V For Vendetta (2005)

Film: V For Vendetta
Release: 2005, theatrical
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman
Directed by: James McTeigue
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: In the mid-21st century, Britain has become a fascist regime. One night on the 5th of November a reminder to remember a heinous plot is set to never be forgot.

Hans' thoughts:

Very vigorously would valuers of vindictive revolutionary vendettas value V for Vendetta for its volume as a vector for vocal web-users. Re-written and re-visited by the Whachowskis, it ventures wondrously within the very vague vicinity of the victorious and the virulent views of it's reviewers. The video relies the comic book verses regarding the vaudevillian vindicator which wears the visage called V visualized by the recitalist Weaving. I was be-wondered by the ventures victory in verifying the vexing wonder of V. . Vies a vie, it explores the reason for wearing a disguise whilst fighting crime - not as much as in Watchmen where it's the very vestige of the writers work though still very represented in some form. 

The visuals verily wear the visage of revolutionaries, while relying wisdom regarding the role of the victim compared to role of the victimisers. One again the Wachowskis flaunt their vigor for visual violence. while verily the recitalists realize the roles remarkably. Phew, Okay. I'm sorry. Enough of that. To anyone unaware the original introduction of our main character V features a very well written piece of dialogue with wordplay using the V-sound. Out of all the actors I felt Portman in the role of Evey lacked a little bit of energy and it seems as though she just kind of goes along with whatever happens to her, no matter how cruel it is. For the purpose of the story, Portman certainly does a well enough job that it doesn't distract too much however it's hard to not see it whenever she plays off of charismatic actors like Stephen Fry or Hugo Weaving - Weaving is of course given a momentous task as his face is never actually seen and it falls to the cameraman to accurately convey what the character is going through in any instance. That's of course helped a little bit by the fact that the character of V is supposed to be more of a symbol than an actual character. Most interesting to me was the journey of Stephen Rea in the role of the  police detective Finch as he uncovers more and more about the state of affairs in future Britain and the truth behind the government.

In the villain department, John Hurt makes a very threatening Big Brother-esque villain. Being shown on a giant TV-screen throughout most of the movie his knack for monologue and tone of voice shines through. Likewise does Tim Pigott-Smith pose a threat as the head of the state police known as finger men. However it seems like he channeled Dick Cheney of the then current Bush government in America. There's a lot of snarl and down to business temperament portrayed even when we're just looking at his face. V for Vendetta is above all a very beautifully shot movie and at times it distracts from the at times only half-hearted crime mystery tucked in between the plot-lines. Whether the mystery portion was more fleshed out in the original comic I unfortunately don't know as I've not read it, however it's safe to say that like with the movie adaptation of Moore's other famous work Watchmen, details were left out in favor of focusing on the underlying morale and point of the story. As it stands I can at least recommend V for Vendetta for a very captivating story, some masterfully done shot and the Wachowski staple of excellent action.

Justice League: War (2014)

Film: Justice League: War
Release: 2014, Video
Starring: Sean Astin, Christopher Gorham, Jason O'Mara
Directed by: Jay Oliva
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: All over the world, strange kidnappings by monstrous beings are taking place. During an investigating into the matter in Gotham City, Hal Jordan the Green Lantern of Earth meets the rumored "Bat Man".

Hans' thoughts:

Kickstarting a new DC animated universe, Justice League: War is an adaptation of the first story arc of the rebooted Justice League comic books from 2011. On planet Earth, superheroes are appearing for the very first time and brought together to fight a full scale invasion from the death lord of planet Apokolips, Darkseid. A few changes has been made to the original story for the sake of adaptation, the most notable being that Aquaman is switched out with Shazam (Captain Marvel) in the roster of the team. Why they decided to do so is anyone's guess, but it might be because Shazams origin story was retold as a subplot in the original format independent of the main story-line. 

Acting wise I have to admit I felt it in places was a bit weak. Especially the actress playing Wonder Woman had a few lines that felt way too read from the script, probably rehearsed well enough, but it's like she didn't make the dialogue her own. It's the same case in varying degrees with the other actors, however for whatever reason she was the one that stood out the most to me. Steve Blum, who's an industry veteran by this point did a good job as Darkseid however the voice-filtering on him sometimes made him nearly incomprehensible. Despite this, dialogue is actually very much on point and works well with the very uncomplicated plot - exposition is handed out quickly, "this is what's going on and why - now watch Superman punch this alien". This paves the way instead for more silly remarks and reactions between the individual heroes to the strangeness that surrounds them.

I was actually pretty thrilled by the action scenes in this, the movie does not serve as an origin story for the individual heroes (with the exception of Cyborg) so it's taken more of a "less talkie, more punchy" kind of nature. The action scenes are well edited and animated, with sound effects that really underscores the effects of the punches. The artstyle of the movie is similar to that of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox from last year, and serves as a decent adaptation of the new costumes designed by artist Jim Lee.  Both Flashpoint and this story was written by Geoff Johns, and you can recognize his background as a writer for The Flash and Green Lantern as they've both been given extra attention. Flash was the main character in Flashpoint, and Green Lantern is the main character in this piece. Green Lantern especially ends up being a character with humorous moments and exchanges right from the get-go.

