DTV Wonders: Wonder Woman (2009)

Sometimes a film’s reputation really takes a hit. When this first came out I kept hearing how great it is, and now I only hear it is mediocre at best or just awful. I have not seen this movie since 2020 when I actively caught up on all the DC Universe Animated Original Movies (DCUAOM), of which this is the fourth one. Time to see if I think it holds up.

It never got a sequel due to “low sales.” At the time this was highly criticized, but as its reputation plummeted we saw why. It made only “good” numbers, and it was the first time they did Wonder Woman. Naturally the next one would be lower, and this has a very prestigious team.

Like all the early DCUAOM films Bruce Timm is the producer. Some people have said no woman would make this or the creators must have never read a Wonder Woman comic, and they are dead wrong. Lauren Montgomery, an award winning woman director is the director. Gail Simone is the primary story creator, and she has written over 30 Wonder Woman comics. In addition it has some expensive actors.

It starts with the Amazons battling Ares’s army. On one side the fighting is very lackluster by DCUAOM standards (at least early ones). On the other hand the characterization is a major strength. Alexa is introduced as a cowardly Amazon, and that gets another killed. Ares reveals he and Hippolyta used to be lovers and his top soldier is their son. Hippolyta beheads her own son as her introductory move. To her fury Zeus makes her spare Ares, but his godhood powers (but not immortality) are removed. After this Hippolyta makes the Amazons an isolationist society with no interactions with man and is allowed to miraculously create a daughter, Diana. After this good opening the first half completely collapses.

Wonder Woman is quickly introduced as the toughest Amazon and voiced by Keri Russell. I do not like her acting. It lacks range and comedic timing. I presume this was made for men, as there are lots of angles to make them look hotter. A key problem is Wonder Woman herself is not interesting. She is the basic ambassador who slowly comes around and wants more out of life. Where have I seen that before?

While the animation movement is good the animation designs are bad. They are trying way too hard to make them look attractive at the cost of personality and expressions. I got really tired of looking at them.

Steve (voiced by Nathan Fillion) is introduced. He is by far the best acted and second worst character. Bad flashbacks to Fox and the Hound 2 there. This movie has to quit reminding me of bad Disney sequels I have already reviewed. Does he say anything that is not a sexual joke? he is shot down by… somebody, and he ogles at Amazons bathing until Wonder Woman dominates him (the fight is clearly supposed to bring that image to mind), and they interoggate him. This results in a long “crap” joke. As much as I love most of the early DCUAOM movies I always try to forget all the moderate cursing they use to show this is not rated TV-Y7 anymore.

They agree to take Steve back home escorted by a champion. Diana is supposed to help Persephone guard Ares at that time, but Alexa takes her place so she can win, which she does. Alexa while reading is betrayed and killed by Persephone who was seduced by Ares. Artemis is furious at Alexa for that, and I hate this iteration of her (actually more than Steve). Why blame her instead of the traitor or Ares. For somebody with no experience with men she knows a lot of castration jokes. Also where does Alexa get all those modernish books? They are an isolationist society.

Rosario Dawson voiced the unlikeable Amazon Artemis. In several years in the DCAMU she would voice Wonder Woman, an unlikeable Amazon in their version. In two years she would be Persephone in the first Percy Jackson movie.

Our villains are mixed. Ares is a basic villain, no complex motivations, just gain more power. Even worse he was defeated in the prologue making him not that threatening. Persephone is more like a watered down Shakespearian villain. She has a motivation, have a kid, but her actual goals are ambiguous. Despite her limited screen time she is far more intriguing than her boss, and I wish she was the main villain.

Steve and Diana arrive in America, and these next few scenes are terrible. I have done lots of stick sword fighting, and I am upset by Wonder Woman not knowing how play sword fighting works. Why is Etta Candy blonde and thin? Diana gets mad and takes it out on some muggers. No deaths, but she injures many showing she is more brutal than Batman and Superman. It is a pretty good fight, but Steve is so terrible in these scenes. He is way too obsessed with making Diana drunk, so he can… Just moving on.

After a lackluster first half things kick off. Deimos is sent to kill Wonder Woman, and they get in a really good fight where Wonder Woman wins thanks to regularly going for the eyes. She is going to use the lasso to make him reveal where Ares is, but he commits suicide first.

They fight Ares in Tartarus. Steve saves Diana when she gets knocked out. In the hospital she is furious that a man selfishly saved her, and I am fully on Steve’s side here. Could he have actually saved the world without her? It is not like Ares’s god powers are restored, and he is right she keeps playing the sexism card. I am sure most hardcore Wonder Woman fans will not like his speech about men trying to be caring and The Amazons’ cowardly flaw of hiding, but I am really ready for it by this point.

In Tartarus Ares goes to Hades to get his powers back, and he gets him mad at Zeus by showing him his son’s corpse. Good logic except he needlessly angers Ares by mistreating his son right in front of him. I kept expecting Ares to kill him for that.

Ares’s army is faced by Wonder Woman and the Amazons. I thought this was a terrible idea, as it is already established the heroes are a better army. Instead The President’s female advisor convinces him to nuke Paradise Island resulting in Ares getting a huge power boost making him wipe out Wonder Woman, and he gets an army of every dead Amazon. This is actually intimidating and cool. Artemis The Cruel is happy to kill Alexa again and instead loses and is saved by Alexa telling her the incantation to remove them from the fight. Sure it forced more of the film’s worst character, but that was a good sendoff for Alexa. Hipplolyta kills Persephone who reveals she betrayed them to be a mother, as that was her want. Good motivation, but nothing comes from Hippolyta’s reaction. Does she regret this now or not? Probably, as she does let Wonder Woman stay in Man’s world who ends the film in a happy relationship with Steve. Wonder Woman defeats Ares and Steve defeats the nuke. After some letdown fights this was quite the climax. It was fast, felt brutal, and all the moving parts had a clear role. The problem is the one liners stank. I think they were trying way too hard to be memes and sounded dumb.

Three Tree Stars. Weak beginning and really good ending. Good animation movement but bad designs. Bad script and story, but good fights to keep me entertained. Overall it balances out into being an average movie.

Next time- a Rare live action film for me-

Dragonheart 3.

DTV Wonders: Superman Red Son

When does an adaptation deviate too far from the source material? Comic book nerds are much pickier on this than book nerds, and the DC Universe Animated Original Movie (DCUAOM) lineup is typically very faithful. This one is only moderately faithful, thus it is often called a terrible adaptation. Really Red Son is not a very interesting comic, and the creators wanted to make changes. Contrary to what fans of the comic say this is still an adequate adaptation, as it follows the major plot threads (I have seen way worse adaptations).

