Geeking Out About Cinema #13: Saleem's DCU Highlights

 Saga: No Title Yet

Rating: TBA

Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters

Rating: TBA

1. Creature Commandos

Rating: 9/10

Minor Positives:

-Fan Service

Ep. 3 - Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man Cameo

Ep. 4 - Dead Justice League Easter Egg

Ep. 5 - Clayface Guest Appearance

Ep. 6 - Batman Cameo

-Solid Character Design

G.I. Robot

Nina Mazursky

Eric Frankenstein

Major Positives:

-Exceptional Character Design

Bride of Frankenstein

Doctor Phosphorous

-Highly Entertaining Action

-Entertaining Comedic Character Interactions

-Impactful Dramatic Character Interactions

-Exceptional Character Debut

Creature Commandos Team

-Excellent Character Writing

Creature Commando Individual Origin Stories

-Exceptional Superhero Origin Storytelling

-Strong Storytelling Elements

Minor Negatives:

N/A

Major Negatives: 

-Underwhelming Character Debut

Eric Frankenstein

-Questionable Storytelling Elements

Eric Frankenstein's obsessive pursuit in romantically being involved with the Bride quickly became an unnecessary distraction that brought down the show a little whenever it became the main focus of a scene. I'm honestly not sure if that's the direction taken in the source material, but I wished the character would've been used in a much more satisfying way living up to the high quality character writing standards given to everyone else. 

2. Superman

Rating: 8/10

Minor Positives:

-Fan Service

1. Rick Flag Cameo

2. Soundtrack Mirrors John Williams Theme

-Solid Character Design

1. Metamorpho

-Overall Solid Production Values (CGI & Practical FX)

-Sci-Fi Fantasy Visual Direction

-Overall Solid Action

-Decent Romantic Component

-Solid Performance

1. David Corenswet as Superman

-Solid Dramatic Character Interactions

1. Clark & Jonathan Kent's Discussion About Purpose In Life

2. Clark & Lois's Mock Interview About Superman's Actions In Current World Affairs

-Solid Character Debut

1. Superman

2. Lois Lane

3. Mr. Terrific

4. Guy Gardner/Green Lantern

-Entertaining Character

1. Krypto

-Meeting Expectations

Major Positives:

-Fan Service

1. Peacemaker Cameo

-Soundtrack

1. Look Up

Minor Negatives:

-Questionable Character Design

1. Superman's Suit

-Occasionally Weak Visual Direction

1. Some of the face cam zoom in shots that they kept inserting didn't really quite work for me and felt out of place. But these were just in a small few instances.

-Slightly Underwhelming Villain

1. Lex Luthor

The best way that I can describe my feelings about this iteration of Lex Luthor is that this is by far the most formidably resourceful Lex that we've seen aside from Jon Cryer's take. It's a Lex Luthor that has a whole lot of toys at disposal which makes him a serious threat undoubtably. However, what has always made Lex Luthor stand out for me over the years wasn't just his resources and manipulation but also the character's egotistical psyche. I feel like this Lex highly succeeds in the resource and strategy department but doesn't entirely have the engaging to watch hook factor of the attention seeking child obsessively pursuing our hero at dangerous levels. The elements are certainly there, but it didn't quite grab me as much as I would've hoped for. 

2. Ultraman

-Slightly Lackluster Storytelling

1. This is one of those situations where I feel like there's a lot happening and it's all interesting in its own right, but not enough time is being given to each individual component. It's like a great collection of narrative samples that ultimately culminates into something that feels a tiny bit empty yet enjoyable. So much to introduce, so much to establish, not enough time to rightfully spend on each of those things. 

Major Negatives: 

N/A

3. Peacemaker Season 2

Rating: 9/10

Minor Positives:

-Fan Service

1. Ep. 1 - Justice Gang Cameos

2. Ep. 6 - Lex Luthor Cameo

-Overall Solid Production Values (CGI & Practical FX)

-Occasionally Strong Cinematic Direction

-Overall Solid Action

-Decent Romantic Component

1. Chris & Amelia's Conflicting Relationship

-Solid Dramatic Character Interactions

-Entertaining Character

1. John Economos

2. Langston Fleury

-Character Writing Honors Previous Movies/Shows

-World Building

-Solid Enough Storytelling Elements

1. Using a parallel world to showcase Peacemaker's desires as a celebrated hero with the love of his life by his side only to throw it all on its side once that world is revealed to be Earth-X. 

Major Positives:

-Exceptional Character Design  

1. Ep. 8 - Giant Skull Spiders

-Sci-Fi Fantasy Visual Direction

1. Ep. 8 - Parallel Worlds

-Highly Comedic

-Standout Performance

1. John Cena As Peacemaker

-Entertaining Comedic Character Interactions

1. John Economos' Hilarious Interactions With Other Characters

-Impactful Dramatic Character Interactions

1. Ep. 6 - Chris and Amelia's heartfelt discussion about whether or not there's anything romantic between them. 

2. Ep. 7 - Peacemaker having to witness his father's Earth X counterpart get killed off by Vigilante as well as his brother almost dying by his own team.