Justice League: War is by no stretch a great animated movie and it pales in comparison to some of the other DC direct-to-video releases. Despite the creators intention of making it a jumping on point for newcomers, It unfortunately also withholds one of the problems of the animated films by just leaving way too much up to the viewer. Hopefully some of the more unknown characters like Shazam will come into their own with a movie detailing their origin. That being said, for anyone who loves well-animated action scenes and the Justice League this is an entertaining piece through and through. It keeps a fast-pace, has some funny lines and a great retelling of both the origin story of Cyborg and the coming together of The World's Finest, setting up what will hopefully be a great series of movies.

Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (1972)

Film: Scooby-Doo Meets Batman
Release: 2002, Video
Starring: Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Olan Soule
Directed by: Joseph Barbera, William Hannah
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window

Description: This is a DVD release of two films from the series called "The New Scooby-Doo movies". In "The Caped Crusader Caper", Mystery inc. is enjoying a nice trip to the woods when they run into The Joker & The Penguin who have kidnapped the bumbling professor Flakey, trying to steal his newest invention. In "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair", Mystery Inc. are on their way to a mystery club meeting when they run upon a counterfeit money operation being investigated by Batman & Robin. 

Hans' thoughts:

Let's turn back the clock to the 1970's, a time of more light-hearted superhero tales. Hannah-Barbera ruled the animated TV-industry, the defining version of Batman was starring Adam West, and Robin had yet to wear pants. During this time, one of most popular animated characters on TV was Scooby-Doo, and in 1972 this was celebrated with a TV-series consisting of 40 minute movies where Mystery Inc. met celebrity guest starts. People such as The Addams Family, The Harlem Globetrotters or as in this case: Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder! This is a double-feature, consisting of the two movies where Scooby-Doo would team up with the heroes while fighting The Joker and The Penguin.

The Caped Crusader Caper:

All of the Scooby-Doo movies play out basically like a longer episode of the original TV-show. Mystery Inc. is out on a camping trip in the woods as they run upon The Joker & The Penguin. Something you'll quickly notice is the huge difference in how this version of the characters look compared to how they look in modern movies and TV-shows. This was made way before Batman: The Animated Series which would come to define the Batman franchise with it's art deco noir-esque art style. Gone is the gothic scenery. In it place, we have the Batman characters very similar to how they looked in "The Adventures of Batman" and "The Superfriends", which were by the way also animated by Hannah-Barbera. As far as the classic "whodunit" goes, this is pretty much thrown out of the window immediately as The Joker and The Penguin is seen in one of the very first shots of the movie. This is kinda sad, as both Batman and Scooby-Doo are detective stories in their own right so a mystery that would require both of them could have held high potential for great writing. Instead we're treated to a lot of, sadly, bad running gags and really painful puns. That and alliteration, they really went overboard with the alliteration. Almost all of Penguins lines. What little funny jokes there are, are few and far inbetween and consists of physical comedy: one of Scooby-doo's strong sides. Why they decided to focus on sight gags is anyones guess, but it's a shame when you consider how strong the two properties were even then. Animation-wise the characters also tend to fall off model when making new facial expressions. This is particularly obvious with Scooby who seems to get almost a new look sometimes. IF you only have the attention span to watch one of these movies, I'd say this one was the one to skip.

The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair:

This is much more like it, opening once again like a classic Scooby-Doo episode this entire episode also feels much more like a story that befits both of the properties. Mystery Inc. is on their way to a Mystery fair when the Mystery Machine breaks down (mysterious, huh?). Coincidentally they stumble upon a group of counterfeiters and meet Batman & Robin, already on the case to stop them. This movie actually keeps around the actual mystery, though it may be a little easy to guess who the main culprit is, what exactly is going on and how The Joker & The Penguin is involved is a lot better. It's like a perfect balancing act between an old-school Batman action tale, and a funny Scooby-doo cartoon. The jokes are better, the lines are less repetitive and the slapstick is just great. It it such a contrast to the other movie and of such higher quality. The animation of the movie is also a lot more on character, while most of these shows were done with reused character cells (part of the marketing for Hannah Barbera cartoons was keeping a low budget due to reusing cells and backgrounds) there are also a lot of new art in this film, which keeps up with the original pretty well. Clearly a lot more effort was put into this piece than in the former. I also felt the voice work in this film was far less grating, in "The Caped Crusader Caper" one of the main characters is the bumbling professor Flakey whose gimmick was a really annoying speechpattern where he kept misspeaking. This film toned down the speechpattern jokes quite a bit asnd instead focused on one-liners and visual gags ("Sure Shaggy, we have Bat Milk and Cookies at the Bat-cave!" "..Bat-Milk?!")

Story-liners: Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

Game: Batman: Arkham Origins
Release: 2013, Retail
System: Playstation 3/Xbox 360/PC/Wii U
Starring: Roger Craig Smith, Troy Baker, JB Blanc
Directed by: Eric Holmes
Previous in the series: Batman: Arkham City
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: For two years, rumors has spread across the city about a mysterious vigilante known as "The Bat" - though no official pictures or recordings exist to prove his existence. Fed up with losing men to him, the powerful crime boss known as Black Mask sets a price on The Bat's head on Christmas Eve. Anyone who would care to try is given one night to cash in on the reward of 50 million dollars - if they can.