The basic premise is- What if Superman was raised in Soviet Union instead of Kansas? Sounds like the Smallville episode “Luthor” which was inspired by the comic, and it is better. From here he becomes supreme leader of the Soviet Union and fights to win the Cold War. The comic is a popular “Elseworld” story, as it is easily accessible. The more of them I read and watch the more I realize this is a very tame and uninteresting world. In fact four years before Bruce Timm made another one that blows this out of the water in every way. It makes sense he would want this one to be different than the comic.

Two movies would not have worked. I regularly hear this, but they never answer how to do this. They always say this to get a really faithful adaptation like The Dark Knight Returns ignoring how to divide it. Returns has 4 issues all with clear climaxes, the best two are at issues 2 and 4, and each two issues has themes easily divided. Son has its best climax at 2, and no easily dividable themes.

The opening scene is very different, as child Superman deals with discovering his powers. I am mixed on this opening. One one hand it is boring and generic. On the other hand it establishes two key things. One is that this will be different from the comic. In addition to it being a different scene it is told completely different. The comic is read like a history book. This is told like a movie focused on characters. It also establishes Superman’s closeness with the little man in The Soviet Union.

The costume is straight out of the comic, and I really dislike it. Say what you will about the main suit being based on The American flag, but he is not literally wearing it. The blue is too toned down and ugly, and it needs something to break it.

Lois is voiced by Amy Acker, Huntress in Justice League Unlimited. That is distracting, but she does a good job, and I preferer this Lois to her weaker comic counterpart. The one change I do not like is she insists on going by “Lane” instead of “Luthor.” In the comic I could not help but feel she had no real importance. Here she is witty and and uses Superman’s need to win the argument with his words to her advantage. She twists him not showing up for an interview as admitting defeat, and she has a comeback for all his cases, and she gives him information on Stalin’s gulag resulting in him going to check in on it.

Lois’s information (a plan from her husband, Lex) takes Superman to the gulag. Seeing all the death horrifies him, and he goes to face Stalin. One of the dead is his childhood best friend, and this adds to why he becomes an aspiring benevolent dictator, he must control the world to prevent suffering. A key part is it right away establishes the limitations on his super senses. In the comic (and hordes of other Superman media) he can hear a leaf drop across the world… except when not hearing it is convenient to defeat him. Here it establishes how things can be hidden from him.

One shocking thing to me both times I read the comic is how positively Stalin, one of the most evil dictators to ever live, is portrayed. Here Superman sees the attrocities of his gulag and faces him for it. His expressions are great. They go from doubt, to horror, to anger, and they are very subtle. They are not over the top, as he has seen death and evil, but not on this scale. Stalin says for the system to work many have to die, and Superman agrees and kills him.

Poor Beria. He is mortified he cannot kill Stalin himself anymore for purely selfish reasons (There is zero percent change Superman would let Beria stay in power). When asked what to do Superman responds with “Now I save the world.” Quick and great line to show how he views his new job. Unlike the comics it makes perfect sense why he only trusts himself now to lead the government. A key detail is Superman is crying. While he is making an exception for avoiding death, it is a sad exception.

In Korea he ditched idea of winning argument instead of fight, but I guess he decided it was another exception with them technically still being at war. He is sad but okay with the few thousand dead, as it pales in comparison to millions who died in the war. Some imperfect logic, but for a head of state dealing with cold hard facts of the Korean War it is still logical.

Wonder Woman is introduced, and this version sucks. In the book she has an unrequited crush on Superman, and that explains all her actions. Here her actions are the same, but the motivation is gone, and she just makes no sense. Anyway she is an ally to Superman.

One good change that the adaptation devotes to is Lois and Lex’s relationship. In the comics it is an unhappy marriage partly as Lex is an awful husband, and partly as Lois is smitten with a Russian dictator she does not know. Here they have a complex but overall positive relationship. I find it considerably more interesting. This version of Lex is considerably more heroic than his comic counterpart. The chess anniversary gift is a sweet scene that works with the adaptation changes. Take notes film Wonder Woman.

I keep hearing the movie is pro-America propaganda, and my counterargument is Bizarro. Unlike his considerably more noble comic counterpart this version attacks Moscow, and keeps calling this “American way,” and that is his whole identity. He has no ambiguously selfless noble side, and his brutal death while proclaiming he is the embodiment of America is a big attack on Lex’s values. The only saving grace is Lex apologizes to Lois at the end.

Superman defeats Brainiac and seemingly reprograms him to be a good servant of the USSR, but not after he shrinks Stalingrad, and Superman cannot fix it. Brainiac’s evilness is pretty obvious. Superman keeps saying his enemies are metaphorically brainwashed, while he literally brainwashes his enemies. Unlike in the comic Wonder Woman calls him out on it. The one good thing film her does. With Superman in complete control one terrorist stands up against him, Batman.

Like in the comic the best character is Batman, and he is slightly improved. His introductory scene is basically identical except his dialogue is wittier, and Superman’s decreased super senses means it makes sense how he evades him. It also makes more sense why Batman hates Superman, as some unimportant characters were adapted out.

They added a scene in where Superman has dinner with an ambassador from Korea, and I love it. It is very tense, and in it Superman realizes how distant and unrelatable he is to his subjects. To them he is a terrifying god instead of the savior.

This leads to the Batman vs. Superman fight. In both the comic and movie it is the best part mainly by making one key change to the normal route. Batman is the villain, and the overdog. He captures Wonder Woman to lure out Superman, and he demolishes the alien. Wonder Woman destroys her lasso to save Superman resulting in Batman’s suicide, and a beaten Wonder Woman turning on Superman. Like his comic counterpart Red Son Superman sucks at fighting. It helps that the scenes transitions are good, and that is something this movie struggles with.

Meanwhile his empire begins to collapse from within, and Lex becomes a successful president. Unlike in the comic he also gives major credit to Jimmy and Lois. With the USSR collapsing they for some reason send The Green Lantern Marine Corp after The Soviet Union. This is the only time since the DCAU Phil LaMarr has reprised his role as John Stewart.

