Top 5 Comic Book Movies of 2012! (Pour on the Geek Sauce)

You guys seemed to like the idea of me listing down the best (check out my horror edition here) of movies, so I guess I'm going to do more until the year officially wraps up. This time, we pour on some geek sauce and list down the best comic book movies released in 2012. And if you dared asking, no, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance didn't make it. You should have known better than that.

Anyway, here goes.

5. CHRONICLE

I know what you're thinking: NOT A COMIC BOOK MOVIE! True. But Josh Trank's dark super hero-ish movie plays a lot like one. Told in the enduring found-footage fashion, Chronicle follows a trio of high school seniors from Seattle as they obtain a mysterious life force, making them TK (TeleKinetic). Not necessarily epic in proportions, the movie delves deep on heroism, teenage angst and well, moving things around.

4. DREDD

Pete Travis (Vantage Point) gives a visual smorgasbord and a taut and violence-filled narrative in Dredd, an adapted screen version of the comic. I can't stress the great similarity of the plot with Indonesia's The Raid: Redemption, when Judge Dredd (Karl Urban, Star Trek) is assigned to bring order in a freakishly tall building where on top is a "Slo-Mo" drug queen Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) awaits for a chance for her malevolent retort.

3. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

There's a lot of hate in here, and I completely grasp. But (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb has crafted a fairly humane depiction of Peter Parker's (Andrew Garfield, The Social Network) story. He beckons the indie spirit and it's a breath of complete fresh air. People who are stuck loving Sam Raimi's trilogy (who could blame them) obviously couldn't agree on this.

2. THE AVENGERS

Marvel's The Avengers is the merging of superheroes (and villains) we loved from the previous films. Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Cabin in the Woods), Cap (Chris Evans, Fantastic Four), Iron-Man (Robert Downey, Jr., Sherlock Holmes) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island) all assemble. Directed by Joss Whedon, the movie follows the Avengers in a plight, caused by the murderous Loki (Tom Hiddleston, The Deep Blue Sea), that endangers humankind. 

Your ticket is technically a bargain. A handful of heroes in one movie is a rare event. But the selling point is the whole material, expertly handled by the godfather of superhero movies, 'sir Whedon.

1. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Of course you saw this coming.

The grand conclusion to Christopher Nolan's (Momento) Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises is scrupulously helmed, well-nigh surpassing the astounding second entry to the series. The addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper) is towering as it is intriguing; he is involved in an open-ended ending that leaves good opportunities to expand DC's cinematic universe.