300

300 is another adaptation from Dir. Zack Snyder and, again, a truely great one.

This is a Shot-for-shot adaptation of the graphic novel by Frank Miller and quickly became very popular. The story tells the story of  battle of Thermopylae through the perpective of sparten, Dilios played by David Wenham.

 I honestly can't think of anything bad to say about this adaptation, It's a shot-for-shot adaptation that expertly translates the style of the source material. Zack Snyder definately has a nack for these adaptations.
I highly recommend this for our archive.

Spider-Man (2002)

Now, I have been a fan of Spider-Man for a very long time, so I think it's appropriate that I talk about this film. Now this film is, at times ridiculous and often a lil' cheesey.
However I think it is a good adaptation of the comics, which are also often alil' cheesey and at times ridiculous. It remains true to the character and remains fairly faithful to the story. I admit, it's not the greatest or most orginal movie ever made but it's deffinately a good movie and, in my opinion, a good adaptation, and given the aclaim it has receved should definately be included in our archive.

X-Men (2000) dir. Bryan Singer

X-men is a weird film to write up about in an archive such as this. The script went through so many rewrites by so many different writers that its hard to distinguish where one withers influence came from and another finished. Based off the characters of the popular franchise is just a fun action movie to entertain and therefore I think over thinking a film like this is unnecessary.

However this film was a hit and due to the commercial success caused the reemergence of the super hero film after the millennium and therefore deserves some recognition. It was important to the genre as a whole.

X-Men Trailer:

Sin City (2005) dir. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Sin City is a adaptation of the comic books of Frank Miller (who also co directed). From the very start of the project the film was intended to be a translation of the source material. This is quickly evident throughout the film where the shot composition is directly taken from panels of the comics. This is interesting because the shooting was filmed entirely using digital backdrops allowing the atmosphere and style that the original writer foresaw to remain intact.

I believe that this film should be put into our little vault because of the tireless consideration to remain true to the original works. As well as this Sin City also pushed the boundaries of what could be possible with digital filmmaking in the future and for this reason should also be commended.

Sin City Trailer:

Akira (1988) dir. Katsuhiro Otomo

Akira is a slightly diffrent addidtion to this archive due to the fact that its an animated feature. But this raises alot of interesting points. The fact that it is animated means that the film can closely represent the graphic novel in a visual standpoint.

However i am not choosing to put this on the list because of the likeness to the original. This is going up there because of the incredibly deep and moving story presented in the feature. One could write a dissertation on the influences and the references to post WW2 Japan and the cold war. It's brilliant, touching and heartfelt portrait of youth culture, delinquency, spirituality and Japan post war is something to be commended and these are my reasons for putting this onto my list.

Akira Trailer:

The Crow (1994)

The Crow is the story of Eric Draven (played by the late Brandon Lee in his final role) , a rock guitarist, who's is murdered after he walks in on the rape of his fiancee, who later dies in hospital after 30 hours of pain, by a gang on the infamous "Devil's Night". A year later Eric is brought back to life by a supernatural crow and tracks down and kills each gang member in the order they had raped and beaten his fiancee.

The film is based upon the graphic novel written by James O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his wife at the hands of a drunk driver. Although the film does deviate from the graphic novel it remainsfairly  faithful. It is a beautifully dark and tradgic film and trannfers the graphic novel's gothic, depressive and yet strangely up-lifting qualities that makes it so great.

This film has become a cult icon and rightly so in my eyes, I can certainly recommend it for our top ten. 

The Punisher (2004)

"The Punisher" is one of three adaptations of the comic book character and personally one of my favourite graphic novel adaptaions. Looseley base upon the 'Welcome Back Frank' and 'The Punisher: Year One' stories, the movie follows the origin story of The Punisher. FIB agent Frank Castle, played by Thomas Jane, is on his last undercover case before retirement. When a mob boss' son is acidentally killed, the mob boss, Howard Saint played by John Travolta, has Frank's entire extended family killed. After miraculously surviving Frank begins a campain to gain revenge upon Howard Saint.
The reason I like this is so much is that it draws so much from the source material, a lot of the scenes are straight from the comic books and graphic novels ( as shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJOaS2w9TPQ and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqF2ustWSws ) This is exactly what I expect from an adaptation of a graphic novel and comic book adaptation, a great amalgam of various different scenes, storylines and characters from the comic books and grapic novel.
I think this is a truely great adaptation and I highly recommend it for the top ten graphic novel adaptations.