It is a good fight with the Green Lantern Marine Corp that is very similar to the comics, except Superman loses this time, and then comes the worst part of the movie. In the comics Superman beats the Lanterns, then he beats the Amazons. Here Wonder Woman shows up and saves Superman. Then she says she is not saving Superman. Then she beats him in a fight making me wonder if she really physically suffered much from breaking the lasso. Then it just proceeds like nothing happened except with the distraction he defeats the Lanterns. So Wonder Woman while refusing to help saves him…

This is a terrible Wonder Woman. All her motivations were changed, and that means her new actions make no sense. This contrasts with Lex, as his new actions fit his new motivations.

I am mixed on the change to Lois holding the bottled city. On one hand it makes no sense how he got it. On the other this movie is not realistic anyway, and it is a much stronger image. Especially the part where Brainiac turns on him and destroys it killing millions of people right in front of him. Brainiac justifies it all, as following Superman’s actions, and that is a great bit. In a world full of worries about AI this really helps. Superman is turning people into robots, and now a robot is destroying everything casually slaughtering millions of his subjects. This results in a good fight between Brainiac and a team up of Superman and Lex.

It ends with Lex stepping down to spend more time with Lois. On one hand I like this ending. On the other hand I hate how he makes boring and stoic Jimmy his successor. He is just so bland this movie.

That was Red Son, a fine three Tree Star movie. Nothing great, but solid. It is held back by how its source material is badly paced, and its uninteresting portrayal of Superman. On the other hand it has a great Batman and several great scenes. It has many great scenes that do not connect well. Overall it is an average movie.

They key problem is nobody is going to love it. People who do not care for the source material will not be intrigued by it. The people who love it will hate it… Actually all the comic fans I know read a Wikipedia summary and refuse to watch it.

Next time- Bloggiversary special. Time to look into a nostalgic film about one of my favorite franchises, Tom and Jerry. What could go wron…

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DTV Wonders: Injustice

Injustice is a movie based on a video game that is a what if on Kingdom Come. Like in Kingdom Come Joker slaughters everybody Clark loves, but this time he disregards Lois’s dying wish and becomes evil. I have never been interested in that, as it is an inferior version of Come, but that is far from a bad idea. A poor version of Come is likely still great. This movie’s problem is in characterization, morals, pacing, animation, acting, and… Basically everything. The biggest problem is pacing, as everything happens too fast. The movie keeps toying with complex morals and ideas, yet it never develops them.

In Come there are three key characters, Clark, Spectre, and Cormack. Everybody else is a side character. Here the major characters are Clark, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Damian, and Harley Quinn all in an 80 minute movie.

In the opening Clark sees discovers Lois is pregnant. I get what they are going for- Show very bright city of Metropolis to show what Clark is about to lose. He is very excited when he discovers he will be a father, and he foreshadows being a control freak in the future. It turns into a disaster when Joker tricks him into killing Lois, and he destroys Metropolis. Unlike in Kingdom Come Clark does not honor his wife’s dying wish. He snaps, kills Joker, and he becomes dictator of the world setting up a conflict with Batman. The rest of the heroes (not very important this movie) take sides. It is a perfectly good set up for a beat ’em up video game, but in a movie it drives home how out of character and forced the conflict is.

Back in the day these movies had amazing fights, but this only has one good one. It is not the opening but the last one. Not counting the opening credits Jimmy dies less than four minutes in. Why is he always dying first now?

One problem is they call the entire Justice League in for Lois’s capture. These are veteran heroes and this scenario should be Tuesday for them. It just ruins the mood, as this should feel like a normal thing at first. Flash has a really stupid death. Oddly nobody is shown reacting or caring to one of the most popular superhero dying. The closest is Reverse Flash is later shown drinking in a bar. I guess he is the only one who cares. Even then it is out of character, as Eobard could just reverse time.

What is with the knuckle art. I do not like these designs mostly for that reason, as it looks like everybody’s fingers were ripped off and badly sewn back on. It is incredibly distracting, and everybody is drawn that way. I did watch a few cutscenes. I think these designs work fine in a CG video game setting, but in traditional animation they look moderately ugly.

Joker’s acting is terrible. It sounds very forced. In fact all the acting is bad except for Green Arrow’s acting. This version of Superman sounds very hard to perform, and they went with Justin Hartley. I have seen him do many complex characters for DC live-action before, but I do not think he does a good job here. I know they did not want to go with the video game actors, but I think they needed a veteran Superman actor like George Newbern.

The music sounds like Robert J. Kral’s work, and I am correct. It is very bad in the opening scenes. It is for an ominous and slow scene, and this movie is way too fast paced. It zips all over the place. Granted in the rest of the movie it is pretty good.

To keep Clark from killing Harley Quinn Too, Bats sends Green Arrow to capture her. This Harley Quinn is so annoying. Please die. As of this scene she is very happy Joker is who he is, and that she helped him. I know most of the acting is terrible, but she and Joker really stick out. Her ultimate role will be… Nothing. I am not joking. They do try for some comic relief but that never works and is actually very small. She never shows any remorse setting up a redemption arc. Her motivation is always about getting revenge for Joker. If anything she just makes Batman look worse, as he is working with an unrepentant mass murderer. Also, Quinn naming the Joker Fish is really out of character.

Clark starts stopping wars and making himself the law, and this really shows the faults in making this into an 80 minute movie, it is far too complex to show it that way. All the death is constantly just glossed over.

This realism is dumb. If you really want these guys in real world politics then you need realistic prisons, with death penalties and actual security. In real life Joker at worst would be a one time problem and then never get out. The part about dethroning dictators has actual merit. Granted, stuff like him making peace treaties races the question of how good he is at writing them, as those are ridiculously complex stuff.

Clark publicly reveals his identity, and why? Is he trying to get Jonathon, and all his friends in Smallville dead? That actually comes up later.

The background character animation is really bad. A common problem the later DCUAOM films have is whoever is not talking is just perfectly still. Constantly Batman or Wonder Woman is shown talking and the people on their side are distractingly still. At least Dick nods in one scene. It makes it impossible to see their supporters as people.

I am not a Plastic Man fan, but he does give actual points. He is a former hero who turned himself around. As a result he is very much against killing criminals.

A lot why I cannot get behind Superman’s group is how vague Wonder Woman is. I do not know if that is intentional, laziness, or the limitations of film (a novel is the best way to present this), but she is insanely vague. Her case needs lots of deep paragraphs where a lawyer is needed, and she just blandly gives the most generic answers.

Shazam/Captain Marvel, Aquaman, and all Green Lanterns pull out, and… For one this makes game fans mad, but this is completely out of character for several Green Lanterns (including the one announcing it), and Shazam. They would break the rules and try to save humans amidst all this.

