The film also marked the acting debut of one Cameron Diaz who breaks into the film like a ’40s femme fatale, complete with a truly swinging swing number during the genre’s brief mainstream revival. It’s all the more remarkable since director Chuck Russell told us he had to fight for her casting.
Timecop (1994)
Dark Horse Comics had two adaptations in theaters in 1994, even if one is less obvious in its comic book roots. The movie is inspired by Dark Horse editor Mike Richardson, writer Mark Verheiden, and artist Ron Randall’s “Time Cop: A Man Out of Time” for the 1992 anthology series, Dark Horse Presents. Two years later, a movie version hit theaters, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as hero Max Walker and using the concept of a law enforcement agency for time travelers. Although Verheiden wrote the movie script, Timecop, directed by Peter Hyams, deviates heavily from the original comic. Yet given that Richardson commissioned the original story with an eye toward a movie adaptation (same with The Mask, incidentally), it’s hard to get upset at the differences.
Tank Girl (1995)
Although even Tank Girl creators Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett expressed disappointment in the 1996 movie based on their comic series, the film soon developed a cult following. It’s easy to see why the story of rebels in a post-apocalyptic world would resonate with viewers. Director Rachel Talalay, working from a script by Tedi Sarafian, gives Lori Petty plenty of space to play a punk agent of chaos. However, whenever the movie starts paying attention to its plot, which involves hideously rendered kangaroo men and Malcom McDowell doing his usual bad guy thing, Tank Girl moves as slowly as its titular vehicle. While Petty is still a delight today, the movie feels like a rough draft for the work that Margot Robbie would do as Harley Quinn decades later.
Judge Dredd (1995)
Objectively, Judge Dredd fails as an adaptation. Star Sylvester Stallone puts his screen presence over the character, which means that instead of playing a fascist law enforcer who never removes his mask, Stallone portrays, well, a standard Stallone action hero. Worse still, Judge Dredd belongs to that ignoble group of ’90s movies that featured Rob Schneider as a “funny” sidekick. Still, the oppressive mega-city set designs by Nigel Phelps remain pretty compelling, and the weird world that director Danny Cannon and his team create often feels like the mutant dystopia from the 2000 AD comics.
Black Mask (1995)
Like the other mask movie on this list, the superhero comedy Black Mask works as a comic book adaptation because its star provides all the special effects himself. Where Jim Carrey made the Mask antihero feel like a living cartoon, Jet Li‘s martial arts excellence brought to life the 1992 comic that inspired it. Li stars as a librarian who gains amazing abilities when a secret military operation chooses him as a test subject for a super soldier program. Director Daniel Lee creates a sense of place that falls in line with the other distinctive cities on this list, which gives Black Mask enough personality to stand out in Li’s filmography.
Barb Wire (1996)
The fact that Barb Wire adapts a little-known Dark Horse Comics story about a futuristic mercenary probably won’t convince anyone to check out the movie. Nor, really, would the fact that it stars Pamela Anderson, who spends the opening credits doing a striptease while being hosed down with water.