Hans' thoughts:

Continuing the best-selling game series about the worlds greatest detective, Arkham Origins give us a prequel to the events of the previous titles. Batman has only been active for two years and has yet to meet most of the now iconic supporting cast of his stories. This game marks a couple of firsts, this is the first game in the Arkham series to not be created by Rocksteady - instead the title is handled by by Warner Bros. Games Montréal and Splash Damage Studios. This is also the first title in the series to not have Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy play The Joker & Batman respectively. Conroy and especially Hamill have been voicing these characters on and off since the hugely popular Batman: The Animated Series that ran in the early 1990's and have become iconic in their roles. This leaves a huge gap to fill out and I'm glad to say that both newcomers, Robert Craig Smith as Batman and Troy Baker as The Joker do a really good job at filling out their shoes. Especially Smith sounds like Conroy from time to time and Baker, while channeling Hamill's performance, does a more reserved version of the voice that, honestly, works really well for the character. The other voices also do a pretty good job of conveying their characters, though I have to stress how easily it becomes to recognize the same voiced when you hear them again and again - I'm of course talking about the nameless flunkies that appear throughout the game. Special type characters have special voices, such as the big musclebound ones but when the ones you hear mostly all have the same three or four voices it quickly becomes routine to hear the same banter over and over again. I understand why this was done, voice work is hard, good voice work is even harder and there's only so much time and resources you can put into the unnamed characters - however it bears mentioning all the same.

Arkham game fans can rest assured however, the gameplay is pretty much copied directly from the two previous titles with only minor tweaks in the form of new combo's for new types for mobsters. We also have two new gadgets in the game, giving room for new interesting puzzles. Unfortunately, like with Arkham City most of the puzzle solving comes from the Riddler side-mission. Find the unlockable, solve the challenge, on to the next. It's pretty much a thing for the completists among you. A positive improvement is a fast-travel system, made unlockable by solving some of these side-missions so at least that's a carrot for the rest of us. Design-wise the game is very much "same old". Since it takes place on Christmas Eve, it's once again a snow-filled landscape and therefore the creators have ported some of the environments directly from Arkham City. The old church, the courthouse and other such locations are all present and accounted for. Thankfully, there are new areas added to the mix as well but the old environments still take up about half of the game map. The designs of the characters are, on the other hand, pretty good. A younger Bruce Wayne, bearing a much heavier armor makes one think of the Dark Knight Trilogy, yet it isn't a complete copy most notably coloring-wise. This made me, personally, breathe a sigh of relief as I'd like each iteration of the Batman to be it's own separate thing (And frankly, I've never been a fan of any of the cinematic Batsuits). The character designs for other characters are, as they should be, a lot less colorful and outlandish than in previous titles. Keep in mind that this story takes place prior to the public knowing that the caped crusader exist and therefore Batman is mostly found dealing with "normal" criminals this time around. This also serves to enhance the few present colors more than ever, which the designers thankfully have used to their advantage making the presence of colors either restricted to billboards or to the special events.

This brings us to the story. As is tradition for the series, the writers have tried to incorporate as many well-known Batman characters as possible. Unfortunately the set scenario makes some of these cameos extremely unplausible compared to the other games. Both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City took place in prisons, which is why it made sense that Batman would have to deal with all the big names from his rogues gallery. However, in this game we're expected to believe that Batman would have his first encounter with several of his most well-established villains all in a single night. The most immediate threat in the story is that of the assassins out for the 50 million dollar bounty on Batman's head, fortunately the writers has kept the assassins down to, at the very least, character who are known to be mercenaries in the comics as well. Lesser known characters like Firefly, Electrocutioner, Deadshot and Lady Shiva all make an appearance, some more well-known than others but all definite C or D-list villains, in spite of the recent appearance by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, he's also normally considered a lesser known Batman villain. But then we're also exposed to The Joker, The Penguin and even The Mad Hatter. While they all are done excellently, Mad Hatter especially makes a much bigger appearance than he did in Arkham City, you can't really help but question the validity of all this taking place in a single night. The game becomes way too crowded, and some of the assassins are only finally dealt with in optional side-missions. This is actually a pretty big problem, as I found myself being more interested in solving the optional missions than engaging in the story. At the very least, the ending of the story is a lot better than the outlandishness of the ending of Arkham Asylum, staying a lot more true to classic Batman form. The game also sees the return of the more outlandish scenes, similar to the Scarecrow sequences of Arkham Asylum. We get an interesting and trippy look into the mind of Batman on more than one occasion.  Sad as it is though, I don't expect casual Batman fans to get much out of the game compared to previous entrances in the series - while the voice acting is excellent, the story is just way too crowded with characters and events and it makes a lot of the struggles in story seem like they have little to no impact. Not to mention the obscurity of some of the characters only serving to make them sideshow characters once the more well-known villains show up to play. It has some very cool moments, but they're far in-between. If you just want a Batman sandbox game however, the side-missions are very entertaining and the higher focus this game puts on actual detective work is a refreshing change making the game at least the turning point for an entertaining weekend.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 (2013)

Film: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
Release: Video, 2013
Starring: Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, Mark Valley
Directed by: Jay Oliva
Previous in the series: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: Gotham's protector has returned to duty, his actions having lead to a major gang being split up into a bunch of clusters, one of them following his example. Meanwhile, the man known as the Joker is planning his own sinister return..

Hans' thoughts:

The thing about adapting a piece of work is that everyone will have their own opinion on what is important from the original product. Therefore, some modern movie makers has gone the route of splitting their movies up in two in order to get as much from the original as possible (a trend I believe started with Harry Potter). 