Clark stops a US military drone strike on a drug smuggler, so they with Mirror Master burn his childhood home and kidnap Jonathon. Who would have seen that coming? He can stop a guy from being killed in the Middle East, yet he cannot stop his father from slowly being kidnapped? How does that work?

Besides Wonder Woman Clark has Cyborg (doubtful, but I can see that) and Hawkman. No way is Hawkman joining him. Raven is on his side before she vanishes later.

They capture Mirror Master, and… Make him strip naked off camera to get his belt. Why not just take the belt? Why make that joke, but also show nothing? Guarantees it is not funny, and it is gross.

Speech between Bats and Clark reveals Clark currently has only killed Joker. Bats insists it always starts with one, and I keep thinking it is not so much ideal differences, but that Bats and Clark suck at communicating. Again it is Bats’s deontological ethics vs Clark’s consequentialist ethics. Right after that Wonder Woman kills several hundreds in North Korea, so I guess they are killing more people already. Nothing to drive them to it, just off screen deaths. Maybe a TV series could do this series justice, but not this quick runtime.

Clark is sending every dangerous inmate in Arkham to a more secure location, and Batman goes to stop him for… Working with him is quite reasonable. No indication he is killing them. Sill some potential good debate….

Oh no, Quinn is going. Her voice is so grating. She is portrayed as heroic and somebody we should root for when she is a mass murderer of 11 million people and doing this out of nothing but revenge for Joker. That guard is clearly another dead for her (likely 2).

Her antics result in a giant fight. Damian is on Clark’s side. I can tell the writers hate him, as they constantly say Dick is his superior. Bats uploaded a virus into Cyborg the day they met. Ouch. Damian accidently kills Dick with a small hit to the head. Isn’t Dick supposed to have faster reflexes than that? Isn’t his body supposed to be tougher than that?

“I thought I could redeem you, but I was wrong.” Great parenting Bats. On one hand he is dealing with the death of Dick. On the other he should be much better at dealing with death. Normally he does it by getting closer to his friends or say his son. Not literally pushing them away.

Damian convinces Clark to align with Rhas al Ghul saying only he can stop Batman’s contingency plans. A little over half way through is a little late to introduce the villain. Clark refuses, as Rhas is a mass killer. Damian wants to change his mind because… I have no idea.

It’s as good as any other answer

Clark and Mr. Terrific debate Gun control, which is shown as Mr. Terrific winning by using the slippery slope fallacy. If I wanted to watch a completely one sided debate like this I would just watch a one sided youtube video. Not to mention Mr. Terrific’s case is overly simplistic.

Bat’s team is himself, Catwoman (criminal), Quinn (mass murderer), Green Arrow, Huntress (makes sense she would join him), The Atom (Would be on his side), and Captain Atom (would be with Clark). The plan is to steal a red sun cannon from the fortress of solitude… Why does Bats not already have a contingency ready? He had a plan ready for Cyborg from the day they met, but his only plan for Clark was plans to get a weapon that still needs to hit him.

Cyborg and Hawkman defeated a military killing just short of 100 people. They would not do that. They value life deeply. Also Wonder Woman would not say it that coldly.

Clark finds out Bats’s decoy plan, which I find highly unlikely. It is based on politicians always doing the reasonable thing, which is very false. He kills Captain Atom off screen. Come on. Just edit him out if that is all. Ever since Kingdome Come all he does is fail.

The Atom defeats Clark, and then Rhas al Ghul rescues him and destroys the cannon. Was he just sitting there waiting this whole time while his men freeze in the Arctic? Rhas kills The Atom. Green Arrow fires a Kryptonite arrow at Clark, and he deflects it in Jonathon. Clark really sucks at being a hero. Clark then kills Green Arrow, as Bats take a Phantom Zone Projector. The Phantom Zone Projector will be used for… Nothing.

Jonathon’s dying wish is to forgive Bats, and his people. Bats has been criticized as forcing Clark to ally with Rhas, but he could have turned him down now.

With Hawkman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman’s support Clark declares that all superheroes are with him or criminals, and sends hordes of drones to run his new police state. Huntress just vanishes.

Clark finds several teenagers celebrating in Joker’s name, and he kills them all. Are they actually supporting him or just using him as an anti-police state symbol? Clark kills them while Bats watches. The problem is it is all off screen. In fact everybody dying violently dies off screen except Jonathon, and he was hit off screen. This movie refuses to devote to real debate and gore. Contrast this with Gods and Monsters, where all the gore is plain to see.

Bats’s team is now just himself, Catwoman, and Quinn. Plastic Man joins, and they decide to break out Mr. Terrific.

Rhas suggests an Amazo robot in every city. Clark accepts this because… I have no idea. He really offers nothing, and he gives Rhas all the actual power.

It’s as good as any other answer

Plastic Man breaks him out by flooding the entire underwater prison. There is no way that did not kill several people.

Unknown source plays Video of Clark slaughtering children all around the world. Clark stands by it, but Wonder Woman turns on him. By that she just disagrees.

Amazo goes on on a rampage in Smallville, and Clark stops him from slaughtering children. Rhas then reveals this whole thing was to kill Superman, and Clark and Amazo fight. How was this version of Clark able to figure out Bats’s decoy plan but not this?

It wipes out Clark. Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Cyborg save him, but the last two are killed. It would be way better if a “booyah” did not destroy the tone.

Damian is shocked his obviously evil grandfather would do something obviously evil, and they fight. After Dick died he was turned into the new Deadman. Dick possesses Damian to use his superior skill to fight Rhas. Why not just possess Rhas and make him surrender and turn off Amazo? Why not possess him way earlier?

Thanks to Plastic Man they easily defeat Amazo. Damian admits Dick is his vast superior in every way, as writers really hate him. These fights are so slow and boring.

Less than 9 minutes left, so surely it is done. Nope. Clark attacks Wonder Woman and tries to arrest all the superheroes who saved him. They bring in regular Clark. Why not bring in Kingdom Come Clark? He gets wiped out, and then they use their real trump card, Lois from yet another Earth where Clark is dead. Why not start with her? Why bring in a member from two different universes? The ending is so rushed, and by this point I really cannot care anymore. At least this last fight scene actually has good animation.

This movie really sucks. One Tree Star easily. There is incredibly little redeeming elements in this huge mess. In my DCUAOM rankings it is dead last, and I stand by that notion from three years ago.

