Showing posts with label DC Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC Comics. Show all posts
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| Superman carries Lois Lane to safety, naturally |
Shot to Earth as an infant from dying Krypton by his father, scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe), Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is adopted by the Kents and faces his greatest challenge before he's even begun his career as Superman proper: General Zod (Michael Shannon), an evil Krptonian despot, has escaped from the Phantom Zone and wants the codex that can make Krypton live again. Unfortunately, this will result in Earth and its inhabitants being destroyed. Superman sets out to stop him with the aid of the military, but it's an uphill battle. There's the germ of a good idea in Man of Steel, but its execution is highly disappointing. The story isn't told in a linear fashion but is interrupted with frequent annoying flashbacks, giving the whole project a disjointed continuity that pulls you out of the story instead of pulling you in. There are also some pretty stupid moments, such as when Johnathan Kent (Kevin Costner) simply allows himself to die so that Superman won't reveal himself too soon [even though Superman can move super-fast, and the awful effect Kent's death will have on his wife]! The prologue on Krypton is overlong and relatively uninteresting, and dead Jor-El (or rather his "consciousness") seems to pop up all the time more to make use of Crowe than for any other logical reason. The movie has a kind of Marvel X-Men flavor to it, especially in Superman's uneasy relationship with the authorities. Handsome Cavill strikes the right note as a Superman at the very start of his career, but the rest of the casting is problematic. A lady reporter doesn't always have to be aggressive and perky to a fault, but Amy Adams is a bit too drab as Lois Lane. Laurence Fishburne as an African-Amerrican Perry White is adequate, but he wasn't that great as a leading man, let alone a character actor. Crowe, Costner, and Diane Lane as Martha Kent are okay, but Christopher Meloni quit Law and Order: Special Victims Unit for only a small role as an Army man? You don't really see enough of Ayelet Zurer to judge her performance as the evil Krptonian Lara Lor-Van. As Zod, Shannon isn't bad, but he's somewhat lacking in dramatic flair but for a couple of sequences [after all, this is a comic book movie, not a drama, and a little overplaying is allowable]. The best thing in the movie -- and virtually the only time it really comes alive -- is when Zod and Superman take to the skies and have a lively, protracted fight to the death. Otherwise, this Man of Steel rarely flies. The original Christopher Reeve version may have had its flaws, but it was better than this. Man of Steel is about on the level of the equally disappointing Superman Returns. As I predicted Man of Steel is much less entertaining than the excellent animated feature, Superman vs. the Elite. Cavill will reprise the role of Superman in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman, and will also play Napoleon Solo in the big-screen version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; he was also in the crappy Immortals.
Verdict: The really great Superman movie has yet to be made. **1/2.
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| Senior Batman vs eternally young Superman |
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS Part One/Part Two (/Video/2012 - 2013). Director: Jay Oliva.
Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, this two-part animated feature looks at the dark side and older years of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Batman has not appeared in Gotham city for a decade, but the threat of a homicidal gang that calls itself the Mutants, and whose activities are becoming more and more violent, bring him out of retirement. Eventually this brings him into conflict with the Gotham police department, which gets a new female commissioner in part two, and then with Superman in the final sequences. Taking care of the Mutants with blunt brutality, something the police were not able to do, makes the now-senior Batman a hero in the eyes of some Gothamites, and a fascist in others, such as the Joker's nutty psychiatrist, who thinks Batman is the real sociopath and is responsible for villains like the Joker. This is all played out before a backdrop of social and political commentary. A new, very young female Robin named Carrie at first seems like a frivolous character, as she comes out of nowhere and seems to have had absolutely no training, but she grows on you after awhile. There's more than one suggestion that the Joker in this might be gay -- his final confrontation with Batman is in a Tunnel of Love! -- as well as other sexually ambiguous characters, but whether this is to give them added color or is mere LGBT exploitation is debatable. [One villainess has a butch haircut and swastikas painted on her naked, substantial breasts!] Peter Weller makes a fine Batman, with David Selby also notable as Commissioner Gordon, and other voice roles are well cast.The animation is fluid and Oliva's direction is fast-paced and cinematic. This is not your father's Batman.
Verdict: Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes childish, but it holds the attention. ***.
