Creature Commandos – The World’s Finest Review

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CREATURE COMMANDOS
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation, DC Studios, Max
Air Date: Season One debuted Dec. 5 on Max.

Description: Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails … they’re your last, worst option. The Max Original adult animated series stars Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Written and executive produced by James Gunn, Creature Commandos is based on DC characters and produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.

An expert blend of comedy, intense action and heart-breaking drama, Creature Commandos is a compelling, colorful cartoon that entertains and enthralls. Led by a strong cast of catchy criminals, this crew’s initial outing is a captivating thrill ride jam-packed with big surprises and harrowing twists. While there are a couple bumps along the way, this first animated project from DC Studios is an exciting, effective and endearing excursion with the monsters of Task Force M!

Creature Commandos follows Task Force M, a team of incarcerated monsters, recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. Written and executive produced by James Gunn, A.R.G.U.S. head Amanda Waller directs Rick Flag Sr. to lead a ragtag monster squad to the foreign country of Pokolistan to protect Princess Ilana and her subjects from an attack by the villainous Circe. However, Task Force M quickly learns that the stakes are higher than they could ever imagine and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

The first official chapter in DC Studio’s burgeoning DC Universe multimedia plans under chief creative James Gunn, who also wrote and produced Creative Commandos, this slick series is an encouraging kick-off to this cinematic interpretation of DC Comics’ eclectic cast of characters. While there’s a couple pacing hiccups and a few story beats that don’t quite land, Creature Commandos is a clear success nevertheless. It’s a strong batch of solid episodes, all spearheaded by unmistakably big fans of the four-color source material.

Similar to The Suicide Squad, the reboot of 2016’s Suicide Squad, Creature Commandos lays out the mission and introduces its cast of cannon fodder right away, wasting no time. There’s a bit of a formula at work here (Creature Commandos is basically “The Suicide Squad 2“), but Gunn (who also wrote and directed The Suicide Squad and handled its spin-off Max series, Peacemaker) keeps it fresh and fun thanks to a great mix of monsters and a nice, twisty yarn of a tale. Gunn’s ability to write such vivid, fully realized characters results in an extremely watchable (and debatably root-able for) team of super-freaks.

Led by Flag (Frank Grillo), this team of super-freaks is an eclectic bunch who are more likeable and complex than one might imagine. The Bride (Indira Varma) is a standout among this motley crew of monsters, bubbling over with plenty of snark and angst, all fuelled by the centuries of trauma she’s endured at the hands of Frankenstien (David Harbour), her psychotic incel of a stalker. Over the season she starts to develop a friendship with Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), a woman mutated into a fish-like creature and debatably the team’s only real true “innocent” among its ranks.

Also on the team is Doctor Phosphorous (Alan Tudyk), a crazed gangster with a lethal touch and resembling something of a glowing skeleton (like Blight from Batman Beyond). He’s joined here by G.I. Robot, a WWii-era Nazi-killing machine, and Weasel (both voiced by Sean Gunn), who’s either a beastial metahuman or a mutated animal (the series is intentionally vague on this). When not on mission for Waller (Viola Davis), Creature Commandos tends to dive into the backstory of each Task Force M denizen, and it’s safe to say the history lessons learned here are frequently surprising and startling.

Gunn creates a band of legitimately compelling characters here, vividly painting a picture of damaged creatures beaten down by, among other things, circumstance and bad decisions. Able to pull extremely compelling emotional beats from even the most seemingly absurd of characters (the episode “Chasing Squirrels” is such an example), these oddballs might look like monsters but (as the cliche goes) you can never judge a book by its cover. These characters have spent their entire lives enduring tragedy and cruelty, and Creature Commandos makes it clear there’s consequences for perpetrating and enduring such hardships.

When it comes to depicting all this monster madness, Creature Commandos‘ strong script work is thankfully supported by its near-equally excellent animation. Provided by the studios Bobbypills and Studio IAM, Creature Commandos is packed front to back with great looking animation, strong directing by Matt Peters and Sam Liu, and slick storyboarding. On top of being fairly bloody, the action beats tend to be pretty striking, sleek and even occasionally shocking. The only time the animation quality tends to dip is during Creature Commandos‘ calmer moments. Sometimes it just can’t quite sell the emotion of the scene, the body movement, the facial expression, etc. It’s not perfect, but it’s arguably the best-looking DC Comics-based animated series on the air right now.