Next time-

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movies

My Ranking of all 56 DC Animated Original Movies (2024 Edition)

2024 was a horrible year for the lineup, and in terms of rewatch ability was the worst year they ever had, and with no announced future films this is likely the end. What an awful way to end.

56. Injustice

55. Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part II- A complete snooze fest.

54. Batman vs. Robin– I remember the good old days when this was the bottom film.

53. Son of Batman

52. Batman Gotham Nights

51. Batman the Killing Joke

50. Watchmen Chapter II

49. Wonder Woman Bloodlines

48. Catwoman Hunted

47. Battle of the Supersons

46. Justice League Dark

45. Batman and Harley Quinn

44. Suicide Squad Hell to Pay

43. Justice League Warworld

42. Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part III

41. Green Lantern Emerald Knights

 40. Superman/Batman Apocalypse

39. Batman Bad Blood

38. Batman Hush

Quit Sleeping Clark.

37. Justice League vs. Teen Titans

36. Batman Gotham by Gaslight

35. Batman: The Long Halloween Part II

34. All-Star Superman

33. Superman Man of Tomorrow

32. Superman Red Son

31. Watchmen Chapter I

30. Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part I

29. Wonder Woman

28. Justice League Doom

27. Batman The Long Halloween Part I

26. Green Lantern Beware my Power– I lowered this one considerably, but I maintain this was one of their best films in the final years.

25. Justice League War

24. Legion of Superheroes

23. Superman Unbound

22. Justice League the Throne of Atlantis

21. Flashpoint

20. Teen Titans the Judas Contract

19. Batman Soul of the Dragon

18. Batman Assault on Arkham

17. The Death of Superman

16. Justice League Dark Apokolips War

15. Justice Society World War II

14. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

13. Batman Year One

12. Superman Doomsday

11. Superman Vs. The Elite

 10. Green Lantern First Flight

9. Justice League the New Frontier team. 

8. Justice League Crisis on Two Earths

7. Reign of the Supermen

6. Justice League Gods and Monsters

5. Batman under the Red Hood

4. Batman The Doom that Came to Gotham

3. Justice League vs the Fatal Five

2. The Dark Knight Returns Part I

1. The Dark Knight Returns Part II

Next time-

Scooby-Doo Abracadabra-Doo

Mini Review: Watchmen Chapter II

Completely pointless. It has been adapted way better, and this animation is ugly and always mildly unpleasant. Mildly unpleasant fights, mildly unpleasant action, mildly unpleasant conversations, and mildly unpleasant acting. It is just a waste of time.

It looks like this is the final film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies lineup. If so it ends not with a whimper, but by begging for a mercy killing. Just an awful year for these movies.

The only redeeming scene is the apology scene between Rorschach and Nite-Owl.

DTV Wonders: Superman Brainiac Attacks

The first ever Superhero movie was about Superman (Okay that is debatable. First feature film about a comic book superhero is unquestioned). 55 years later (and five animated Batman films), he got his first animated film as a promotion for Superman Returns, and it sucks. It is a horrible combination of the Donner films and Superman the Animated Series that do not mix with way too little plot.

Duanne Capizzi wrote it, and he has written and produced for many good animated shows and movies including a few I have reviewed. It is directed by Curt Geda, another familiar face to me. So there is some clear talent working on this movie, but like many DTV films it feels more like a padded 30 minute episode than a movie, and both of these men are more of TV creators than movie creators.

I just have to say it, this is not in continuity with Superman The Animated Series (STAS). It stars some of the same actors like Dana Delany and Tim Daly, and the same animation style, but the characterizations are all off especially for Lois, Brainiac, Lex, and Mercy. In addition Capizzi was very clear it is not canon to it. It is also very clear that this version of Brainiac is not Kryptonian. Lex and Brainiac meet in this movie, while they previously met in The Animated Series before Brainiac met Superman.

It starts with Lex looking at his Kryptonite, and this just feels weird. For one Lex is voiced by Grodd’s actor, Powers Boothe, and it is just off seeing that in the STAS design. In STAS Lex is uncannily calm, careful, and a schemer. He almost always has a half smile. Here he is like Gene Hackman’s Lex, Loud, crazy, and a mad scientist. The animation style and backgrounds do not match it. Then there is Mercy, Lex’s loyal bodyguard. She now has blonde hair, and she acts more like Harley Quinn than Mercy. Instead of being quiet and professional she is making jokes the entire time. In fact her actress has voiced Harley Quinn many times. It does not help that none of her jokes are funny.

The fights are generic, but the visuals are fine.

Lex build a super robot to guard Earth, but Brainiac attacks, hacks it, and he uses it to fight Superman. Superman just hits him hard and wins destroying Brainiac. The real problem is all the other stuff going on. Brainiac is way too emotional. He is supposed to be emotionless and cold, but here he is joking, smiling constantly, and using big reactions. Lois is introduced, as she runs into the men’s bathroom to grab Jimmy. I hate that scene. Show some basic decency Lois. In addition she is incredibly stupid, and tries to watch the fight from a giant light pole, and needs to get saved when it falls over. Does she have a death wish?

After the fight Lex finds Brainiac’s robot mind, and they make an alliance. Brainiac gets Lex’s war robot now with an upgrade of Kryptonite weapons, can track down Superman with a piece of his DNA (I think Lex can use that in many better evil ways), and can theoretically kill Superman. After that Lex will challenge him in a robot suit. This means Superman is dead for both of their benefits, and Lex is the new hero of Metropolis. I have no idea how Lex has a robot more powerful than anything Brainiac can make… Actually this version of Brainiac is so underpowered in every way compared to his STAS counterpart it makes sense. The real question is how this version of Brainiac was ever a threat anyway.

Again the problem is the giddiness these villains have. Instead of contrasting with Mercy’s silent evil, Lex’s imagination, and Brainiac’s imagination void attitude they are all happy jokesters.

After some bad romantic scenes where the emotions are too big to match the animation style Brainiac attacks Clark and Lois knowing Superman is there. The fight is really generic. Kryptonite against Superman, Lois is injured, and robot against Superman.  Where have we seen that before?  Lois gets Kryptonite poisoning in the fight, and she is now dying.

The one good thing is Superman’s black eyes from the fight. It helps make Superman look vulnerable, and it is a unique look.

After this come many bad scenes of everybody talking to pad the runtime. The major issue they refuse to use any forms of the words “kill” or “die” making the dialogue just sound unnatural. At least Perry and Jimmy almost discovering Clark is Superman is a little funny.

