Friday, October 19, 2018

The Review: The Death Of Superman



The Death Of Superman 8/10

This one movie did more to endure me to Superman as a character than Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman, and Justice League combined. The Death Of Superman is not like the comic book version. This animated DC Universe takes bits and pieces from different areas and timelines of DC Comics and makes it its own thing which I appreciate. The biggest thing that this got right was that it showed one thing that movies have had a problem showing: Superman being loved. There is a big difference between being loved and being appreciated. In the movies Superman is appreciated because he saves people and leaves. He isn't trying to be famous for what he does. I mean, in those two times we saw him do it in the latest films. In these movies Superman is welcomed. He has friends. He has a personal life. He is a well rounded character, not just a guy that punches big things and destroys the city. Yeah, the city gets fucked up in this but not as much as I expected.


This starts off with Intergang trying to kidnap the mayor and his wife. The police show up and can not stop technology from Apokolips. Superman shows up and takes them down. He then calls the Justice League for cleanup. Flash shows up first and then Cyborg to analyze the metal from one of the suits. In about a minute the dynamic between three characters is shown. We know what Superman does, what Cyborg can do and his relationship with his father, and Flash's sense of humor and abilities. Its not that hard. Superman and Lois Lane end up heading to S.T.A.R Labs and he shows her the ship that brought him to Earth. She then heads to the Daily Planet and they chat it up before smooching in a room. In this version she barely knows anything about Clark Kent. No idea he is Superman. Almost nothing about his life.


Up in space a team of astronauts is working on a satellite. One of them is Han Henshaw. He is fucking insane. A meteor starts heading towards the shuttle and he is like “It's fine. Superman will save us. He's saved me twice!” The shuttle gets fucked and everyone sucked out. Lex Luthor who is on house arrest is watching. His voice is one of my complaints about this movie. I did not like the way he sounded at all. His voice felt flat and did not match the situations. The meteor crashes into the ocean where Luthor sends a team to investigate. While they search Atlanteans show up an stop them before the check on the meteorite. Next thing you now their heads are crushed and the search team is slaughtered. Even a nearby shark is like “I am so fine not dealing with this.” The creature makes land and kills a bear and some campers.


From this point shit hits the fan. They do not even show the initial fight between the JL and the creature. It begins with a small city being wrecked and cop cars being thrown and civilians dead. Hawkman gets owned. Green Lantern gets fucked. Martian Manhunter gets knocked into a gas station which is like making me shop only at Whole Foods. Batman is just distracting the monster knowing it wants to head to Metropolis. Batman is tossing bombs and swinging away. Flash starts smacking the shit out of the creature until he is even stopped. Cyborg cant help either. Wonder Woman comes out from some rubble and she is super pissed. I love Wonder Woman in these movies. During some interaction earlier in the film you know she and Superman had a fling but it is done and there is no weirdness about it. Wonder Woman leaves and gets into a hell of a battle with Doomsday until she is taken out.


Meanwhile Clark and Lois are on a date. After a bad night where she met his family and he was acting all nervous she thinks they are done. During the date he reveals he is Superman and her reaction to it is perfect. He gets a call about the creature and rushes off letting Lois now he loves her. He and the creature that Lois dubs Doomsday after she arrives on the scene with Jimmy Olsen go the fuck at it. Wonder Woman tells him not to hold back or it will kill everyone. There is no time for quips and jokes. They beat the hell out of each other. The thing I did not like was Doomsday having laser eyes. I do not think that was a thing before and he did not need it. That's like giving Wolverine the ability to heat his claws...


The fight rages on with Luthor wanting the creature to win so he can swoop in and save the day. Which he attempts. He shows up in the robot suit talking mad shit at Doomsday and smacks the sit out of it until it laser eyes him and starts ripping his suit apart. Luthor is screaming about he is supposed to win. Nah. Superman saves his punk ass and continues to get his ass kicked by Doomsday. Finally after being taken down by Doomsday Lois tosses a rock at the beast. She is ready to die to save Clark. He sees this shit and goes full Super Saiyan and punches Doomsday's face so hard his neck breaks. Superman then dies in Lois' arms as the world watches. The JL appear to mourn their fallen member.


There is a funeral that Clark's own parents can not attend. This movie really showed how hard it would be to know his secret and not be able to talk about it. At one point earlier in the movie Superman voices concerns about revealing his identity to Lois and Flash is like “I'm getting married next week and I told my lady years ago.” Luthor gives a speech at the funeral and Wonder Woman gives him mad snake eyes. He is buried and the world mourns the loss of him and it is sad as fuck. Next thing you know that Krypton ship starts up and leaves the lab and Superman's tomb is empty and they spot a figure flying away in a cape. This movie was way better than I expected it to be and thankfully DC is back to making good animated movies.

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