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Reviews - Blu-ray
Packaging
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Announce Date: 08/26/08
Street Date: 11/25/08
Closed Captioning: Yes
MSRP: $29.99
Packaging Type: Blue BD Case
Media Quantity: 1
Disc Configuration: BD - 25
Sound Track Language: English
Run Time: 74 minutes |
Aspect Ratio:
1.78 Widescreen [16:9 Transfer] (1080p, VC-1 Encoded)
Sound Quality:
English: Dolby Surround 5.1
Portuguese
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DVD Features:
-All-New Featurette "When Heroes Die: The Making of Superman:
Doomsday"
-All-New Featurette "The Clash of the Juggernauts"
-Four Bonus Episodes of Superman: The Animated Series (hand
picked favorites by animation legend Bruce Timm)
-Audio Commentary from the Superman Doomsday creative team
-"Requiem and Rebirth: Superman Lives!"
-Superman: Doomsday 'Behind The Voices' Featurette
-Justice League: New Frontier Featurette
-Wonder Woman Sneak Peak Featurette
Synopsis: The most shocking showdown in Superman history! When
Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday,
Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his
life...literally. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero;
humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman's
enemies rejoice all but Lex Luthor, who grieves the loss in his own
demented manner, setting off a chilling chain of events that even he
couldn't have foreseen. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel of all
time, DC Comics' The Death of Superman, this feature-length animated
adventure boasts exciting action sequences that rivals anything you've
ever seen starring the Man of Steel!
Review (James Harvey)
Just over a year later, Warner Home Video's first PG-13 animated
Superman movie has finally hit Blu-ray! Superman Doomsday is not
only a fun, action-packed animated movie, but also shows just how edgy
and even twisted Superman can be. Sure, the film may not be perfect, but
it's a fun little trip to have. With Bruce Timm and Duane Capizzi
overseeing the project, it’s no wonder that the film has an emotional
core to go along with the very bloody action. And yes, there’s plenty of
blood. Let’s cut to the chase and get to the synopsis, shall we?
When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer
Doomsday, Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his
life…literally. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero;
humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman’s
enemies rejoice – all but Lex Luthor, who grieves the loss in his own
demented manner, setting off a chilling chain of events that even he
couldn’t have foreseen. Produced by Bruce Timm (Justice League
Unlimited, Batman: The Animated Series) and written by Duane
Capizzi (The Batman, The Batman vs. Dracula), Superman
Doomsday is inspired by the best-selling graphic novel of all time,
DC Comics' The Death of Superman. This feature-length animated
movie boasts exciting action sequences that rival anything you’ve ever
seen starring the Man of Steel.
Before we dive into the Blu-ray itself, let's take a quick look at the
movie, shall we? It goes without saying that there is a massive amount
of action in this movie. From the opening battle with Doomsday, to some
jaw-dropping action in the middle, all leading up to an amazing and . .
. simply excellent finale, this movie is dripping in action, from
beginning to end. Those looking for long, complex action sequences and
relentless battles will not be let down. Like I said earlier however,
this movie also has a heart to go with it. Since this movie was released
in September of last year, I won't worry about spoilers, but will try to
remain mindful of those who haven't yet watched Superman Doomsday.
Still there? Okay! Now, there’s plenty of action. An abundance of
action, really. It’s over the top and very exciting. You can almost feel
every punch that Doomsday or Superman deal out. They not only look
painful, but they sound painful. That, to me, and as Timm points out in
the commentary, sells the battle between Superman and Doomsday. It’s a
massive battle, which ends with Doomsday defeated and Superman
(seemingly) dead. Yes, that’s right . . . Doomsday dies pretty quickly
in this movie. But the movie isn’t really about Doomsday. He’s just sets
the movie in motion. After a haunting pre-credit teaser with Luthor,
we’re introduced to each character and their assorted situations. Lois
is, of course, front and center, and it serves the movie well. She’s
dating Superman and knows that he is Clark Kent. But, she’s getting
angry with the Man of Steel because he won’t tell her his secret
identity. He won’t trust her, and it’s causing a rift in their
relationship.