Clark goes to the fortress of solitude to try and heal Lois, and Brainiac follows him. Clark destroys the knowledge of the fortress to stop Brainiac from getting it (again none of this would make any sense if it was connected to STAS). This is a great summary of this movies problems, broken potential. Everything interesting is just done, and the movie moves on to the next subplot. Should Clark destroy knowledge instead of letting it get preserved by evil?  Just done.  Will Clark have a dramatic adventure in the Phantom Zone.  Just done.  Sure it is later revealed he never actually left the Phantom Zone, but that is not a good scene. At least it clearly tried to be great.

After an overly long scene of Lex getting ready to turn on Brainiac it is revealed Clark never left the Phantom Zone, as Lois wants him to quit being Superman. It is resolved, and it leads to… Exactly where we would be if he did leave it. After this Brainiac betrays Lex. Lex uses his contigency plan. Brainiac anticapted this and counters it meaning their whole partnership and double cross lead to… Exactly where we would be if Lex was cut and Brainiac just build that suit himself.

That is the main problem. This is only enough story to last for around 20 minutes, and all these meaningless subplots take up too much time. I cannot even find a moral to connect everything other than really basic stuff like be loyal and sacrificial and good things will happen.

Chris Reeve Pose

Lex gives some good comedy, as Clark comes to the rescue. It is a normal fight, but it is overly long with Brainiac refusing to die over and over. Even weirder the big final villain is not Lex nor Brainiac but Mercy.

At the end Clark’s presence heals Lois in a deus ex machina, hordes of subplots are resolved, and Lex is on the verge of going to jail due to the Lexcorp logo being on some of Brainiac’s stuff. That will not hold up. It can easily be explained that Brainiac took it from him just like he took the robot.

This movie is overall a waste of time with very little actually happening. The small details are competently done, but that cannot change it is a normal episode hyper padded. I think it is obvious they had very little time to make a movie to go with Superman Returns forcing them to use an existing animation style and quickly write up a plot. One Tree Star.

Contested Sequels: The Lego Movie 2

After 5 years of buildup The Lego Movie 2 was an acclaimed box office flop with debate on whether it was actually as good as the first one or considerably worse.  It is considerably darker than an already dark yet comedic movie, and it is now a musical making it a notably different sequel.  Despite that it still keeps the pop culture sense of humor and moral around growing up.

To pick up where the first film ends the Duplos attack and eat Emmit’s lego heart offer of friendship, and they then keep attacking and bringing back everything cute over and over forcing the citizens of Bricksburg to become Apokolipseburg.  As somebody with siblings I can easily relate to this opening.  Trying to make a world by yourself with complete control vs your siblings not following the script (though it misses the part where they leave right when they have important jobs). 

Contrarily to what they say Emmitt has adapted a lot.  No worry about all the fighting, he is master building frequently.  During the Everything is Awesome Song he shows he has learned everybody’s new names and is completely aware of everything they have been doing lately.  It is not a contradiction to the first movie about avoiding growing up.  It is about seeing how somebody else has grown and making your growing up into a positive change.

I really love the brooding scene.  Between Emmit finding Lucy’s brooding attractive and the cute dialogue, and then the call forward to later (more on that when it comes).  Emmit explains his nightmare/vision about Ourmomageddon, which will have a bad impact on Lucy later showing most of the plot would have been avoided if she did not try to get Emmitt to brood earlier.

Emmitt shows her the house he built for them (and at least some of his friends like Unikitty), which visually is a call back to their first meeting in the first film.  Such a sweet scene. 

An alien ship that seems to be invincible, attacks, and destroys the house.  It is a darker callback to the house crashing scene from the first movie, and it signifies Emmitt’s dream being destroyed.  As dramatic as it is there is a lot of comedy after that like Batman and Alfred dancing, the citizens chanting “time to panic,” and those cutesey star weapons. 

General Mayhem Intergalactic Naval Commander of the Systar System breaks in thanks to Emmitt’s compassion for the star weapon.  Bats says there are 9 movies about him.  Hmmm…  When this movie came out there were 10 theatrical movies about him, but also 29 DTV films.  A rare case of bats selling himself short. 

This next scene was included in the commercial, and I think that really hurt it at the box office.  General Mayhem said Emmitt is not a leader, as Lucy did most of the fighting and she struggles to counter and ends up agreeing.  For one Emmitt did lots of fighting and completely outperformed Lucy in that regard, and being the best fighter and leader are two completely different films.  In the film proper this is presented as a flaw Lucy and General Mayhem have, as they are both terrible communicators foreshadowing Finn and Bianca (the humans playing with them have).

Watching frame by frame made see how great the facial expressions they are. Lucy is pretty expressive. Rex and Batman show some, but hide them. Emmitt and Benny are very expressive. In contrast General Mayhem shows no emotions making her seem more alien and evil.

Using her sticker weapons General Mayhem captures Batman, Benny, Metalbeard, Unikitty, and Lucy and takes them away in her spaceship.  On a rewatch I see everything she said about why they should go with her was accurate and sincere, but it is communicated with an overly detailed song making it hard to follow again showing the communication issues.  The part that sticks is the need to prevent Ourmomageddon from Emmitt’s vision.  While knocked out Emmit sees Bianca snatch up the toys and run up with them to her room.

Emmitt gives his speech on rescuing them, and they all just claim he has not changed with the times, resulting in Emmitt rebuilding his home to prove them wrong and rescue Lucy (and all those other guys).  This scene shows the negative effects of listening to peer pressure.  It also shows its effects, as Emmitt is oblivious to him proving them wrong by building a spaceship in no time all by himself.  Last film this was a hard thing to do, but nobody cares he just showed himself to be the greatest master builder of them all.

After Lucy and Co arrive at the Systar System, and they meet the Queen then revealed to be a shapeshifter.  On a rewatch I see her genuine concern for her subjects, but it can come across as cruelty to underlings at first.  Queen Whatevriwanabe (Whatevs) has the communication problem of using words like “sinister” when meaning “sincere,” but she gives it in such a great song.   Oddly the soundtrack makes her more miserable with some added verses.  She sings about being the least evil queen, making Lucy certain she is a villain, but Batman loves her art.  He is not ready to commit to marry her, which is her big goal.

The Queen has the same role as the mom part of “Ourmomageddon.”  “Amusing side character” “not the bad guy.” 

