Favorite summer blockbuster?
 

The question posed to you is: What is your all-time favorite summer action film?

Tough call. I have to go with a tie between Independence Day and Jurassic Park. I think both those films showcase the huge special effects extravaganza we've come to expect while also sticking with the heroes in peril plotline exceptionally well.

I love Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2. I think those two films are some of the best of the decade but I just don't think of them as your typical summer blockbuster films. To each his own though.

My favorite movie of all time is Jaws so I guess technically, that's my answer. Unfortunately, I wasn't born when it was released so I never got to see it in the Theater.

My second answer is Independence Day. Not a great movie by any stretch, but I don't remember having so much fun watching a movie in the theater as I did with ID4.

Terminator 2 also blew me away. Can't think of too much better than me being a 12 year old boy watching T2 for the first time!

For me it was definitely T2. Was completely blown away by it in the theater. Is still one of my favorite movies of all time and the special effects still hold up to this day. Saw it 5 times in the theater over the summer.

I'll also cast my vote for T2, probably the only summer movie in existence to live up to its enormous hype as well as being a kickass movie and great sequel.

That's my first and only answer. I'm one of probably very few that flat-out loves that film. I spent all summer 1996 in one air conditioned theater after another watching it. I loved it then and I still love it. If I had the money, I'd jump right into BluRay now that the disc just came out on the format and was just reviewed here.

Batman(1989), it was one of the great summer blockbuster films of the last 25 years, I was only about 8 when it came out, but I remember how big Batman was that summer.

Action - Raiders of the Lost Ark easily

All-Time fave - Jaws

I was the same age. I had the movie logo poster in my room and it would actually scare me at night!

Recently, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It sums up everything I like about summer movies.

Jurassic Park, to date, is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen. And ID4? I fell asleep watching it in the theatre. On opening night. At 9pm.

I think I'd have to go with Jurassic Park. I was 11 when it came out, and saw it three times in the theater. All the elements worked for me--the thrills, humor, the music, everything.

My second favorite would have to be The Rock. I was on the edge of my seat during that whole San Francisco chase scene. Again, just a fun movie.

Funny enough, I haven't seen any of those Pirate movies and never will. Complete lack of interest.

Good one!
I've got a special place in my heart for The Rock. Any time I need to cheer myself up I just pop the DVD into my player and I automatically feel better (it's without a doubt my most watched DVD). Great summer movie!

it's funny you say that, because I feel the same way. it's a "feel good" action movie, LOL.

Jurassic Park was disappointing? I'm curious what you were expecting.

Jurassic Park is disappointing if you read the book first. I finished up the book right before I saw it in theatres. But I wasn't disappointed. The dinosaurs were jaw-dropping.

Bus, Dead Man's Chest over Black Pearl? Talk about disappointing! :)

Speed

I have too many Summer Blockbusters that I love to list them all.

Nope, I'm trying to pare the list down, but I can't keep it under 20...

Well, Saving Private Ryan was released in the Summer, so that would have been my choice. But this thread appears to be focused on the more traditional action fare. So I think I'll have to go with Terminator 2 also. I was 13 when I saw that one in theaters and was in awe.

I also remember waiting in an enormously long line on opening day for Independence Day. I don't think I've seen more people in that mall in my entire life. That one ranks up there for great Summer blockbuster experiences.

Spider-man, Phantom Menace, Star Wars Original Trilogy Special Editions, Bourne Ultimatum, Gladiator, War of the Worlds '05, Men in Black, Twister were a few more of my favorites.

For me it's easy a little movie from 1977 I think it was Star Wars.
I was 6 year-old and the only one who was not a sleep(in a station-wagon)at the drive-end.
But my all-time fav is not summer flim but I love every moment of Superman The Movie 1978.
It was such a great time growin-up in the 70's!!!

Yeah I could agree with you there.

I love Jurassic Park and it's definitely my favorite summer blockbuster (if you don't count Jaws) but a few more similarities to the book would have been nice.

I'm not one of these guys that try to compare the movie to the book down to the very last drop because I think that's unfair...movies and books are two different mediums. However, even though the movie was good and entertaining, it was missing a lot of cool things from the book.

i really enjoyed "Spider-Man 2" & "PotC:CotBP" as 2 recent summer blockbusters. there are older ones that i have yet to recall.

a tie between Batman and Independence Day


reason being... some people even sat in the aisle to watch the movie

Jaws, by far. If you haven't seen it in a dark theater you've really missed something. Several times every one in the theater shrieked & jumped from their seats in unison. It was opening Saturday night and no one knew or had heard any spoilers and it was an experience like no other.

Jurassic Park was missing a lot of "grit" from the book. Had Spielberg made the movie ten years later, I think it would've come out a lot less "clean" and more in the style of his recent movies. But then again, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull looks really "clean" so that's no guarantee.

I'm not referring to violence or kid-friendliness, just a sort of veneer of fabrication, like the "old ruins" you see at theme parks before you go on an Aztec roller coaster or water ride, for example.

Jurassic Park is not a fun book. It has a lot of action and adventure, and a semi-happy ending (the kids don't die or anything), but the movie threw out a lot of the mystery and intrigue and focused too much on, say, the CGI of the dinosaurs.

The movie isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. But it's just not as good as the book. If it was more in line with the book, I think it would be a better movie.

To date, I've not left a movie with a more sour taste in my mouth.

Dead Man's Chest was a great ride, start to finish. Black Pearl I almost fell asleep in. My brother and sister were also bored and almost didn't want to see the sequel.

I'll point out that Dead Man's Chest made a hell of a lot more money than its successor or its predecessor.

One of the rare cases where I think the market spoke correctly. :)