3. Ep. 8 -  The 11th street kids consoling Chris about the positively meaningful impact that he's had on his friends. 

Minor Negatives:

-Slightly Underwhelming Villain 

1. Rick Flag Sr.

Frank Grillo does a serviceable enough job in the role and the character's motivations seem to be established enough to understand what he's trying to do however I just never really felt like this was exactly the same guy from Creature Commandos. I think merging the revenge for his son's death angle with him trying to controversially eliminate all meta humans made for a slightly messy direction with him. Sometimes I wasn't sure if he was just making excuses to catch and kill Peacemaker or was he using that to further a bigger goal against metahumans being a liability for the planet. 

But again, I question how this matches up with his alliance with metahumans during Creature Commandos. Also, his hatred for Peacemaker is put into question since Peacemaker shooting his son was a direct order by Amanda Waller and not of Chris's own decision. The fact that Rick literally takes Amanda's position of power and having to force people to do what they don't want to do for a bigger cause makes him a huge hypocrite. I'm just not entirely sure how to feel about him as an antagonist and would've preferred they kept him how he was on Creature Commandos with maybe just a rocky relationship with Peacemaker for pulling the trigger on his child.

I do however like this idea of him working with Lex to create a prison for metahumans much like someone like Amanda Waller would work with Lex to find a way to keep super powered people in check. However, I'm not so sure I completely buy into him being that antagonistic figure for the position. 

Major Negatives: 

N/A

4. Supergirl

Rating: 7/10

Minor Positives: 

-Fan Service

1. Clark Kent Cameo

I quite enjoyed getting to see Clark make brief appearances throughout the movie trying to interact with Kara. As opposed to just being a guest appearance simply for the sake of continuity reminder or audience marketing encouragement, his short scenes also successfully help inform the stark differences between Superman and Supergirl due to their individual backgrounds. Clark's lighthearted, righteousness embodying, and optimistic personality contrasts with Kara's slightly pessimistic, morally flexible, and blunt characterization. With this, I think it was a brilliant choice to have him make brief appearances throughout. 

2. Lobo Cameo

Having Jason Mamoa play Lobo was one of those dream casting come to life scenarios, and it worked out well in terms of the costume design and performance. This was something that fans over the years and even Mamoa himself championed for, so the fact that we got to finally see it done was pretty great. 

-Solid Character Design

1. Various Alien Side Characters

-Overall Solid Production Values (CGI & Practical FX)

-Sci-Fi Fantasy Visual Direction

1. Although not nearly as awe-inspiring and imaginative as I'd hope for when the movie was first announced to be a planetary adventure, there is a small enough helping of solid science-fiction imagery scattered throughout. The visuals surrounding Krypton and Argo City in addition to some of the minor alien creature designs that briefly appear gives us just enough to admire the cosmic scope of the narrative. 

-Solid Superhero Origin Storytelling

1. Kara’s origin story revolving around Krypton's destruction and Argo City’s gradual decline is done pretty well here. From both a visual perspective and the overall dramatic stakes involved with her leaving her family and the destruction of her homeward, the movie effectively conveys why Kara is as emotionally distant as she is even as a superhero initially. I also enjoyed seeing her flashback to meeting Clark for the first time and trying to adjust to Earth struggling to see it as a new home since she was literally rushed there by her dying parents. I believe this movie may have even done a better job at getting us to connect to Kara's background more than they did with Superman. 

Major Positives: 

N/A

Minor Negatives: 

-Shaky Production Values

1. There are a couple of shots here and there where the CGI surrounding Kara as she's speeding or flying around is a little bit noticeable. However, it never gets to the point where it completely takes me out of the movie.  The same can be said for some of the lighting choices where certain scenes feel as though they're being put under a certain filter that kills any sense of vibrancy and energy in the color pallets of a setting.

-Lackluster Action 

1. You have a Kryptonian superhero who is a little more morally flexible in her damage impact than Superman in addition to Lobo who is known to be highly destructive in his sensibilities. And yet...there's not a single memorable action scene or even shot here. The action or fight scenes here just comes and goes leaving little to no impact whatsoever which is pretty disappointing given the characters and cosmic environmental potential in the script. 