So in this one we delve further into the theory of Batman being the cause of all his villains. On top of that as a bigger stake in the film we have Superman showing up in the picture, being the tool of the president of the united states. What I like about this movie is that even though it's been quite a while since I reviewed the last one, I was able to immediately get back into the action. Of course, this could be due to me having read the original graphic novel several times but I feel that, since the original story is made so you get it all in immediate succession , it's still a feat to be able to carry over the status quo and expand upon it, just like a good sequel should do. However, as with most of the DC direct to video animated movies, I have to stress that they're mostly made with the already established fanbase in mind. While this one may not be the worst case, taking some of the things at arms length never hurts. 

As for the voice work, I really liked Peter Weller's take on an older Bruce Wayne, giving him a deep voice, but not cartoonishly dark or gruff like, say, Christian Bale's take on the character. In all honesty, while Kevin Conroy may very well be considered the best Batman voice actor out there, Weller gives him a run for his money in this performance. It felt like he was channeling Adam West in his performance, an acotr who unfortunately does not get as much praise in this role as he rightly deserves. If you've forgotten what Adam West sounds like, you need not look further than the current animated satire show Family Guy, where he voices the mayor of the fictional city of Quahog. 

One thing that's always nice in elseworld stories like this one is seeing alternate takes on popular characters. In this case I'd like to highlight Jim Gordon, the commissioner of Gotham Police department (although recently retired in this case). While none are quicker to give Frank Miller flak than me these days, I have to commend him on his writing skills for this particular character. Almost every version of Gordon he's done has been right on the money, regardless of how he may have done in the case of a lot of other characters. Especially this story and "Batman: Year One" is where Millers ability to write Jim Gordon shines through. 

The animation style continues to be pretty good, keeping the basic look of the original comic while updating it for, I imagine, the purpose of broad appeal. Okay let me retrace my steps a bit. What I mean is that it looks like the original drawings to a point, but a lot more clean. A lot of the rough lines are cleaned up and the proportions for the body types are more anatomically correct. The coloring is also better, but that's to be expected when the original artist has his best work in the negative space department, his most beautiful work being that of the Sin City series.

All in all, this movie manages to update the story into a broader appeal and to a modern audience. Also toning down some of the more strong messages from the original work. While still managing to tell a good story and keeping alive the spirit of the story. To any fan of, especially the modern Batman movies, I strongly recommend checking both this and it's predecessor out, as a lot of the things that happen in the "Dark Knight Trilogy" are inspired by this story. I also recommend it to anyone who loves the Batman character and his extended cast - this take on him is a classic and this animated version manages to do it justice.

Man of Steel (2013)

Film: Man of Steel
Release: 2013, theatrical
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon
Directed by: Zack Snyder
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: In the midst of a hostile military takeover and the destruction of his homeworld, Jor-El the lead scientist on Krypton sends his infant son to a far away and more primitive planet to grow up amongst it's inhabitants.

Hans' thoughts:

After so many years, so many other heroes making their mark on popular culture, Superman has returned. Is this movie more powerful than a locomotive? Or does it try to impress us with Super-Weaving? The answer is yes, to the first question. This is a very good superhero movie. Futher than, it is also a pretty good movie overall. Let's take the good things first because I do have some minor gripes with it. Okay, the good: 

The action, as is commonplace for director Zack Snyder, totally awesome. I have not seen other director do hand to hand combat quite as well as Snyder and he is back in full form with this one. We feel the impact of the punches and kicks, we also actually see them which is also to his credit: The shaky cam is not as bad as in most other modern action movies. Which is what this is, this is very much an action movie. Okay let me clarify, the beginning of the first act and the climax of this movie is almost non-stop action. We've got explosions and space ships and cars being thrown through the air. If you came into this movie expecting to see Superman use his superstrength you can rest easy: There is plenty of punching. It is also a spectacle movie to the point of it almost being a natural disaster movie in the same veins as 2012. The first time we see Superman himself is him saving people from a disaster. Henry Cavill is also a very good Superman, like with the former movies the crew of the movie seems to have made sure of casting someone relatively unknown: This builds his status as something of awe and wonder. It cements his status as an icon. Likewise, Amy Adams also does a very good job as reporter Lois Lane. Seasoned actors on the set like Kevin Costner also does a really good job even though they're put into the supporting cast member seats. Finally there's the designs. The Kryptonian costumes and Supermans costumes is actually very believable. This looks like clothes that could be actually worn. I'm also very much in favor of the special effects, the flying felt like looking at a jetplane. Which it should. It also bears mention that Snyder has toned down his tendency to slow-motion. This, however, is most likely due to creative consultant Christopher Nolan who also made the recent Batman trilogy. I'm glad to say that yes, Warner Bros. IS capable of making a good superhero movie not staring Batman.

Okay, so as I said I do have some minor gripes with this movie. First off, the movie played a bit too heavily on the science fiction aspect of the Superman lore. Superman himself is played very foreign to our world, and the concepts of his adversaries is very typical of science fiction. There is a shot in the movie which is almost taken completely from the 90's movie Independence Day. While I did just compliment the designs of the costumes, I do feel that most of them were a bit too brown. The color scheme of the homeplanet Krypton is very much bronze and brown. This is not to say the designs were stupid, but it IS a very big contrast to say, the version of Krypton we saw in the Richard Donner movie. However, like that one, this version of Krypton is very much set in the tendencies of modern science-fiction. So I don't blame it. The musical score was also very forgettable, I couldn't hum it to you off the top of my head and I'm writing this right after getting back from the movie theatre. This is a shame, cause I know that Hans Zimmer was behind the score of the movie. Unfortunately, the sound effects just defeaned it out. Also, and this is a very nerdy gripe. The title of the movie. Calling this movie "Man of Steel" rather than "Superman" seems like a pretty obvious marketing trick. It is most likely meant to make audiences thing of "The Dark Knight", the most successful DC Comics movie to date. This movie however, is by no means as good as The Dark Knight. That's not to say it's bad though.