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| Brainiac versus Superman |
Based on a graphic novel, this full-length animated feature details Superman and Supergirl's battle with the alien villain Brainiac, who shrinks and steals cities from around the galaxy; Supergirl's home town Kandor is now in a bottle on his spaceship, which is actually an extension of himself. [Brainiac first appeared in more human form in Superman comics of the silver age.] Sub-plots have to do with Supergirl's fear over going into combat with the powerful alien. as well as Clark Ken'ts relationship with Lois Lane, which the two are keeping secret [leading one character to suggest that Kent is gay in a stupid bit]. Superman has a fierce, final battle with Brainiac while Supergirl handles a deadly missile. Superman: Unbound has fluid animation and is typically colorful, but there's nothing very impressive about it, either. Certainly this isn't terrible but it doesn't have the quality nor the interesting storyline of Superman vs. The Elite. Matt Bomer is fine as Superman/Clark Kent.
Verdict: Disappointing comic book adaptation. **1/2.
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| Eboard vs Barry: Reverse-Flash tries to kill the Flash |
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX (2013 video animated feature). Director: Jay Oliva.
Based on a DC Comics mini-series entitled Flashpoint, this shows what unexpectedly happens when super-speedster the Flash (Barry Allen) goes back in time to prevent his mother's murder at the hands of his nemesis from the future, the Reverse-Flash (Eboard Thane). He has many more years with his mother, but the rippling effect creates a new reality in which Atlantis [ruled by Aquaman] is at war with the Amazons headed by Wonder Woman, with the whole world being slowly decimated by the violent conflict. In this new reality, Bruce Wayne was killed as a boy and it is his father, Thomas Wayne, who is a grizzled, ruthless and middle-aged Batman. And there are other changes as well. Frankly this adaptation gets a little confusing even if you've read the comics [apparently Aquaman and WW simply have an affair in this version while in the comics they nearly get married], but it has enough exciting moments to hold your attention. Some of the faces look a little too much like what you'd see in anime, and Cary Elwes is perhaps not the best choice to do the voice for Aquaman. C. Thomas Howell is fine as Reverse-Flash, however, as is Justin Chambers as Barry Allen and Kevin McKidd as Batman. One of the most magical moments has the Flash happily traveling at high speed, flying really, across the city at the end.
Verdict: For comics, super-hero and animation fans. ***.
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| Superman and Lois Lane have a moment |
This is a feature length animated film based on the comic book mini-series of the same name. Rescuing some people in space, Superman is told that he absorbed radiation that is slowly killing him, something that was, of course, engineered by arch enemy Lex Luthor. Like the series, this is episodic, but eliminates some of the stupider sequences of the comic, such as the protracted business with the Bizarro duplicates, although the silly sequence with macho meathead time travelers "Atlas" and "Samson" remains. The sequence with the Parasite -- who is especially monstrous looking in this -- in jail has been expanded and is exciting. There are also two Kryptonian astronauts who were lost in space but now represent a danger to earth, an energy creature named Solaris, and Luthor's nasty niece Nasthalthia. James Denton, Christina Hendricks and Anthony LaPaglia all give good voice performances as, respectively, Superman, Lois Lane, and Luthor.
Verdict: Okay, but watch the excellent Superman vs. the Elite instead. **1/2.
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| A few members of the mighty Justice League |
JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR (direct-to-video animated feature/2014). Director: Jay Oliva.
In 2012 DC Comics decided to reboot its entire line of comic books, including Superman, Batman, and Justice League of America, basically starting at the beginning and picking and choosing what would stay in continuity and what wouldn't. This animated feature film is based on the first few issues of the new Justice League comic book, and details the birth of the hero Cyborg (Shemar Moore), the first face-to-face meeting of Batman and Superman (not to mention Green Lantern), and the introduction of the new butch warrior Wonder Woman, who is somewhat scary. There's also Captain Marvel, who joins the others to take on the threat of Jack Kirby's creations Darkseid, his lieutenant DeSaad, and a whole slew of monstrous "parademons." The animation is fluid, the direction good, but the parademons don't make the most interesting antagonists, and there seems to be more of them than of Darkseid, although the villain does get his licks in during a big-time battle at the end. Superman and the Justice League's fight with Darkseid in the Superman cartoon program was more entertaining. You can read about the origins of many of these heroes in The Silver Age of Comics.
Verdict: Colorful and fast-paced, if strictly for Justice League fanatics. **1/2.