Black Adam - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Black Adam

2022

Director: Juame Collet-Serra

 

The film opens with a prologue about slavery and freedom and how what turns out to be Black Adam’s son got his powers from the Wizard Shazam.  We’re then brought to present day in a fictional Arabic city which represents all the crappy Arabic cities in the world.  It is run by Intergang which has financial backings from Apokolips in the comics.  Black Adam is resurrected and crazy action goes down.  He takes out an entire army in seconds.  

 

Amanda Whaler pops on screen and starts talking to Hawkman about the Black Adam appearance.  We then get the boring ass DC ensemble cast introduction of the Justice Society.  For some reason DC is obsessed with character introductions whenever Amanda Whaler is a character in their films.  Why, why, why do they insist on doing this? It’s absolute torture and ruins films.  Stop dumbing down your story for the audience.  If you’re writing is good, they’ll figure it out as the story progresses.  

 

There’s a bunch of slow exposition which is vaguely attempted as character development.  The director does his best to try and keep in interesting by moving the characters and actors around.  It’s flashy smoke and mirrors trying to distract from poor writing. 

 

The Justice Society shows up and squares off against Black Adam while he’s doing his anti-hero thing.  Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman is a complete copy of Anthony Mackie’s Falcon from the MCU but let’s not dig too deep into that.  The Mackie impersonation makes Hodge’s character very likable.  The people of the city side with Black Adam instead of the Justice Society which makes sense because he’s actually fighting Intergang instead of saving them. 

 

Throughout the film we’re riddled with this annoying kid Amon Tomaz who basically reminds Black Adam of his son.  So Black Adam keeps saving him.  Also, Tomaz mother has some crown which will resurrect some evil yada yada McGuffin.  Every time Black Adam saves him, the kid appreciates it but has to toss some criticism at Black Adam.  Maybe don’t put yourself in danger all the time and Black Adam won’t have to save you, ever think of that dumbass? 

 

The film does not disappoint with the action which is what makes this a fun watch despite some weak story telling.  Amon Tomaz gets kidnapped.  Black Adam works his anti-hero mojo to try and find him and it pisses off most of the Justice Society.  They find the magic crown in the process.  The crown is to be offered as a trade from Amon Tomaz, during the exchange crap goes down and Amon Tomaz gets hurt but he’s basically okay.  This leads to the full backstory and we learn Black Adam’s son was the true hero and he gave his power to his dad which resulted in his son’s death. Black Adam bugs out, kills his oppressors, gets imprisoned by the Shazam wizards.  

 

Black Adam agrees to go into captivity via the Justice Society but the bad guy hasn’t been defeated yet.  So we all know he’s going to bust out and comeback to save the day. The question is how clumsily will this derivative plot point occur.  The evil King Sabbac rises up and the Justice Society cannot handle it.  Dr Fate sacrifices himself and convinces Black Adam to bust out of the cage he’s been in for like 15 minutes and fight Sabbac.  

 

Black Adam and Hawkman fight Sabbac together and destroy him.  The city is saved.  Black Adam vows to protect the city.  The credits roll, the mid credit scene Amanda Whaler has things to say to him about bullshit which doesn’t matter.  Henry Cavil’s Superman makes a cameo, instead of just his stunt double in a suit like in Shazam, implying we’d have some cool showdown between the two in another movie.  It never happens.  Instead it’s the last appearance to-date of Henry Cavil as Superman since DC decides to burn off their next few films and reboot their franchise from scratch at its conclusion.  

 

Black Adam certainly has its flaws but overall it’s not a terrible film.  The theme of having a hero who needs to do bad things is a horrible theme.  That’s what hurts this film.  The message is hard to support and also so heavy handed.  You can respect an anti-hero like in The Suicide Squad but having the need to justify a character’s actions makes for poor writing.  Bad guys can be bad and do good things.  If Black Adam was just a guy who distributed justice on his own terms without a boring lecture on his need to do so, it would have been a much better film for it.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 10

The Main Man Part 2

 

The follow-up episode is far superior to the origin episode.  Superman and Lobo are held captive by the Preserver since they are the last of their kind.  Superman tries to talk his way out but the Preserver refuses.  Superman is weak from the simulated red sun but uses his wits to break out of his cage.  Lobo begs for his help, Superman refuses but eventually agrees as long as Lobo doesn’t attack Earth ever again.  Lobo agrees to the terms.  