The gripes out of the way, you should definitely make an effort to watch this movie. As far as superhero movies go, this is in the upper half of the spectrum. As far as movies in general go, you will definitely have a good time.

Superman II (1980)

Film: Superman II
Release: 1980, theatrical
Starring: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder
Directed by: Richard Lester
Previous in the series: Superman The Movie
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: When Superman saves Paris from a hydrogrenbomb by throwing it into space, the explosion coincidentally frees three menaces of his homeplanet Krypton from the phantom zone. Meanwhile on Earth, Lex Luthor escapes from prison to get revenge on Superman

Hans' thoughts:

This one is pretty different from the previous one. While the previous one was a very basic Superman story that could have found in the fleischer bros. cartoons or the old comics, this one is based heavily in the lore. General Zod (who we saw being sentenced by Jor-El in the very first scene of Superman The Movie) is the main villain, making Supermans adversary someone just as powerful as himself. The stakes are higher, the fights are bigger, the special effects are more frequent. Unfortunately this movie, while good, suffers from the story being a mess. I'm sorry to say that there is just way too much going on in this movie. We have 3 plots going on at the same time, first off you have the invasion of General Zod and his two followers Ursa and Non. This one continues theme of the audience learning more about Krypton, unfortunately the actors assigned to it is kinda, odd. Ursa being the most interesting doesn't show much emotion, Non doesn't speak at all instead making a lot of weird faces and grunts, and then Terence Stamp chewing scenery as much as he possibly can as General Zod. They all speak in monotone voices, but the voice Stamp gives Zod is just way too weird. At any moment I'm expecting him to twirl a menacing mustache and tie Lois Lane to some railroad tracks. The second plotline is Lex Luthor escaping from prison to take revenge on Superman. Unfortunately, a lot of what made Luthor fun to watch in the first movie was the banter between him and his subjects. In this one he is very much in the background, although he's still by far the most well-written and fun of the villain characters. He has that kind of Jack Sparrow vibe of an incredible ego where he's definitely the most fun character but him being alone just doesn't give actor Gene Hackman enough to work with. Then there's the last plot thread of  Lois Lane discovering the identity of Superman. On one hand it's nice to see them finally confessing their love and there's some very funny moments between actress Margot Kidder and lead Christopher Reeve. It also serves to give a reason for why General Zod's story is put on the backburner for a good chunk of the second act. On the other hand, the pay off is just not there. We get all this investment and time into the development between the two romantically involved characters but then a cheap flip of a switch sort of undoes everything and puts it back to status quot.  Finally there's the special effects. Everything in this movie is bigger, there's more fighting, more action, more explosions, tons and tons of reaction shots. Great stuff. But again there's a problem: Some of the powers are just not explained. Well okay, why they have the powers IS explained but the characters all display powers that are either only used once or were never used by Superman in the previous movie. For all the gripes I give this movie, please don't be scared away. It's actually a very good movie, and still at the top of the line of superhero movies. It's just less Superman The Movie or The Dark Knight and more X-Men 2 and Spider-man - quality vise that is.

Superman The Movie (1978)

Film: Superman: The Movie
Release: 1978, theatrical
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman
Directed by: Richard Donner
Next in the series: Superman II
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: His homeplanet Krypton on the verge of the destruction, the infant Kal-El is sent to safety on the far away planet Earth to live among humanity as one of their own.

Hans' thoughts:

Super. The word means excellence, perfection. Superman himself being called this because he is the closest thing to the complete man. An icon. This movie is not really all that different. Of course, it's a movie of it's time. It manages to update Superman for audiences of all ages while still keeping that glimmer in it's eye of it being based on a comic book. It is really hard to find anything wrong with this movie, from the fantastic John Williams score to the apparent love for the source material. All throughout this movie, Superman does what he does best. He saves the day both from big and small catastrophes. While yes, this movie does have a main plot and a main villain the movie doesn't forget the fact that Superman is known best as the guy who sees the big picture as well as the small one and does his best to make EVERYONE safe. At one point he even saves a cat from a tree - how many other Superhero movies does that? One. Pixar's The Incredibles. And that one was a parody.

Of course the movie does have it's dated points, the most apparent being the design of Krypton. It is deeply set in the New Age space religions of the 70's, some of the characters are also very camp (Luthor's henchmen being the most obvious). But then again, this is from before the era of the dark and brooding superhero. This movie was made before the release of such comics as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, the success of both being given as the reason for the darker tones being implemented in comic books. A Batman movie without Robin would've been considered insane at this moment in time. This movie however, does not seem ashamed of it's roots.

