How British Filmmakers Are Saving Comic Book Movies

It's been a long time coming, but X-Men: First Class finally touched down in cinemas this week to near unanimous critical praise -- indeed, writers have been inventing superlatives to describe its awesomeness (see?), while fans are falling over themselves to see it. In short, it's a triumph: without doubt one of the very best superhero movies ever made.

The reasons for the movie's brilliance are myriad. Great casting. Cool '60s setting. January Jones in a bra. But one element of First Class may get overlooked when it comes to cracking the secret of its success -\- the assured direction of Matthew Vaughn. The helmer, as you'll know if you saw Layer Cake, is a Brit, and he's just one of a long line of limeys who are taking the superhero genre by the scruff of the neck and giving it the shake-up it sorely needs.

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Genuine Class

In the case of X-Men: First Class, Vaughn was given a helping hand -- there was already a screenplay in place when he came on board (after famously ducking out on X-Men: The Last Stand) and his characters were already well fleshed-out. But, together with co-writer and fellow Brit Jane Goldman, he took a moribund superhero franchise (we can stop pretending X-Men Origins: Wolverine was acceptable now, right?) and breathed new life into it. That groovy, Bond-esque flavor to First Class is no accident - it's a style in the arsenal of every British filmmaker who grew up with 007 as their cultural icon. Would someone like Brett Ratner have struck the right balance between camp and cool? We doubt it.


Vaughn, who also turned down Thor, may not have been offered First Class if it wasn't for his sterling work on Kick-Ass - another terrific movie torn from the pages of a comic book. Scottish scribe Mark Millar provided the groundwork, but Vaughn fought tooth and nail to get Kick-Ass to the screen with its own ass un-kicked by the studio suits. His faith in the material not only led to a huge movie, but to talk of a sequel - and it's no surprise there's already chatter of another outing for First Class.

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Ken-do Attitude

It's been a banner year for superhero movies thus far. Also on the hit list? Thor, possibly the trickiest concept to sell to studios and one of the most complex characters on Marvel's roster. A story which literally encompassed Heaven and Earth and gods and monsters would need a director with a steady hand; one for whom the word "epic" was a manageable concept and not just a lame adjective. His appointment raised eyebrows at the time, but Kenneth Branagh couldn't have been more perfect a choice in retrospect.


What a character like Thor needed was a sense of importance - a grasp of the sheer magnitude of his actions and how they would be portrayed in a genre that can generate giggles instead of gravitas. Branagh, of course, is a dab-hand at tackling stories of familial betrayal and language most florid, with five Shakespeare adaptations under his belt. Branagh's handling of the Norse God of Thunder was almost impeccable - suddenly, the superhero genre had another string to its bow. Who says you can't have huge, sweeping, serious dramas that also happen to have Frost Giants and magic hammers?

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Bats Entertainment

It's entirely possible we wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for one man: Christopher Nolan. The London-born director's contribution to the superhero genre can simply not be overstated - he took a dead franchise, left face-down in the mud by Joel Schumacher, and made it vital again. In just two movies, Nolan banished all memories of Batman & Robin and crafted a billion-dollar franchise - despite the good work of Tim Burton,

The Dark Knight is surely now the definitive Batman movie. Could you imagine the uproar if Nolan handed over The Dark Knight Rises reigns to another director? There'd be outrage, not least on these very chat boards. You know you'd be there, flaming torch in one hand, pitchfork in the other.

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Pilgrim's Progress

Consider also the new breed of young British directors on the up-and-up, for whom comic books were a way of life. Self-styled mega-geek Edgar Wright's whizz-bang adaptation of Scott Pilgrim lost none of its fizzle from page-to-screen, which leads us to believe he'll do a bang up job making an Ant-Man movie. And how about writing partner Joe Cornish, who brought such urgency to his debut feature, Attack The Block, and helped pen Steven Spielberg's take on comic book legend Tintin - surely he's due a superhero franchise of his own soon? Are you reading, Marvel?

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There's never been a better time to be a Brit director in Hollywood. The superhero movie is big business again, British filmmakers have their pick of the flicks and British men are playing Batman, Superman and Spider-Man - pretty much the holy trinity when it comes to comic book characters.

If Vaughn, Branagh, Nolan and friends can maintain this high level of quality in the genre, then maybe - just maybe - British film can once again be known for something other than cockney gangster flicks and period dramas. Excelsior!

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