 

While navigating the ship they come across different perils and come up with creative ways to overcome them. Lobo is late on his initial bounty so a posse shows up to kill Lobo.  The Preserver lets them on the ship thinking it will work to his advantage.  

 

Superman bust into an enclosure which houses the dodo from Earth, get’s his strength back and beats up everyone.  As Lobo and Superman enter the ship hanger, the Preserver flips out and tries to kill them.  He’s insulted because they don’t want to live as captives on his ship forever.  The Preserver transforms into a huge monster, Superman and Lobo defeat him and go their separate ways. 

 

Twist(ish) ending, Superman takes all the creatures the Preserver had and keeps them in the Fortress of Solitude.  It’s supposed to be a sweet ending but there are a lot of undiscussed darker story elements that are glossed over.  

 

The Preserver has good intentions by taking creatures who are the last of their kind and keeping them safe on his ship.  As his name indicates, it seems like he preserves them, doesn’t collect them.  He wants to keep them safe.  He absolutely crosses a line by taking sentient beings.  When he’s killed by being thrown into the cold vacuum of space the creatures are left with no caretaker.  Lobo wants to abandon them.  Superman agrees to care for them.  Most likely guilt for his part in the Preserver’s death.  

 

Unfortunately by taking on these creatures, Superman doesn’t know their diets or habitat requirements.  It’s doubtful he can translate the Preserver’s language and get the data needed from the ship.  Where would Superman get the money for the food these animals eat? This is assuming he can find Earth food that can work as a dietary supplement.   He also has to fly to The Fortress of Solitude everyday to feed these creatures.  Some might not need to eat every day but that certainly doesn’t apply to all of them.  How does he cleanup their alien poop?  What does he do if one of them gets sick?  He’s brought foreign contaminants onto the planet Earth.  If they get free it could be catastrophic to the planet.  Which actually happens with Starro.

 

This episode is the first appearance of Starro who goes on to becomes a villain in an episode of Batman Beyond.  As we will see, StAS certainly had a lot more seeds planted in the bigger DCAU than BtAS, even though it had more episodes.  This is likely to Superman’s larger than life persona.  The creators had to use larger more galactic level villains to fight him.  

 

Also, what happened to the Preserver’s ship?  Where is it?  We never see it again.  Superman may have salvaged some of the parts for his fortress and enclosures for the animals.  He also likely stripped its food supply to continue to feed the animals but that only works for the short-term.  He didn’t strip the entire ship and food would run out eventually.  The logistics of keeping these animals isn’t realistic.  Therefore, we’re left to believe a lot of these animals died under the care of Superman.  Superman never had an Alfred or any type of helper which could allow him to manage this.  It’s a poorly hashed out plot point to give people a happy ending.  BtAS had no problem with grim endings but Superman was supposed to be a lighter show and thus needed happy endings, which don’t really work when closely examined.  

 

Even with the DCAU plot issue, the episode is great.  We see Lobo, the Fortress of Solitude gets a deeper purpose, Perserver was a solid villain.  It had great action and solid characters. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 9

The Main Man Part 1

 

This is one of those episodes where the second part is much better and this is just a build-up to the cliffhanger.  Superman is testing the ship he came to Earth in as a baby in an effort for WB and DC to sell more toy merchandise.  Superman has some dialogue with Professor Emil Hamilton of Star Labs who is one of Superman’s biggest allies as the series progresses.  Superman does express some distrust with Professor Hamilton when he starts asking questions Superman doesn’t want to answer. 