Without saying, this movie belongs to Lois Lane. When Superman is killed
in battle, for the time being, the movie shifts to her for a
heart-breaking second act. She is desperate for someone to reach out and
ends up going to see Martha Kent, leading to an amazing scene between to
the two women on her Martha’s doorstep. It’s a simply wonderful scene,
and is exceedingly well done.
But how is the movie, overall? Do the new voice actors work? Do the new
designs work? Is the story good? Well, worry-not! Capizzi has turned in
a great story. It has action, heart, and some serious grit. Plus, it has
a lot of great shock moments. Sure, some of the shocks are gratuitous
(which Timm and Capizzi own up to in the commentary), but it’s a great
movie. And yes, it’s over the top. The action is considerably amped up
than anything Timm and Capizzi have ever done before. I think that was
fairly obvious when we see Superman spit up a pool of blood for the
first time.
Sometimes I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. There were some moments
which had me absolutely stunned. I won’t ruin them all, but . . . my jaw
hit the floor a fair amount of times. There is one scene, involving the
now pedophile-esque Toyman, which fans will be talking about. It’s very
similar to a scene from the The Death of Superman storyline, but
the ending is . . . well . . . a little bit different here. Once you see
the scene, you’ll know what I‘m talking about. On top of the real
jaw-dropper scenes, there are a couple real twisted ones, too. There’s
one which, again, I won’t ruin, involves Superman requiring the use of
salon mirror. There’s also a very intense scene between Superman and
Luthor that the fans will undoubtedly be talking about . . . I have no
doubt about that. It’s a very strong scene that is just seeping in
subtext and layers.
Of course, there’s the final battle where Superman faces off against . .
. well… I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will say that it’s a
great fight. It’s a natural progression as the story unfolds. From
Superman’s death, to Lois’s mourning, to the realization that . . . well
. . . I know I said there’d be spoilers involved, but I just can’t ruin
everything. It’ll be easy to figure out, I will admit, as the story
unfolds. Once Superman . . . well . . . returns, it gets pretty
interesting. I read some critiques where the ending was too predictable
or too simple. But, for me, it works. When Superman faces off against
his foe in final battle, it’s a helluva battle. While I can’t say
outright who it is, I will drop a slight hint: Bizarro. If you put your
clues together, and watch the trailer a couple times, you should be able
to figure out who Superman dukes it out with in the final act. Now, it’s
not Bizarro . . . that’s just the hint.
Or is it Bizarro . . . ?
Okay, I'm done messing with you! So how does the voice talent measure
up? Well, once again, Andrea Romano has hit it out of the park. Every
recast role sounds great. For the sake of the review, I’ll focus mainly
on Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor. Those are the three main roles,
and, I have to admit, I was curious to see how the new actors would play
in their respective roles. Overall, they sell their roles.
Anne Heche starts off a bit rocky as Lois Lane but, as the movie gets
going, she really hits it home. She has a great scene in the second act
where she meets Martha Kent, a scene that I mentioned earlier, and Anne
Heche makes Lois Lane sound so human. She’s broken past her ‘tough girl’
exterior and is fully exposed. James Marsters assumes the role of Lex
Luthor and, yes, he’s a scumbag here. He’s evil, manipulative, and so
slimy. Marsters brings an indescribable ooziness to Luthor, one that I
don’t think even Clancy Brown could’ve brought. He’s just so . . . slimy
and cold. Finally, Adam Baldwin brings Superman to life, so to speak,
and he’s excellent in the role. While he seems a bit too gruff for Clark
Kent, he fits Superman pretty well. I thought I’d have a difficult time
getting accustomed to these new voice performers, but it was so easy,
given the overall great job they did with the movie. I do want to add
that John DiMaggio is an absolutely creepy Toyman. You’ll see why when
you see the movie.