Clark Kent is just as bumbling and awkward as he should be, giving us a nice nod to the Fleischer bros. cartoons by contemplating changing clothes in a telephone booth. Heck, the opening shot of the movie is a black and white shot of the comic books being narrated by a young boy, we know what we're in for right at the get-go. There is however a scene that seems very out of place, the very first scene in the movie may not have made very much sense to audiences of the time. Historically we can say that yes - this was all a precursor to the events of Superman II (which was filmed back-to-back with this one) but before the internet, only movie savvy audiences may have known that a sequel was already planned at the time of release. I'm not ashamed to say that by the end I got very invested in the characters, even getting kinda foggy eyed at a certain moment. It's not surprising that to many, today's superhero movies are still measured by the standards of this one. Even if you're not into superheroes, you should consider watching this movie. Maybe even you'll believe that a man can fly.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 (2012)

Film: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, David Selby
Directed by: Jay Oliva
Next in the series: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: 10 years after the retirement of Batman, Gotham City is once again being consumed by crime. This time a gang turned terrorist organization called the Mutants is slowly taking over the youths. In the midst of chaos, Bruce Wayne decides to don the mantle of the Bat once more.

Hans' thoughts:

This is probably the best example of an adaptation improving on the source material I have ever seen. The source material of course, being the excellent graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. The movie is the first one in a two-part series of the adaptation, which is for the best. The original work has a lot of subplots going on. I'm actually astonished that it has taken this long for an adaptation to be made, seeing as the original work was very cinematic.

If you're familiar with Millers work, 300 and Sin City, you'll notice the very strong opinions being thrown at you in this movie. It almost serves to poke fun at liberals a lot of the time. You have the psychologists who are made up to be whining, and even a guy who comes with a real "peoples rights" speech but turns out to not actually be a citizen of Gotham City. However, the movie manages to tone it down to serve the broader appeal, making the movie bearable in this aspect, even if you disagree with Miller a lot of the way like I do.

You also have a very cool version of Harvey Dent, delving into what happens when medical treatment just comes way too late. I'll also like to highlight the art style: This movie pays tribute to the source material while updating it to be a little more easy on the eyes. It is though, very recognizably an adaptation. If you'd like to see what the Christopher Nolan Batman movies is most likely based on, or if you're just a Batman fan in general you definitely won't be disappointed with this movie.

Lego Batman the movie: DC Super Heroes Unite (2013)

Film: Lego Batman The Movie: DC Super Heroes Unite
Release: 2013, video
Starring: Troy Baker, Clancy Brown, Travis Willingham
Directed by: Jon Burton
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: Lex Luthor frees The Joker from Arkham Asylum in order to win the presidential election with his Joker gas

Hans' thoughts:

This a movie version of the storyline from the video game Lego Batman 2, which is why some of the scenes in it is quite sudden. As for the style of the movie, it's actually a very nice little mix between the 90's Batman cartoons by Bruce Timm with a bit of the classic 60's TV-show thrown in. As I'm an adult, I have a small problem giving this a fair review so I watched along with my 5 year old nephew. He absolutely adored it. I'll also have to compliment the animation, it is surprisingly well done compared to other direct-to-video 3D movies. The humor is well.. hit and miss. The highpoints are definitely the physical comedy, as even to my nephew the one-liners didn't really get much of an reaction. Some of the characters are also shoe-horned in at the end, probably to be able to rightfully have them in the videogame as playable characters (The Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern are all in this, but they get maybe 25 lines combined). A lot of the most popular Batman villains are also in this movie, but only Joker gets something significant to do while his Arkham co-inmates are quickly dealt with. They get even less screen dialogue than the heroes. Robin is the butt of a lot of the jokes in this movie, which to me is a shame because I know he had a lot to do in the video game version. To end the article, only buy this movie for your kids if they are into Lego Batman already, otherwise just rent it and pop it into a DVD player for a quite one and half hours. It isn't exactly high art, but my nephew loved it and has rewatched it a couple of times. Just don't expect Disney quality entertainment from it.

Story-liners: Injustice: Gods among us (2013)

This is a new segment where we look at cinematic video game story lines.

Game: Injustice: Gods Among Us
Release: 2013, retail
System: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox 360
Starring: Kevin Conroy, Richard Epcar, Adam Baldwin
Directed by: Dominic Cianciolo
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: Metropolis is lost, The Joker has hypnotized Superman with Scarecrows fear toxin to beat Lois Lane to death, her heart set up to an atomic bomb. Furious, Superman takes the life of The Joker, declaring a zero tolerance policy on crime

Hans' thoughts:

This is quite the achievement, a licensed game that's good and a fighter with a decent storyline in one package. Decent is a very fitting word for this story. While it is certainly entertaining the stakes doesn't feel very high because it's an elseworlds story, meaning it doesn't take place in the main DC universe. This could have been just fine except the characters from the original universe is transported into this one, taking away suspense. At least the voice acting is very good, so good in fact that Batman veteran Kevin Conroy is outstaged by the lesser known names.

Most likely inspired by the Flashpoint event in the comics, Injustice: Gods Among Us takes place in an universe where Superman has killed the well-known Batman villain The Joker after the latter had tricked him into killing his beloved Lois Lane. Now the planet Earth is ruled by Superman and those who follows him, declaring martial law on supervillains and taking in any who would support his cause, even former villains. In the main universe, The Justice League are just about to stop The Joker from detonating a bomb in the middle of Metropolis when they're instead transported to Superman's new One Earth Empire. Meeting up with this worlds Batman, now the leader of a small resistance force, our heroes must stop the corrupted godlike Superman and bring order back to a world that seems far beyond helping.