One thing that is consistent across the board is Creature Commandos‘ fantastic voice acting. Varma, Harbour, Chao, Tudyk, Bakalova and Grillo get some of the show’s best material, pulling out some absolutely incredible line-readings along the way (Tudyk’s read of Phosphorous’ “It looks like I’m smiling … but I’m not” is haunting and absolutely terrifying, and some of Varma’s readings are devastatingly understated). There’s also some strong chemistry among the cast and characters, the standouts being the blossoming friendship between Varma and Chao’s respective characters, Bride and Nina, and the hilarious mis-matched buddy-comedy vibes from Grillo and Harbour’s Flag and Frankenstein.

Sticking with Frankenstein for a moment, Creature Commandos‘ take on the cult-favorite character will likely draw the most ire from comic book aficionados. Instead of the familiar powerful undead warrior, Frankenstein here is instead a hulking stalker – and an insane narcissist with no concepts of morality and the mannerisms of a homicidal man-child – who’s been trailing The Bride for literal centuries. While he does throw a few interesting wrinkles into the Commandos’ mission, and is part of some of the season’s funniest and biggest surprises, don’t expect to cozy up to this truly despicable take on the legendary creature.

Outside of the arguably iffy handling of Frankenstein, Creature Commandos‘ only other stumbles really come with some of the revelations from the season’s final episodes. As the story reaches its resolution, the motivations of one character in particular comes into focus and none of it feels earned or convincing. And even that spins out of a couple surprises that themselves seem kinda random. Thankfully this dissatisfaction pertains to just a small aspect of the finale and doesn’t bleed into everything else.

Outside of a couple issues with the season’s finale, the writing in Creature Commandos is as clever and punchy as you’d expect from Gunn. There’s a lot of laughs to be had here, but there’s also quite a few moments that cut deep. He makes it clear, right out of the gate, that each member of Task Force M is far more than what they appear. These creatures are definitely cut from the “villains aren’t born, they’re made” cloth, with nearly each enduring horrific events in their lives that end up defining them, both physically and as a person, and Gunn embraces these terrible times.

Creature Commandos also doesn’t shy away from the carnage these commandos cause. The violence here is explicit and extravagant, with the blood flowing and brains flying – to varying degrees – in every episode. A good chunk of it is played for laughs, but it can get fairly graphic and intense, which could turn off some viewers. There’s an argument to be made that Creature Commandos goes a little overboard with the brutality, but Gunn’s ability to deftly balance the blood, comedy and drama to near-perfection should make it a non-issue for most.

Another one of Gunn’s uncanny abilities, the knack to whip up an incredible soundtrack/playlist for whatever project he’s working on, hasn’t lost its touch. Mixing in a host of toe-tapping tunes with the show’s superb score work by composers Kevin Kiner and Clint Mansell, Creature Commandos delivers the soundtrack includes tracks from Gogol Bordello, Mount Righteous, Fanfare Ciocarlia (the show’s main theme), Caravan of Thieves, and Firewater, among many others. Johnny Hollow’s “People Are Strange” is the perfect touch to arguably the show’s tensest sequence, and a devastating reminder that, even in Creature Commandos, Task Force M is still just another ‘suicide squad.’

While the series generously utilizes on the same basic formula Gunn’s used more than a few times over the years – a rag-tag group of oddities coming together, becoming best buds, and then saving the world – Creature Commandos still manages to come out feeling pretty fresh and unique among the other comic book adaptations out there. Plus, it may not break the mold, but it’s another legitimately solid comic book adaptation at a time when such adaptations are needed more than ever for the superhero genre. A cornucopia of killer characters, thrilling twists and turns, hefty laughs and heart-breaking brutality, Creature Commandos delivers a punchy, perceptive and pleasurable jaunt as only Gunn can deliver, and it’s one well worth joining. Must Watch!

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