I’m not sure what I can really add about the designs, either. Bruce Timm
seems to have taken a bit of inspiration from Jim Lee with his Superman,
given the massive chin and cheeks. It works okay, but can sometimes be
so distracting. Superman looks, of course, ridiculously buff in his
Clark Kent persona. Lois Lane looks fine, and seems to be a mix of Jim
Lee’s version and Kate Bosworth from Superman Returns. Lex
Luthor, however, has an interesting 1940’s design to him, almost
Fleischer-esque. It’s actually a pretty refreshing take on the
character, and it surprisingly fits with the surprisingly timely plot of
the movie.
As for the movie structure, I love how the act breakdowns mirrored the
original storyline from the comics. We have The Death of
Superman, Funeral For a Friend, and then The Return of
Superman. It’s a great set-up, and a very smart idea by the
creators. I think not only does it remind fans of the actual comics, but
it also helps the movie copy, at least thematically, the original
comics. There may be some major differences from the actual storyline
presented in the comics, but the theme and story breakdown remain.
Personally, I had an absolute blast with this movie and it comes
Highly Recommended. Sure, it was a bit ridiculous to see Jimmy
become a scum bag upon Superman's death, but all that is redeemed by the
end (of course). And, without a doubt, this movie had the best
interpretation of the Lois Lane/Superman relationship to date. I took it
all in, enjoying every bit of it. The directing, handled by Brand
Vietti, Lauren Montgomery, and Bruce Timm, is absolutely top-notch.
Whether it was the over-the-top fight scenes, the heartfelt moments, or
the really twisted scenarios, I enjoyed the entire movie. I imagine some
people will have a problem with it. Some won’t like seeing Superman so
violent and, sometimes, very over the top. Some won’t like the very dark
and twisted take on Luthor, especially those used to the heartless
businessman from recent years. However, if you acknowledge that this
movie will be different than whatever has come before, you should be
able to enjoy it. The movie is just enjoyable from beginning to end,
full of surprises and shocks. There is at least one death I did not see
coming, and there’s more than a couple scenes that made my jaw drop.
Whether it was the intensity of a fight, the revelation, or just a
beautifully executed moment, this is a movie that DC and animation fans
will definitely enjoy.
And, be warned, this movie is definitely not for kids. The death toll in
this movie is staggering, and some of the deaths are shockingly graphic.
Superman Doomsday is meant for the PG-13 & Up crowd.
The Blu-ray:
More than a year after the original DVD release of Superman
Doomsday, Warner Home Video has finally released Superman
Doomsday onto Blu-ray, with a helping of new bonus features, too.
Don't worry, the new bonus features included here are also included in
the new Superman Doomsday: Two-Disc Special Edition DVD release.
Superman Doomsday is packaged in the standard Blu-ray clamshell,
housed in a sleek cardboard slipcase. A couple inserts are to be found,
but nothing substantial. A nice-looking release, no question.
The audio and video is good for the Blu-ray, but not great. I was
disappointed to find that the audio track is only Dolby Digital 5.1.
It’s still a great track, don’t get me wrong, but Warner really should
have upgraded this to a TrueHD track. The video is good but not crystal
clear fro Blu-ray. It’s a few steps higher than the standard DVD release
of Superman Doomsday, which actually says a lot since the DVD
release of Superman Doomsday last year had a really solid video
transfer, I found.
Now, the extras here are a mix of old and new. All the extras from the
original Superman Doomsday release are ported over, but we also
get some new material, too. The new content doesn’t add up to too much,
but it’s enough to easily recommend the format jump from DVD to Blu-ray.
