Fans of Bruce Timm’s take on the DC Universe might show up hoping for a fresh look at the interplay between these two iconic characters. Look elsewhere. Public Enemies is yet another disappointing direct-to-DVD Feature out of the house that Timm built. At its inception, Public Enemies is disadvantaged, based as it is on a hard-to-swallow story of Lex-Luthor as president and both Batman and Superman as persona non grata. Despite the high-flying premise, Public Enemies takes barely a moment to explore (or even explain) its world. Instead, it rushes from action scene to action scene before ending abruptly. Not recommended.
Posts Tagged superhero
Sherlock Holmes
Jan 1
Sherlock suffers from the delusion that if you squint hard enough, its titular literary character kinda-sorta resembles the Tony Stark of Scotland Yard. The result is an impotently indecisive movie: cowardly with its desperate overseasoning of the fiction with non-sequitur martial arts and love interests, but too talky and long (2.5 hours) to be proper popcorn. I won’t praise Robert Downey Jr.’s quirky performance as Holmes because I’ve seen him (and Johnny Depp) play this part a million times already. And everyone else is boring and forgettable.
The story is the expected hackwork involving secret societies bent on vague world domination. Those looking for a clever mystery should flee. Instead of proper clues, twists or solutions, Sherlock hides behind the lazy and arcane trivium straight out of 1960’s Batman. That plant produces a little-known toxin, don’t you know?
Sherlock is not offensively bad. But it is such a wasted opportunity that it is offensively average.
too saddled with weak, desperate attempts to “spice up” the fiction with irritatingly non-sequitur martial arts and love interests to be much good.
Wonder Woman
Jan 1
New entries in Bruce Timm’s take on the DC Comics Universe keep coming at a regular clip, even if their quality is a bit spotty. Wonder Woman retells the origin story of its eponymous star-spangled amazon with respectable results. WW is beautifully animated and the action retains the impact to which Timm fans have become accustomed. As with most DC direct-to-video, Wonder Woman wrestles with a claustrophobic run-time, leaving precious little time for characterization and a bit too much time for punches and kicks. Once again, see it if you’re a fan, but it will not convert you otherwise.
A live action version of the cartoon, G.I. Joe feels depressingly like a love letter to Michael Bay. You know the drill, soldier: All shots of women start with the feet and pan up; One of the Wayans plays “the black guy” (except the other black guy); And there are merciless winking references to the animated series.
Make no mistake: G.I. Joe is bad, even painful. Still, in comparison to that other cartoon adaptation from Summer 2009, G.I. Joe is at least watchable. The action is surprisingly kinetic in most scenes (though the effects are startlingly inconsistent, as if the budget was slashed unexpectedly) and it is restrained enough to end before the 2 hour mark. If you must sink this low, it is better to watch this one than that one. My recommendation would be to watch neither.
I have been underwhelmed with DC Universe direct-to-video features since the end of Bruce Timm’s Justice League series. Green Lantern: First Flight is a return to form. GLFF retells the origin story of Hal Jordan, the first Green Lantern (not John Stewart, who took up the Green Lantern mantel in Justice League). The animation, action and acting are each top-notch and the story is surprisingly nuanced. GLFF is not a crossover movie–it won’t change the minds of anyone uninterested in watching animated superhero movies. For the rest of us, I highly recommend it.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Jan 1
Apparently disatisfied with the overly exhaustive treatment of Wolverine in the last three X-Men movies, Wolverine presents the title character’s origin story, with Hugh Jackman returning to don the adamantium claws.
Much like the most recent X-Men Movie (Last Stand), Wolverine manages to be more whimsical and entertaining than Bryan Singer’s oppressively boring X-Men films, but is nonetheless mind-numbingly dumb. The plot contorts itself into a nonsensical tangle of “twists,” ornamented with a relentless parade of unecessary cameos, each desperately praying for their own spin-off.
More fundamentally, it makes little sense to give Wolverine (a character conceived to be shrouded in mystery) an exhaustive origin story. The result is a somewhat incompetent execution of a movie that no one really asked for. Skippable unless you really must turn your brain off for an evening.
Hulk Vs. (2009)
Oct 25
Marvel continues its direct-to-video insurgence with a slightly different approach in “Hulk Vs.” Instead of a single full-length feature Hulk Vs. includes two short features, with Thor and Wolverine respectively. Hulk fans should not be misled by the title–the Hulk operates more as a setting for his counterpart than a per se character. Both features are very superficial, focusing more on satisfying action and humor than a clever or unique story. Still, Hulk Vs. is surprisingly entertaining. The Wolverine feature is particularly funny, and the fights are well choreographed without exception. Comic book fans should enjoy it.
Batman: Gotham Knight
Jul 23
Much like the Animatrix, Gotham Knight offers a direct-to-video series of animated shorts about Batman. Each of the vignettes is presented by a different notable Japanese Animation director and the animation shows it ranging from whimsical to highly sophisticated and flashy. Gotham Knight also follows in the footsteps of the Animatrix by being highly uneven. Some of the stories play with interesting concepts, while others are completely boring. None are great. Also, while several of the shorts in the Animatrix tie in closely to the plot of the Matrix sequels, all of the Gotham Knight stories exist in a vaccuum. Simply put, unless you are a truly hardcore Batman fan, there is no reason for you to pursue this movie.