 

Meanwhile to flesh out the episode, the show cuts to Lobo an alien bounty hunter doing his job.  In the middle of an assignment, he’s recruited by the Preserver to capture Superman.  The Preserver collects the last of species from planets all over the universe and keeps them safe.  He wants the last Kryptonian.  Lobo agrees to capture Superman for a big payday.  

 

Lobo basically attacks Earth until Superman shows up and they fight.  The fight dips into space and Superman gets captured by the Preserver.  Superman is placed in a cage under light that simulates a red sun that takes away his powers.  Lobo is about to leave when the Preserver decides to kidnap Lobo too, since he’s the last Czarnian.  Cue the “To Be Continued” text.

 

A solid introduction to Lobo and a great way to get him to Earth to fight Superman.  After his two-parter in Superman we don’t see him again (minus a quick cameo) until Justice League.  As far as villains go, he’s strong enough to go head to head with our hero.  He’s also an opposite of Superman which ensures they won’t get along.  Since Lobo is more of an anti-hero, they can’t make him evil which waters down the tension between the two.  Lobo is more of an annoyance for Superman than an actual villain.  This “annoying villain” archetype is repeated when Mxyzptlk makes his appearance.  The writer’s logic is if you can’t out brawn Superman then annoy him to death. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 8

Stolen Memories

 

Brainiac finally returns and the setup is amazing.  Lex Luthor is communicating with the alien entity and treats it as a first contact situation.  Brainiac insists on meeting Superman in exchange for technology.  Superman agrees and during the pow-wow discovers Brainiac’s Kryptonian origins.  Brainiac offers Superman a full history of Krypton via an orb if he works for him.  Superman has a dream and discovers Brainiac’s betrayal of Krypton and Jor-El.  The dream is a cheap plot device but they only have 20 minutes to tell the story.  As Superman investigates further he learns that Brainiac is gathering information from all over the galaxy and destroying the worlds after after the knowledge is obtained.  Superman is having none of that nonsense and fights Brainiac.  In the meantime, Lex Luthor didn’t fully trust Brainiac either and was prepared to destroy him if he stepped out of line but Brainiac infiltrated Luthor’s computer system and froze him out.  During the battle Superman is able to distract Brainiac enough that Luthor can launch missiles destroying the ship.  The day is saved but all the orbs of information Brainiac created are destroyed.  Superman manages to only save the one about Krypton.

 

A great episode and brilliant follow-up to Brainiac’s origin from his first appearance.  Getting to see Superman finally confront and fight Brainiac was a nice payoff.  Brainiac’s part in Krypton’s destruction is obvious.  It’s ridiculous Superman couldn’t save a few other orbs.  It seems wasteful Brainiac destroyed all these planets and the knowledge he obtained is gone.  Nothing of the civilization is left.  It makes his actions even more tragic.  A destroyed civilization and no history of them remains.  Superman didn’t create Brainiac but there is an obligation to stop him and his genocidal methodology because he was created by Krypton.  

 

While the show doesn’t dig into the deeper evil of Brainiac, he’s truly the worst of the worst villains in the DCAU.  He’s slaughtered countless lives, but the network censors don’t count it because they are aliens and not humans.  There were thousands of orbs on Brainiac’s ship, representing the worlds he destroyed.  The billions of lives obliterated by him are unfathomable.  The character continues to live on in various incarnations as the DCAU progresses.  Countless more are also destroyed by him but never mentioned directly.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The Suicide Squad - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

The Suicide Squad

2021

Director: James Gunn

 

The last good DCEU film.  It’s as if the film does everything it can to be the opposite of the first film while also mocking how to do right everything the first one got wrong.  The opening wastes no time like the first film.  It introduces the characters fast and entertainingly.  It then kills them all off quickly.  A great bait and switch.  The team we meet in the opening are a decoy team and the film is actually focused on a second team of villains forced to work for the government. 

 

We then meet the real team lead by Bloodshot.  After character introductions they are sent to save Colonel Rick Flag (one of two survivors of team 1).  The team kills an entire team of freedom fighters thinking they are bad.  It takes some great writing to have characters still be likeable after accidentally killing good guys.  The Suicide Squad pulls that gag off fairly well.  