The reason why I say that is because we actually get a look, albeit very
lightly, at the production of the movie. As great as the extra features
have been for the DC Unverse line, they all tend to focus on the
history of the comic, which is a good thing to try and snag a few more
readers, but what about the movie? It seems like the movies themselves
were forgotten when it came time to create the bonus features. This new
Superman Doomsday release seems to be the first step in fixing
that. We get two featurettes on the production of the movie, which isn’t
bad. It’s mostly talking heads, but it’s still a look at the creation of
the movie, and it’s well done. The two featurettes, “When Heroes Die:
The Making of Superman Doomsday”, and “Clash of the Juggernauts,”
aren’t really detailed, but they do provide us with what we want to know
about the movie. And they compliment the movie nicely.
We also get a couple other new bonus features, new to this Special
Edition release of Superman Doomsday. We also get the
“Wonder Woman Sneak Peek,” similar to the one on the Batman:
Gotham Knight DVD and Blu-ray release, and we get four episodes of
Superman: The Animated Series in standard definition. The
episodes are the two-part “Apokolips…Now!,” “Brave New Metropolis,” and
“Mxyzpixilated.” I ‘m actually surprised they didn’t include some of the
Doomsday-oriented episodes of Justice League or Justice League
Unlimited, but one assumes they were aiming for the more prestigious
Superman: The Animated Series episodes (which are ironically
better than the enjoyable main feature). That’s a rundown of the new
content fans who picked up last year’s DVD release can expect. It’s a
good addition of new content plus you get Superman Doomsday in
high definition, which is a pretty good trade off.
But for those who haven’t picked up Superman Doomsday yet, the
ported over content is really excellent, especially for comic buffs.
Like the previous Superman Doomsday release, we get the excellent
wall-to-wall commentary. The commentary is a full house, featuring Timm,
Capizzi, Romano, Gregory Noveck, Brandon Vietti, and Lauren Montgomery.
There seems to be a great dynamic amongst the group, and I was glad that
the majority of the participants really got face-time in here. While
Timm, Capizzi, and Romano certainly ruled the roost here, the other
participants were able to squeak in here and there, specifically
Montgomery (who was responsible for the great second act to Superman
Doomsday). I can’t say it’s the best commentary I’ve heard on a DC
Animated release, that still belongs to the unedited Batman Beyond:
Return of the Joker commentary, but it’s a lively one. Plus, it’s
both great and odd to hear Capizzi and Timm, two men responsible for two
very different versions of Batman, discuss their work together. There’s
actually a few times when they disagree, resulting in some entertaining
discussion.
Also included in this Blu-ray is the short voice-acting featurette and
the great documentary from the previous Superman Doomsday
standard DVD release called “Requiem & Rebirth: Superman Lives!,” an
hour-long documentary about the Death of Superman storyline. It’s
an incredibly thorough look at the whole process, from start to finish,
of how DC Comics killed Superman back in the 1990s. It’s great to see
the major artists of that era, who are still great today, interviewed
for this documentary. And we see just about everyone. Jurgens, Grummet,
Stern, they all seem to be there. And, surprisingly, a lot of them are
still very emotional about the whole storyline. This documentary has a
lot of great little tidbits, like the fact that Superman was originally
supposed to get married around this time, but, due to the horrible
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman TV show, they had to
buy time. So . . . well, they just killed him.
Following that is the very cool Justice League: The New Frontier
Teaser Reel, which is preview of the second DC Universe direct-to-video
animated feature that premiered earlier this year. It’s chock-full of
Darwyn Cooke art, which is a great thing to spend ten minutes looking
at. It’s nothing new, but I’m glad Warner Home Video included what is
essentially an outdated preview on here for completion’s sake. A pretty
good assortment of extras, I find, both the new and old content.
Overall, the new Blu-ray release is a great step-up from last year's DVD
release. The transfer is great, the sound is good (but could be better),
the extras are bountiful, and the movie is pretty excellent, too. This
new Superman Doomsday: Special Edition will please fans, no
question. If you’ve been waiting for a Superman slugfest flick, this is
the answer to your prayers. More importantly, there’s heart to be found,
and a touching story, and that alone really sells the movie and the
character interactions. It goes without saying that this release comes
Highly Recommend. Warner Home Video has packed this Blu-ray with
extras, both new content and ported over old content. It adds up to a
lot of bonus materials and it's a great package from start to finish.
