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Best Based on graphic novel Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of based on graphic novel cinema — measured across 2,094 indexed frames from 26 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Based on graphic novel films over-index on cape, handgun and rain — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two (2021)

    Chris PalmerIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    The killer known as Holiday continues to stalk the Falcone crime family while a new class of costumed criminal rises in Gotham City. Batman suspects that a former ally might be the serial killer.

  2. 2

    Sin City (2005)

    Robert Rodriguez, Frank MillerDP Robert RodriguezIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.

  3. 3

    Batman: Year One (2011)

    Sam Liu, Lauren MontgomeryIMDb 7.4TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    Two men come to Gotham City: Bruce Wayne after years abroad feeding his lifelong obsession for justice and Jim Gordon after being too honest a cop with the wrong people elsewhere. After learning painful lessons about the city's corruption on its streets and police department respectively, this pair learn how to fight back their own way. With that, Gotham's evildoers from top to bottom are terrorized by the mysterious Batman and the equally heroic Gordon is assigned to catch him by comrades who both hate and fear him themselves. In the ensuing manhunt, both find much in common as the seeds of an unexpected friendship are laid with additional friends and rivals helping to start the legend.

  4. 4

    Road To Perdition (2002)

    Sam MendesDP Conrad HallIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    1931. Mike Sullivan and Connor Rooney are two henchmen of elderly downstate IL-based Irish-American mobster John Rooney, Connor's father. In many respects, John treats Mike more as his son, who he raised as his own after Mike was orphaned, than the volatile Connor, who nonetheless sees himself as the heir apparent to the family business. One evening, Mike's eldest son, twelve year old Michael Sullivan Jr., who has no idea what his father does for a living, witnesses Connor and his father gun down an associate and his men, the situation gone wrong initiated from an action by Connor. Caught witnessing the incident, Michael is sworn to secrecy about what he saw. Regardless, Connor, not wanting any loose ends, makes an attempt to kill Mike, his wife and their two sons. Mike and the surviving members of his family know that they need to go on the run as Connor, who has gone into hiding, will be protected through mob loyalty, especially by John, who cannot turn on his own flesh and blood. Still, Mike has to figure out a way for retribution for what Connor did, while still protecting him and his family, not only from Connor, but from John and his fellow associates. Through it all, Mike wants those in his family that had no say in what he chose as a living, to have some redemption for their eternal souls.

  5. 5

    Wanted (2008)

    Timur BekmambetovDP Mitchell AmundsenIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Doormat Wesley Gibson is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. He meets an attractive woman named Fox and discovers that his recently murdered father - whom Wesley never knew - belonged to the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins which takes its orders from Fate itself. Fox and Sloan, the Fraternity's leader, teach Wesley, through intense training, to tap into dormant powers and hone his innate killing skills. Though he enjoys his newfound abilities, he begins to suspect that there is more to the Fraternity than meets the eye.

  6. 6

    The Empty Man (2020)

    David PriorDP Anastas N. MichosIMDb 6.2TMDB 6.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.

  7. 7

    Polar (2019)

    Jonas ÅkerlundDP Pär M. EkbergIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    A retiring assassin suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of a hit, contracted by none other than his own employer seeking to cash in on the pensions of aging employees.

  8. 8

    300 (2007)

    Zack SnyderDP Larry FongIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes led a Army of well over 100,000 (Persian king Xerxes before war has about 170,000 army) men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans. Xerxes waited for 10 days for King Leonidas to surrender or withdraw but left with no options he pushed forward. After 3 days of battle all the Greeks were killed. The Spartan defeat was not the one expected, as a local shepherd, named Ephialtes, defected to the Persians and informed Xerxes that the separate path through Thermopylae, which the Persians could use to outflank the Greeks, was not as heavily guarded as they thought.

  9. 9

    The Killer (2023)

    David FincherDP Erik MesserschmidtIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Solitary, cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, a killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. Yet, the longer he waits, the more he thinks he's losing his mind, if not his cool.

  10. 10

    300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

    Noam MurroDP Simon DugganIMDb 6.2TMDB 6.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    After its victory over Leonidas' 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes marches towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes' army, bases its strength on its fleet, led by admiral Themistocles. Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta whose might lies with its superior infantry troops. But Xerxes still reigns supreme in numbers over sea and land.

What based on graphic novel films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a based on graphic novel frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — cape is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • cape7.5×
  • handgun3.9×
  • rain3.5×
  • trench coat2.9×
  • mustache2.7×
  • snow2.6×
  • blood2.2×
  • suit2.0×

How based on graphic novel films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate based on graphic novel from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 11%low anglevs 5% baseline
  • 10%high anglevs 6% baseline
  • 26%naturalvs 44% baseline
  • 31%dayvs 43% baseline
  • 56%nightvs 42% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 2,094 frames from 26 films carrying the based on graphic novel label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/based-on-graphic-novel

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used