-Questionable Performance

1. Milly Alcock As Kara Zor-El

I'm still trying to figure this one out, so bare with me as I may eventually take this off the negatives list. However, I'm just not entirely sure how I feel about Milly's performance as Kara. Perhaps, it could be the fact that I spent over 6 seasons of the Supergirl TV series from the Arrowverse's adaptation growing to love the multi-layered performance given by Melissa Benoist. Perhaps it may also be the fact that I don't particularly enjoying seeing a lead character who comes across as being mostly exhausted, sick to her stomach, or emotionally disconnected feeling in their performance (although that's done on purpose lining up with the character writing). 

Either way, I can't say that Milly does a bad job in the role as there are a few moments where she does a more than solid job in selling Kara's reaction to certain things, but more so that I wished they would've made her a bit more expressive at certain points. This is why I'd call it "questionable" more so than simply "bad".

-Slightly Underwhelming Character Debut

1. Lobo

This one's a bit of a tricky nitpick for me considering that I thought Jason Mamoa was the perfect casting choice for Lobo (and has even been fan casted for years alongside the actor's own love for the character). I'd also point out that the performance itself and character design was fairly solid overall. What brings this down a little towards nitpick territory for me is simply how slightly underwhelming the character's insertion felt in the overall story and movie's sense of entertainment value. Lobo just appears out of nowhere as a matter of coincidence to Kara's mission and gets occasionally entangled in her and Ruthye conflicts simply by chance timing. It feels more forced than anything for him to be in this movie even though his bounty mission so happens to pertain to the same group that Kara is after.

What could have, and probably should have, be an amazing guest appearance with him taking out his bounty in a spectacular fashion while Kara and Ruthye tries to stay out of his way instead ends up feeling like a forgettable afterthought piece of fan service. His interactions with our main leads have very little impact to them, and although Jason Mamoa is clearly meant for this role, the material doesn't allow much for him to shine with. And yet, I'm still happy to see him. Like I said, this one's a bit tricky. 

-Slightly Underwhelming Villain

1. Krem

Giving credit where credit is due, I honesty thought that I'd hate this villain for being severely generic and dull due to the way that he was shown in the trailers. To my surprise, Krem ended up having a little bit more personality than I expected as this pirate/biker gang leader type of villain. That being said, in the grand scheme of things, he is just some jerk who shot a dog to use as bait with no real unique or notable character attributes that allow him to stand out from previous villains. Thankfully, the movie isn't really about him but instead the ripple effect that his actions have on the heroes' journey. He served his purpose. However, though not as terrible as I expected, Krem is still pretty forgettable at the end of the day. 

-Lacking In Dramatic Impact

1. There are some decent dramatic elements such as how Kara's tragic origins connects to her present dilemma as a wandering questionably homeless superhero. However, the movie's biggest attempts at dramatic storytelling leave much to be desired such as Krypto's supposed impending death or Ruthye's revenge quest. It all feels "by the numbers" more so than feeling genuinely impactful. 

-Forgettable

Major Negatives: 

-Lackluster Storytelling 

1. I've heard a lot of positive things about the source material that this movie is specifically drawing heavily from (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow). Unfortunately, whether the movie follows closely to the comics or takes a lot of creative liberties, the storytelling here is rather underwhelming. Kara going on a mission to chase after the people that shot her dog while reluctantly helping a girl to chase after the same people for killing her parents doesn't quite have a strong hook factor for me. There's also the fact that the cosmic venturing aspect of the movie never really goes anywhere of notable intrigue as the settings are all pretty forgettable. 

Where the writing shines is in the flashbacks surrounding her origins, but the present day narrative which is the main focus of the movie gives little to be invested in. Is this merely due to weak direction or do the issues lie in the overall concepts themselves? It's honestly kinda hard to tell. What I'll say is that, though I was following along the whole way through, never once outside of the flashbacks was I deeply engaged with what was taking place which is disappointing. 

-Questionably Handled Adaptation Of The Source Material

1. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

-Monumentally Wasted Potential

1. The announcement of a Supergirl movie adapting one of the more celebrated comic book stories in the character's history was an exciting one (especially given the cosmic cinematic potential, thoughtful character progression, and adventurous narrative scope). Unfortunately, the movie never remotely reaches those heights that the source material opened the door for and ends up instead feeling like a watered down generic revenge quest littered with leftover sets from Guardians of the Galaxy's Holiday Special all through the prism of a dull as dirt color filter. 

Suffice it to say, what could have been one of the most visually awe-inspiring science-fiction comic book movies to date with a deep protagonist narrative and central bond turned out to be one of the most dull and slightly lifeless looking movies of the genre. Even some of the MCU's Phase 2-3 movies had more cinematically inspired visual direction and emotional beats which is sad considering how old those movies are in comparison by this point. 

-Below Expectations

5. Lanterns

Rating: Coming Soon

Minor Positives: 

Coming Soon

Major Positives: 

Coming Soon 

Minor Negatives: 

Coming Soon 

Major Negatives: 

Coming Soon 

More To Come...