though, like Swordfish, all anyone
cared about was her breasts. When
you start off the first film with a bad African accent, a
half-assed accent in the sequel, and by the third film you are speaking totally
American; well I have no respect for you in that role.
I heard that Berry didn’t even want to do X3 unless her part
was expanded. I get that. Storm is a great character, but when you
focus on Wolverine for five, soon to be six films, it’s hard to add any other good
character arcs into the mix. Storm is claustrophobic
and used to be worshipped as a god in Africa.
Yet Berry’s portrayal made her seem so normal it was lame. I never thought I
wanted to see more of her in the films. Oh, and that
spinning, tornado, move in X3, I died a little inside when I saw that.
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