Bangkok Post

Let down by Wonder Woman 1984? Here are 6 other great superhero movies

- NOEL MURRAY NYT

Warner Bros recently released the coronaviru­s-delayed Wonder Woman 1984, a sequel to the 2017 hit Wonder Woman. The action-adventure movie has done relatively well at the box office (in places where theatres are open), even though it’s also available for a limited time on the streaming service HBO Max.

But compared with the enthusiast­ic response to the first movie, the sequel has drawn a mixed reaction, with some critics and comic book fans complainin­g about the film’s unlikely plot and lengthy running time.

So for those who felt let down by Woman 1984, here are six other superhero options to stream — from the widely beloved and popular to films that never received the big audiences they deserved.

Darkman

A little over a decade before director Sam Raimi was entrusted with the 2002 blockbuste­r Spider-Man, he made his own twisted, R-rated version of a Marvel Comics movie, about a mad scientist driven by tragedy to become a vigilante, disguised in an artificial skin that dissolves in sunlight. Anchored by

a zesty Liam Neeson performanc­e (getting an early start on the “capable hero out for blood” screen persona he’s mastered in recent years), Darkman combines elements of old Universal monster movies, gritty 1970s superhero comics and slapstick comedy. Although it’s rated R and not appropriat­e for younger viewers, the movie is a true original.

Fast Color

In some of the most haunting superhero stories, the powerful dwell among us in the ordinary world, devoid of costumes or code names. One of the best known of these is M Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakabl­e. Film buffs who love that film should definitely catch up with writer-director Julia

Hart’s similarly low-boil Fast Color, about a family of women who hide their extraordin­ary abilities from a government agency that wants to exploit them. Hart and co-writer/ producer Jordan Horowitz add their own spin on this classic genre premise by focusing on human relationsh­ips and small moments of wonder.

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