Monday, October 04, 2010

Sunday Movie: Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly reprised their roles as Batman and Superman in another adaptationr of Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman series. This story picks up where the last story left off, where in the remains of the large astroid from Krypton, (that was destroyed by a large robot composite of Batman and Superman piloted by the Dark Night) Batman finds another survivor from Krypton, Superman's apparent cousin, who eventually becomes Supergirl. (Surprised?)

The story is focused on Kara's (Supergirl's) discovery of identity and adapting to life on planet Earth... Oh, who am I kidding? It's really about everyone kidnapping and brainwashing the poor Kryptonian. First of all, Wonder Woman and her amazons ambush and kidnap her. (When did Superman and Wonder Woman stop speaking to each other?) Then, on Paradise Island, Darkseid attacks with an army of Doomsday creatures (only for the army to be literally fried with Super Heat Vision) and Kara again being kidnapped and then brainwashed.

Good news, the story is more coherent than the first one, "Public Enemies," which was just bizarre. Though everyone seems out of character. Superman is very aggressive and angry. Batman is super-pessimissic. Did I mention that Wonder Woman ambushed and attacked Superman in his secret identity no less? Darkseid is one-dimensional, and Kara isn't given enough time to develop when she's being constantly being attacked or kidnapped. But hey, it was based on a comic book.

Also, if you're wondering why the movie is called Apocalypse when there is no said threat, then ask the execs at Warner Bros. Apparently, the earlier release of the Wonder Woman DVD movie had poor sales, so the WB wanted, in no way, to advertise that this movie was about another female lead, Supergirl, and the creators fought to even have her on the cover. Personally, if they had told me that Big Barda was in it, I would have bought it sooner.

No comments: