Flashback 2008: The 9 Summer Blockbusters That Made It a Year to Remember
The summer cinema of 2008 was an incredible time for blockbusters. Superhero films were reaching their pique with DC Comics and Marvel Comics hitting home runs at the box office. Old favorites returned to inject some classic magic back onto theater screens. And there was no shortage of fantasy and sci-fi to which you could take the whole family.
It's hard to describe just how thrilling it was to go to the theater week after week with these exciting pictures gracing the big screen. You just had to be there. But if you couldn't be there due to prior engagements or the unfortunate timing of your birth, here are nine films you can stream to recreate the experience.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Continuing from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe , the second Narnia film, Prince Caspian , served up some fantasy action for the summer. The Pevensie children return to the hidden realm of Narnia, where 1,300 years have passed. With King Miraz bringing war to the land, the children must team up with Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) to once more restore peace to the magical world within a wardrobe.
Although not as wondrous as the previous film, Prince Caspian still boasted plenty of eye-popping visual effects and more blood-pumping fights for family viewing. It was a gamble for Disney to shift the Narnia book series from Christmas to summer (given how perfect the first film was for the 2005 holiday season), and it didn't exactly pay off at the box office. That said, it's far more intense than the previous film and was a solid PG family adventure film, ensuring the littlest audience members wouldn't be left out of the action that summer.
Pineapple Express
Director David Gordon Green made a wild shift from touching dramas to stoner comedy with Pineapple Express . Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) has his buzz totally harshed when witnessing a murder. This leads him down a dangerous road where his dealer (James Franco) and his supplier (Danny McBride) become his only allies in an absurd murder plot of hitmen, cops, and plenty of weed.
Fusing action, comedy, and drugs, Pineapple Express was an odd little comedy that further solidified the comedic screenwriting talents of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Although not as biting as their other films ( Superbad , This is the End ), there were some solid weed-fueled gags and slapstick for this picture, including a great scene where kicking out windshield glass only worsens a tense situation.
Death Race
While the original Death Race 2000 was a goofy romp, the 21st-century remake of Death Race was equal parts grit and camp. When Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for murder, his only hope of getting out of prison comes in the form of a vicious race to the death. This is no normal race, however, as the cars are armed to the teeth and the drivers are willing to brutalize for a chance at breaking out of the big house.
Although not as cartoonish as its predecessor, there's some fast-paced and tongue-in-cheek carnage to delight in this chrome and crass revision. Sharing more DNA with the video game Twisted Metal , there's a different kind of thrill for scenes of exploding cars, obliterated drivers, and trucks with machine guns. It's mindless metal madness at its bonkers best!
The Incredible Hulk
Although the iconic green hero had a stumbling adaptation early in the 2000s, The Incredible Hulk perfectly primed the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) still struggles to conceal his transformation into the monstrous Hulk, hoping to keep his rage at bay. But his Hulk side will have to come out amid the arrival of the commando Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and his ability to transform into the towering monster, Abomination.
Director Louis Leterrier did a solid job infusing this version of the Hulk with horror. Banner's transformations are treated with terror, and the presence of the grotesque Abomination makes him a necessary beast. The only thing more exciting than the carnage-infused action scenes was the post-credit prospect of the angry green giant joining the ranks of the Avengers.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008 marked the long-awaited return of Harrison Ford to his iconic leading role of Indiana Jones. For Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , an older Indy gets used to the 1950s and is thrown into a plot involving alien skulls. While jumping back into his usual adventure hallmarks, he must deal with his old flame Marion (Karen Allen) and his grown son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf).
Helmed once more by director Steven Spielberg, there are plenty of thrilling sequences in this fourth Indy film worthy of its salute to adventure serials. Although Ford still has that gruff edge for the whip-wielding hero, there's something so intoxicating about Cate Blanchett's performance as a villainous Soviet agent. It was a solid return for the globetrotting adventure saga, where you just can't beat that exciting music by John Williams.
Tropic Thunder
Hollywood actors are skewered in the fish-out-of-water absurdity of Tropic Thunder , where a movie director drops his stuffy actors into an actual warzone to make his war film more authentic. But when the director is killed upon arrival, the unsuspecting actors soon realize they're no longer on a movie set and must learn to fight independently.
Director Ben Stiller crafted one of the edgiest comedies of summer 2008. The casting alone was remarkable, convincing Robert Downey Jr. to play an actor portraying a Black character and Tom Cruise to play a short-fused executive. Loaded with uproarious action and hilarious Hollywood satire (including some pitch-perfect mockery of trailers), Stiller's daring nature is at its fullest in this comedy that knows how to push the envelope.
WALL-E
Given its premise and minimal dialogue, WALL-E is not the type of animated film you would expect from Pixar. The film follows the titular boxy robot stacking trash on a desolate Earth, whose inhabitants have long since fled to live lives of excess on cruise ships in space. When WALL-E falls in love with the high-tech robot, EVA, he is flung into a space adventure where he learns what happened to humans.
Disney was bold in granting Pixar a chance to make a challenging sci-fi film that targets consumerism and climate change. While the adventures of robots in love are compelling enough, the insightful social commentary is as vocal as it is easy enough for family audiences to digest. Coupled with the incredible animation Pixar is always known for, WALL-E ended up being my favorite animated film of 2008, making it no surprise it received a Criterion Collection release .
Iron Man
Audiences had been getting a taste of Marvel movies for years, but I don't think anybody was ready for how incredible Iron Man was. Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect fit for the hero of Tony Stark, a pompous playboy who reforms himself into the metal-suited superhero. As he plans to use his tech for good, his rival, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), has darker plans for developing dangerous weapons.
Iron Man was an immediately engaging superhero film for what was essentially the Big Bang of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Downey's effortless mixture of comedy into this showy special effects adventure set the perfect tone for future Marvel films with its biting nature and rip-roaring action. While the post-credit scene was tantalizing for suggesting the formation of the Avengers, the film itself is just a charming and thrilling dose of robot action and clever character chemistry.
The Dark Knight
After Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins got audiences excited about Batman again, The Dark Knight was one of the best Batman movies ever made. With Gotham City thrown into chaos with the presence of The Joker (Heath Ledger, in one of his last roles before his death), it's up to Batman (Christian Bale) to stop this unflinching villain and his explosive schemes. But Joker's tricks start racking up a severe body count as the carnage overflows into Bruce Wayne's personal friendships.
The arrival of The Dark Knight marked the hottest time at the cinema, with audiences returning week after week. The IMAX-shot action was incredible, the tone was extra dark with Hans Zimmer's nail-biting score, and Ledger delivering an unforgettable role, despite dying before the film's release. It was the must-watch movie of summer 2008 and remains one of that year's best films.
The films of the summer of 2008 were special, with an abundance of genre pictures comparable only to 1982 ( E.T. , Tron , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ). While some films have become more iconic than others, I still have some warm memories of these thrilling summer flicks. It was packed with original films, robust comic book adaptations, and nostalgia that didn't feel ubiquitous or stale just yet. It's worth returning to that era, especially if you want to see where superhero movies really started to take off.