Emmitt cannot get through the Stairgate, and he is rescued by Rex.  I previously called him one of the two best twist villains in animated movie history, and I stand by that.  Between how they hide all the signs behind good jokes, his distinct design and crew, and all the ambiguity about him.  Is he one of Finn’s characters?  Is he a lego working on his own accord?  Is he a figment of Emmitt and Lucy’s imagination?  The last one does require Emmitt is doing stuff like fighting while talking to himself and imaging Rex doing it.  Either way Rex is the same thing.  Emmitt going too big on improving himself and loses who he once was instead of making it for the better.  Rex is a wonderful example of how great twist villains can be.  The versatility, backstory, and rewatch ability.  I really wish I was not spoiled about him.

It makes sense why they both admire each other beyond Rex protecting himself.  Emmitt wants to change, and deep down Rex wants to go back to being Emmitt, and he admires all the great things Emmitt did forgetting all the help he had.

Does his reliance only on himself contradict his crew?  No.  They are lower life forms renamed after movie characters, and he is a celebrity, not a friend to them.  He even signs an autograph for one.

Remember how his old friends kept complaining Emmitt was not tough enough? Well now all but Lucy are enjoying being pampered, and it is revealed Lucy used a permanent marker to make her hair darker.  It shows how she has lost herself, and she needs to be the one who changes.

The next scene shows Rex turning Emmitt into him, and some comedy with it being slow to catch on.  On first watch it seems Rex is just frustrated he is playing, but I later know he is upset it is taking longer than expected.  That or Emmitt is upset with himself for playing after building his super spaceship. 

On the planet they explore at random all the raptors are captured, and they get ready for the duplos big finishing move, as Lucy gets ready for the finishing move on her, “The Catchy Song.”  I love this part.  Mainly for how funny it is, but it gets darker after that.  Emmitt did not know he could do the worm, and Rex is also surprised foreshadowing that he did not know he could do that either. 

Emmitt becomes a master breaker to get away.  Rex taught him this, but it might all be stuff Emmitt already knew and could teach himself.  He did it during the first film.  Being a master breaker is breaking things down to their most basic parts and destroying them, a clear metaphor for ruining a relationship.

Lucy escapes and reunites with Emmitt.  It is so sweet until Rex emerges from his hiding place very unnaturally.  He looks at Lucy with complete disgust, while stealthily praising how wrong she was about himself/Emmitt.  To her surprise Lucy is not happy to hear Emmitt has mastered breaking and is changing.

Next scene shows Emmitt carrying the three with his creative and successful master building and knowledge of construction, which has closeups of Lucy loving it.  I love every scene these two are together.  It starts to go South when Emmitt and Rex see her hair is a different color, and Rex says that means she was brainwashed and is a spy.  This results in a reversal from the first film.  Instead of Emmitt desperately calling for Lucy’s help it is Lucy desperately begging Emmitt to believe her.  Emmitt still believes her, and his scene shows more of Rex’s brilliance.  Instead of being loud and charging he is quiet and planting seeds.  When it does not work then he does not try to force it.  He moves on knowing he can try again and again until he succeeds. 

Meanwhile Bats and Whatevs really fall in love in the best Batman ship ever (BatCat is the worst).  They are both orphans taken from their creators who find themselves lonely at the top.  In addition they both love their dark and broody art and devotion to the theme.

Lucy and General Mayhem battle in what I presume is a copy of Finn and Bianca’s fighting about who started it.  It is a really good fight with plenty of improvised weapons, and banter that they both lose track of.  Meanwhile she loses her earpiece, and Rex keeps putting the idea that she was brainwashed and not disabling the shields.  It does not matter as a strong enough fit of rage will destroy the shields too.  Rex gives him a Rex vest further turning his younger self into himself and tells him to “thank himself.”  Also apparently Emmitt is stronger than Wonder Woman, as Rex then completely outmuscles her.

Lucy beats General Mayhem and then saves her.  The more honest and vulnerable side of Mayhem then is what finally starts to beat the communication issues, and the finishing touch is seeing Whatevs’s original form,

the heart Emmitt made for the Duplos (Bianca’s attempts to play with her brother and hold on to the time it happened). 

Next is where it gets really dark.  Trying to stop Emmitt from Master Breaking Lucy breaks down and tells him everything about how she loves his kind and gentle self and Emmitt responds “The real Lucy would never say that.”  That is the real Master Breaking right there before he literally Master Breaks the entire set, and cuts to live action show Finn destroying the set, Lucy getting knocked away from the game and seeing the real world, and Finn and Bianca fighting. 

Next Rex reveals all, that he is Emmitt from the future.  After some great double acting by Chris Pratt Rex’s backstory is shown from a new perspective.  It is no longer nameless friends, but the friends who kept complaining he was not tough enough now watching them dancing like idiots instead of saving him.  He decides the only way to move on from trauma is to prevent it from happening, save his past self and just get him to become him in a relatively gentler way. 

A living toy manipulating the children from a distance is surprisingly scary.  Take careful notes Small Soldiers.  Rex points out to Emmitt he did not make him do anything.  He just did exactly what Emmitt asked. To Rex’s annoyance Emmitt refuses to then become him willingly, so he banishes him to under the dryer to become him the hard way.

Meanwhile Ourmomageddon starts when their mom makes them put all the legos in storage after their latest fight, and it is dark enough that the citizens of Bricksburg getting their comeuppance is surprisingly not a little happy.  I appreciate Aquaman accepting he might as well enjoy it.  In another dark callback to the last movie Bianca picks up Lucy’s lego when she asks for help just like when Finn piced up Emmitt in the last movie, but this time the human throws the lego in the bin and leaves. 

Emmit lies there brooding “War hardens the heart,” which is exactly what Lucy told him to do earlier, and the screen cuts to the end with only around ten minutes left before the credits.  I knew from pop culture osmosis it did not end like that, but I really wonder how I would have felt if I actually had money to go see it in early 2019.  I did not expect this film to be darker than the first one, but it is.

Then they lie down and all but Lucy accept their miserable fate and sing the best song in the movie, “Everything’s not Awesome.”  Back when I first saw this movie I was thinking this is my favorite movie song.  I kept waiting for the recency bias to end, but I still think that every time I watch it.  It starts so depressing and ends so uplifting.  Seemingly being able to somewhat hear them Finn opens up both bins and rebuilds the heart as a peace offering. 

Was the flashback to making the heart filmed back with the first movie?   It does work, and them playing together does ease their mom.

At the end it is revealed Lucy was the original performer (and presumably writer) of “Everything is Awesome.”  It goes from a song she hates, to a song of destruction all around her, to a song she uses to save everyone.