 

We then learn about the big bad Starro which the government of Corto Maltese wants to harness for evil stuff.  Then we cut to Harley Quinn (the second team 1 survivor) who’s being wooed by the leader of the country.  Harley kills the leader of the country because he’s a douchebag.  She busts herself out of captivity just as team 2 comes to rescue her.  

 

The plot is fairly simple, as it progresses it takes its time to develop each character.  Good characters make-up for any lacking in plot.  James Gunn makes a point to develop the characters organically which is something the first film failed to do on multiple levels.  

 

With everyone reunited they bust into the enemy stronghold.  Action ensues.  They come across a bunch of people possessed by Starro.  It turns out the US government was in on a bunch of terrible experiments and Amanda Whaler sent the squad there to destroy the evidence.  Flag wants to expose the government but Peacemaker is a blind follower and wants to stop that from happening.  Starro bust lose during the turmoil and everything gets amped up exponentially.  Peacemaker kills Flag to get a hard drive of evidence. As he’s about to kill Ratcatcher 2, Bloodshot stops him.  

 

Starro bust out and starts taking over everyone on the island.  Whaler orders the team to leave but they all decide to save the people even if it means she’ll blow them all up.  Her staff knocks her out and then assist The Suicide Squad in stopping Starro.  A bunch of action goes down.  Ratcatcher summons a ton of rats to attack Starro which allows Harley Quinn to launch a magic javelin in its eye, killing it.  The city is saved.  Bloodshot leverages the hard drive for their freedom.  

 

A solid soundtrack with songs that actually fit the narrative.  The soundtrack fit so well it almost seemed like a giant middle finger to the first film which just ham-fisted songs into the movie for no real reason.  They couldn’t even argue product placement for the song choices in the first film. 

 

This entire review seems like a comparison to its predecessor.  That’s because the first film was so wrong and the second film works so well.  Look at Bloodsport’s tense relationship with his daughter.  It is a mirror of Deadshot’s relationship with his daughter in one.  But it failed to garner anything other than cliché.  Two gets that relationship right. The Suicide Squad succeeds everywhere Suicide Squad film failed.  Somehow adding “The” to the name changed the entire narrative for the better. 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

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The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 7

The Way of All Flesh

 

Metallo is born.  John Corben is living a life of luxury in prison as a thanks from Lex Luthor for not ratting on him.  He somehow gets a rare disease and uses Luthor to escape and be cured.  Luthor’s scientists transfer his brain into a robot, give him a kryptonite heart, and the name Metallo.  The price of this cure, Luthor wants Superman dead. 

 

The twist in the episode is Metallo loses his sense of touch, taste, smell and it drives him insane.  One of the more shocking moments is when he forces a kiss on Lois Lane.  Her smack is justified but pointless.  The complexity of that move on a children’s cartoon is profound.   Corben’s distraught over his loss of human senses.  He demands Luthor scientists fix him, they say it can’t be done.

 

Corben tracks Luthor down to kill him.  The best part is when Corben complains about not being able to have sex ever again.  Since the cartoon can’t outright say it, he just says he can’t-dot-dot-dot, looks at the beautiful woman Lex Luthor is on a date with, and throws her overboard.  How that got by the censors is pure gold.  Luthor talks a good game and calms Metallo down. 

 

Superman shows up and reveals that Luthor is the one who gave Corben the disease.  Metallo is all kinds of pissed off.  He wants to kill Superman and Lex Luthor.  Superman has to keep his distance because of the kryptonite heart.  During his rage the boat explodes, Corben sinks to the bottom of the ocean.  Superman saves Lex Luthor because heroes don’t discriminate on whom they save.  

 

A pretty good episode.  We get a new super powered villain who is a real obstacle Superman.  It’s a callback to the first episode where Corben was a mercenary.  A nice mini-story arc was created there.  We get Luthor showing how great of a foe he can be by pulling the strings from behind the scenes and Superman is unable to stop Luthor by conventional means.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com