Superman/Doomsday Dead On ArrivalI found myself grateful for the 99-cent weekend rental sale on Amazon Unbox today, after I decided to check out the first in DC Comics' new line of animated movies, Superman/Doomsday.
It's sure not worth more than 99 cents. In fact, it may be 98 cents overpriced.
The animation was just all right, unimaginative, barely dressier than the current TV show and considerably less inspired than Paul Dini's first run on Batman. But it's the writing that really kills this product dead.
It's billed as an adaptation of the Death and Return of Superman, but that is a flat-out lie. There are two similarities to the comic story -- 1) big ugly monster and 2) Superman dies. Comics readers will recognize nothing else from this movie.
The story is a disaster from start to finish, ineptly adopting Silver Age nonsense like Superman robots (in this case, looking like a refugee from the Nutcracker) and the Man of Steel trying to develop a cure for cancer from his Fortress of Solitude.
All of this is presented in a ham-handed, charmless manner (see Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman if you want to see it done right).
These too-childish bits of ridiculousness are out of place in a movie that's generally unsafe for kids. While the gore level is low, the movie features an astounding number of violent deaths, including children. While not explicit, the relationship between Lois Lane and Superman is unambiguously sexual -- despite the fact that she enters the movie unaware of his real name. (Lois, you ignorant slut!)
James Marsters shows glimmers of promise in his voice performance as Lex Luthor, but never really delivers. The unctuous and menacing Adam Baldwin (whom I loved in Day Break) is woefully miscast as Superman, although he has some nice moments as Superman's evil clone.
What, you don't remember that from the comic? Well, that brings us full circle. The story is a clumsy mashup of half a dozen superhero cliches and a few random elements lifted from Knightfall. I should mention the pacing, although it seems like overkill. It sucks -- enough so to bear mentioning amid all these other complaints.
Too scary and violent for children, too silly and shallow for adults. Maybe an OK fit for extremely undiscriminating teenagers, but I wouldn't bank on it. Let's hope the upcoming adaption of The Judas Contract fares better.Labels: Amazon, Comics, DC, Doomsday, Superman, Unbox
Posted by J.M. Berger || Permalink
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2 Comments:
Thanks for the heads up! And I came by here to check out more ominous stuff you've covered. Glad to see I'm not the only educated, passionate and writerly (not as accomplished as JM) 40-year-old unashamed to still enjoy a GOOD super hero story! And OK with trashing a poorly done version. Kudos!
Hey, we all gotta kick back and have some fun once in a while. I was bummed about this one, since I'd been looking forward to the long-promised DVD series. Anyone out there checked out the Marvel animated movies?
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