Meanwhile Emmit gets up when Rex goes to kill him when he is not breaking.  They have an epic battle of stop motion legos body slamming each other. 

Some dramatic battles are more comical than others.  I like the irony that the source of Rex’s pain is his friends not rescuing him, but when Emmit’s (his own) do come to rescue him (exactly what he wants) he goes viciously after them, and he gets upset when Lucy actually does arrive to save Emmit/himself.  Rex calls himself not real then.  It could mean he is just a figment, and the dinosaur fighters were set up by Emmitt previously, and he no longer has control.  It could mean the real battle is Bianca and Finn’s fight, and Rex has no idea he already lost.  It could mean Rex is a living toy, and he knows he will never have to worry about facing justice as a result.  I love this guy so much. 

When Lucy comes back Rex is erased from existence, and he is interestingly treated sympathetically.  Sure he takes getting beaten up first, but he then graciously accepts his defeat, praises Emmitt for being better than him, and he thanks Lucy for rescuing them all while joking around to ease his pain at being erased. 

I have not kept it secret in at least three post and all throughout this post that I love this movie.  Five Tree Stars and the best animated movie in a year where I have already written multiple five Tree Star reviews.  This is a masterpiece of going through despair and coming out of it by overcoming personal demons.

Since I just reviewed a wonderful movie it is time for a terrible movie.

Bring it on. Curious George Go West Young Monkey is next.

Batman Caped Crusader: My Future Predictions

I finished my rewatch, and I think I noticed a few things that will come to play later.

Alfred knows who kills the Waynes. In episode 6 he was keeping a secret from The Gentleman Ghost. At first the implication is it is Bruce is Batman, but then it is highly implied it is something Batman does not know. I then thought of what is something so important Bats does not know. I think he found out and keeps it from Bats.

Harley Quinn created the Joker. It just seems to fitting that her plan will go wrong like that. I specifically think it is this guy, as he is the one who actually beat Batman.

Realizing he is the fall guy Harvey Bullock will turn on Flass. In episodes 4 and 10 (same writer) they have a theme that Flass makes Bullock do all the dirty work. Granted episode 3 contradicted this, but that has a different writer. After Bullock did all the dirty work in 4 and is set up to do it again in 10 Harvey Dent reveals this. Later Bullock angrily points out to Flass that is true.

Why the Joker Voice Fix is terrible for the Direct-to-Video Film

When Crisis on Infinite Earths Part III came out most of us could tell Mark Hamill was not voicing Joker and weeks after the release it was announced we were right, and it was fixed with all digital versions being fixed and all disks being available for a fix. This better be a one time thing.

The big worry is most DTV releases will be released incomplete and fixed later. The problem is buying them is really risky, as the quality is just all over the place. Some (including Crisis 3) are nowhere near good enough to buy, and the safest financial way to watch them is to rent them. My rent was long over by the time it was fixed. That is why they need to be ready the first time.

Not to mention this indicates even more that the DCUAOM is no longer important. How on such an important movie that wraps up 10 films of build up do you both make a mistake like that and take over a month to fix it (the scene was released early)? Has Jim Krieg declined that much? Is he just completely overwhelmed. Did nobody see the clip released, read the comments, and then realize the mistake? Was this all on purposes as a publicity stunt (sound believable compared to this mistake)?

The DCUAOM After Crisis

I keep wondering if I am the only one who still cares about these movies, as it keeps feeling like I am the only one still watching them all.

I saw Crisis on Infinite Earths Part II and III, and as I predicted they were bad and got bad reception. I mean really bad and worse than I expected. The Tomorrowverse used to have a great reputation, and now it has a terrible reputation. I am really wondering if I can keep justifying spending money on watching these (or at least all of them).

The lineup was doing so well at Justice Society World War II, but the last 12 have really fallen off a cliff. Thank goodness for Batman The Doom that Came to Gotham, as it has been carrying them hard as the only one with a 5 Tree Star rating (nothing else even got 4). Even worse it has 4 Ones and 2 twos I almost gave a One. 3 of the last 4 have been notably bad, and the one good one has terrible rewatch value with how bad its follow ups are. To make it worse the upcoming two Watchmen films have awful trailers.

Is it just me? I think most people hate the Crisis movies more than me. I think most people hate Warworld way more than me. Most people do not like Doom as much as me. I keep hearing Crisis 2 ruined Legion. Most people despise Power. If there are any movies that most people like more than me since Apokolips War they are the two Long Halloween movies and Supersons. Even if Supersons is considered good it has expensive animation they cannot regularly use. For Halloween I keep hearing good things online, but everybody at my work who watches them (all three of us) disliked them.

By my ratings 2022 and 2016 are tied for the worst year the lineup ever had with a 1.66 average. 2023 was a rebound year that was carried by Doom. This year has a good chance at now being the worst with a current 2.0 average (should I rewatch Crisis 1 and see if it is now just a disaster?). If the Watchmen movies get a 1 and a 2 they avoid the bottom spot, but if they both get 1s (or Crisis I lowers one spot) then this is the bottom year.

The lineup is likely just going to now be commercials for Gunn’s movies, and if that happens I am out.

Moving on to the final thoughts on the Tomorrowverse. Overall it was a disaster. I never liked Man of Tomorrow where Clark was really holding it back with J’onn and Parasite carrying it. Society is by far their best movie which is to this day the best Flash movie, the best Wonder Woman movie, and one of the best Superman movies. So much great set up for future movies too. Then Halloween set up a poor Batman. To finish the first half Power set up a potentially great Green Lantern in Hal Jordan just for him to get pushed aside for John Stewart who would spend the rest of these movies being the bland guy. It got us a good Green Arrow and a great death for Adam Strange… Scratch that. Future movies just removed his death. I am so upset with falling for all that potential with my review.

Getting to the second half (is it so bad I just know the ten movie order off the top of my head?) and huge downgrade. Legion was fine. Decent Supergirl added. Warworld was… Okay it is four movies. Poor Superman movie. Decent Batman movie and the best for this version. The Wonder Woman movie was awful. The final set up was awful. That leads to the three Crisis movies. Part I gets stuff done with a clear beginning, middle, and end while Continuing Flash’s storyline from Society. Part II is just a disaster. Part III is a disaster with the only real redeeming factor being Kevin Conroy.

These ten movies will be best remembered as failed set-up. Nothing better. As least they included Justice Society World War II.