As far as comic book storylines goes, this is pretty good. Our heroes face a larger than life threat and are constantly going through twists and turns to save a world, because that's what heroes do. Unfortunately, like most modern DC products, far too much emphasis is put on Batman and his surrounding characters. While definitely a character with great potential for drama, the absence of more non-Gotham based DC superheroes and villains saddens me. If you play the game, you'll quickly notice that the roster (DLC included) features a lot of Batman characters. You'll also notice that Batman has a lot more stages dedicated to him as well (The Batcave, Gotham downtown, Two versions of Arkham Asylum AND Wayne Manor) while not even Superman, the game's main villain, has more than two. This is not a critique of Batman as a character, he's my personal favorite and I always love to see him around but the DC comic book universe has such a rich amount of characters and locations that emphasising this much on a single character seems unnecessary.

For a fighter, this one definitely breaks the stereotype and the game may be worth renting for the storyline alone

Batman (1966)

Film: Batman
Alternate title: Batman: The movie
Release: 1966, theatrical
Starring: Burt Ward, Adam West, Caesar Romero
Directed by: Leslie H. Martinson
Description: Batman's greatest foes has teamed up and is terrorizing Gotham, now Batman and Robin will have to do their best to save the day.

Hans' thoughts:

For my generation, the existence of this movie is downright strange. These days Batman is considered a John Wayne of the superheroes, a serious brooding knight who is vigilant every waking moment with his... Shark repelling bat-spray? Yeah. This movie takes place in the same universe as the very silly TV-series from the same era and it shows. The characters make lame puns, the logic in this movie is ridiculously flawed "Batman and Robin take off their masks? That would completely ruin them as ace crime fighters!", and lines like "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" makes you think it was intended as a downright parody of the character - it isn't. To my parents generation, this was Batman. This was what they thought of when they thought of Batman. Personally I cringed through the movie, and had to pause the movie at times to make my brain catch up with the stupidity. But something made me sit through the whole thing, I'm not sure if it was a sense of duty or - as I suspect, I was starting to engage in the cheese factor of the movie. This is a movie I suspect will grow on it's modern audience with repeated viewings, and it is a fun little footnote in superhero history. However, I have to admit this movie should probably remain buried in the bargain bin, waiting for the next comic book nerd, curious cinephile or unsuspecting victim. Hardcore Batman fans only, and even they may not be able to sit through it.

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)

Film: Justice League: The New Frontier
Release: 2008, Video
Starring: David Boreanaz, Neil Patrick Harris, Lucy Lawless
Directed by: Dave Bullock
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: A mysterious being threatens humanity, as Earth's mightiest must join forces with the new heroes in this retelling of the forming of the Justice League - set in the 1950's.

Hans' Thoughts:

The first thing you notice when you pop in this DVD is the artstyle, the artstyle looks and feels like an updated version of the 1950's comic books. And it's fitting, for unlike most other Superhero movies this one is a period piece. The only other period piece superhero movies I can think of on the top of my head is X-men: First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger. The latter forcibly so, as Captain America is a character thoroughly grounded in the mindset of the second world war. To me, period piece superhero movies is really an awesome concept. A lot of these characters has origin stories that really work best in the Atomic era and especially the two characters whose origin is explained in this one: Green Lantern (Hal Jordan version) and Martian Manhunter. Anyone who followed the Justice League TV-show already knows an origin story for Martian Manhunter, but this one offers one closer to the original concept. So this is one of the movies very strong points, being set in the 50's the movie can justify the personalities and issues a bit more as these were very relevant problems of this period, feminism versus patriarchy, racism and the space race. The cold war is also very prominent in the mindset of some of the characters. This movie is also the second in DC's Direct-To-Video lineup, an experiment starting with Superman: Doomsday that's still going strong today. The voice acting in the movie is pretty great, the new Batman may not be Kevin Conroy but he does a pretty good job and Lucy Lawless is just flawless as Wonder Woman (hm. Rhyme). This movie also has a lot of nods to the fans and silent cameos of popular characters (forexample Green Arrow.) I don't know how well this movie is adapted from the original comic book however, but seeing as the original creator is attached to the project I'm assuming it does it justice. If you want to get into the DC universe, try this one out for size.

DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam (2010)

Film: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam
Release: 2010, Video
Starring: Zach Callison, James Garner, Josh Keaton
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: This DVD holds 4 showcases of classic DC Universe characters in the form of animated shorts, In Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam a new superpowered foe has come to Earth, destroying everything in his path. He seems focused on the orphaned boy Billy Batson for mysterious reasons. In Green Arrow, the title hero thwarts the murder-attempt of the young heir to a European throne. In Jonah Hex, the title hero tracks down a group of vigilantes operating too heavily on the wrong side of the law and in The Spectre,  the murder of a popular Hollywood producer brings out supernatural forces and mysterious killings begin to occur.

Hans' thoughts:

Okay, So since this one is a special case I've decided to give each short it's own text blurb. This one's a long one let's go!

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam:

This one is definitely the strongest of the bunch, which explains why it got top billing. It recounts the origin story of Captain Marvel or - as he's named now, Shazam! It's a very nice little introduction for people who are new to the character, as it's very much grounded in the behind-the-scenes history of the character. Ready for a short history lesson? Back when superheroes was a new thing in 1939 Captain Marvel was actually the property of a rivalling company: Fawcett Comics.  In 1953, DC Comics sued Fawcett comic alleging that Captain Marvel was a blatant copy of Superman and Fawcett ceased publishing his books. In 72', DC Comics aquired the rights to the character and his sorrounding cast. However, in the meantime Marvel comics had created their own "Captain Marvel" character (long story short, an alien) so DC has henceforth promoted the character under the name "Shazam!" finally renaming the character entirely in 2012. Back to the actual movie, the animation style is very nice but it is fairly obvious that a japanese studio was hired to do this one. This movie also felt like it could've been the pilot of an animated series or a shortened script for what would have been a full movie. It could also have been an episode of Justice League: Unlimited from the feel and the atmosphere. Supermans prescense isn't entirely neglected, but he does seem to have put in the movie to have a familiar face to draw people in.

Green Arrow:

This doesn't actually work all that well as an introduction to the character (as he already seems to have an established relationship with follow Justice League member Black Canary). So this one also feels like a scrapped episode of Justice League: Unlimited. While the plot is fairly simple, it is nice to see Green Arrow get some solo action in animated form and the voice actors all did really really great. While I can objectively see that this one is one of the weaker ones it is inarguably my favourite of the bunch. But that mostly comes from my love of the character. Overall, Green Arrow made me smile every time he was on screen, and they definitely managed to capture the spirit of the character. But again, this one may not work as a "Showcase" for the character as I would argue that the best way to introduce someone to a new hero is almost always to explain or retell their origin (like the top billing title did). It was also a bit distracting that a well-established liberal character like Green Arrow would be given a plot to protect monarchy, but I guess that only comes into play when you like me are familiar with him beforehand.

The Spectre:

This one is done very tongue-in-cheek. The whole movie has a 70's quality filter on it, with the frame jumping at times and the colours being faded. It oozes the atmosphere of a grind house feature which makes it even more sad that this one is actually the weakest of the bunch. While Green Arrow did a poor job at showcasing the character, this one actually does a disservice to the casual viewer by not explaining most of what's going on at all. We are expected to accept the events of the movie through-out the most of it and is given a short dissatisfying explanation at the very end through monologue. Number one of any visual medium: Show, don't tell. That said, like the others the animations are well-done and the voice acting is also top notch. They can't save the movie from a, sadly, sub-par script and this one is very forgettable. I honestly recommend the casual viewer lets this one play for the toilet break.

Jonah Hex:

The best one besides the main attraction, this one actually showcases the character of Jonah Hex very well without retelling the origin. Set in the old west, it has all the clichés of spaghetti westerns. Jonah Hex is like Batman in the old west however and the sheer personality of the character is enough to hold ones interest. While the plot is perhaps the most straight forward of them all, this one has the most action. It also has some downright cruel moments so I hesitate to recommend this one to younger viewers. This one is shown last on the disc, after The Spectre and it's apparent that they've saved some of their best for last. The animation of this one out-ranks all of the others and the art style is dark and gritty, befitting for one of the darkest characters of the DC Universe. Do not miss out on this one, even if you did not like the rest. It is the one I think casual viewers will enjoy the most.

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

Film: Batman: Under The Red Hood
Release: 2010, video
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, John DiMaggio, Jensen Ackles
Directed by: Brandon Vietti
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: A new threat has come to Gotham - A person calling himself "The Red Hood" has taken controls of the cartels, tipping the scales of power in Gothams criminal underworld. It turns out however, this new villain is more than just another druglord.

Hans' Thoughts:

Old lady Joker

Normally, movies that go direct to video are thought to be either not by a mainstream company or just very low budget - This is not the case on this one. Under The Red Hood is one of the finest animated DC universe movies out there, chronicling one of the game-changing storylines of the Batman comic books.It's really hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it, but I'll do my best. This movie marks John DiMaggio's debut as The Joker, a role he's later revises in the new game Injustice: Gods Among Us. The challenge for new voice actors that take on The Joker is that they will be compared to the absolutely fantastic voice acting of Mark Hamill. A man that's for my generation has been the definitive voice of The Joker since Batman the animated series. That said, John DiMaggio manages to deliver his own take on the character while saluting the characters voice under Hamill.The other voice actors also did a fantastic job, and while the art style is great most of the time at some points I felt The Joker looked more like an old VERY pale lady. Like the villain from The Little Mermaid. Normally, the art style was great and the designs of Nightwing and The Red Hood in particular catch the original art from the comics it's based on pretty well. The art also reminded me of the show "Young Justice". This being a story arc from the comic books, it could mean it would be kinda hard for newcomers to get into but I feel that the newcomers I've watched it with has managed to follow the story just fine. This could also be because the story bears no mention of the major DC event Infinite Crisis which the story arc was part of the aftermath of. Having watched other DC movies which also spawned from comic book story arcs, this one is by far the best of the bunch. Especially newer animated movies like Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Superman as he looks in "Batman/Superman: Apocalypse" 

are sub-par by comparison, even taking into account my gripes with the art style (in my opinion the lips are way too detailed in the new ones). On the right you should be able to a screenshot from aforementioned movie as an example.  Overall though, The Red Hood is definetly a movie you should track down if you like Batman at all. In my opinion it sits up there even with the very best live-action ones.

EDIT: Turns out "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" is from later in 2010, same year as the release of The Red Hood making this a bad example. However, my preference of the artstyle of the latter still stands, even compared to titles like "Superman/Shazam: Return of Black Adam" or "Justice League: Doom".