Review (Zach Demeter)
The first of the animated DC Universe films out of the gate, Superman/Doomsday
has the odd distinction of setting up the “mature” line of animated
projects and at the same time staying true to the source material it’s
based off of, which, while adult, is not exactly anything other than a
bloody fist smear in the DC Comics timeline.
During the 90s when Superman was airing on television in both
live-action (Lois and Clark) and animated (Superman: The
Animated Series) form on television, the Man of Steel was having a
bit of a crisis his comic book (or rather, comic books, as, like now, he
had more than one monthly story going on). Because the writers of Lois
and Clark wanted to be the first to marry Lois and Clark, the comic
book was forced to wait years while the television show played catch up
and the writers were stuck in a rut trying to figure out where to take
the story of Superman for another year now that their original idea had
been pushed to the side.
What followed no one, not even DC Comics, saw coming. When it was
announced that Superman would be dying at the hands of a brutal alien
known as “Doomsday”, the media went nuts. Press picked up stories of
Superman’s impending demise and by the time the comic book had hit comic
shop shelves, lines were forming in the early A.M. hours with fans and
non-fans alike waiting to get their hands on a comic book that would end
the life of the Man of Steel. Many in line read the comic as they
waited, not wanting to wait to see how it ended.
While this was all very dramatic for the Man of Steel and the characters
around him, what followed in the place of his book for a year was
convoluted. Throwing in a myriad of other Supermen to take his place
while the world awaited the true return of Superman, the comic book,
despite being more popular than ever, went from being the one that
killed the Last Son of Krypton to being one loaded down with stories to
extend the life of the story.
Of course that last paragraph was laden with my own personal views on
the comic book. Like many others who read the comic book way after all
of the hoopla died down (I had, in fact, not read the trade paperback of
the comic until after this direct-to-video feature was announced), I was
thoroughly unimpressed with the story. While the documentary on the
story of Superman’s death on the Superman/Doomsday DTV paints the
death of Superman as dramatic, the truth is that even with all the
planning that went into the story and the art, it eventually boiled down
to single page panels of Superman and Doomsday having a knock-down,
drag-out battle. Great and all, but hardly fitting for the Man of Steel
to die over. While it was nothing the comic world had seen before, I’ve
no doubt this started DC Comic’s obsession with creating big, convoluted
stories for nothing more than media attention. Not that you can blame
them—in a world of declining comic book sales, everything helps, but one
tires of the overly dramatic stories all the time.
Still, I can’t completely deny that there weren’t some redeemable
qualities in the book. Despite my dislike of the single-page panels,
they were beautiful to look at and the ensuing depression that washed
over the characters of the book, especially supporting characters like
Bibbo, was heartfelt and truly impacted the reader. In the end though,
the story was created as nothing more to extend the time period between
when Lois and Clark would get married. The story, you could say, was a
giant accident that got so over-hyped that the end result could never
live up to the media attention, no matter the outcome.
And so, already before watching this direct-to-video, I was already
unimpressed with what I’d read of the Doomsday storyline. On top of
that, I had already seen portions of the story adapted into other
episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited,
which I would later realize after watching the film, really hampered my
enjoyment of it. Still, I’ll get to that later, but for now we’ll
discuss the film itself.
Inspired from but not a direct adaptation of the Doomsday storyline, Superman/Doomsday
starts out immediately with much more Luthor than we got in the comic
version. In fact, the key difference between the two is Luthor’s
involvement, which is significant in shaping all three acts of the film.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the film, so I won’t get too into plot
details here though it should be noted that from this point on there
will be spoilers from the film.
Once Doomsday is freed from his containment deep below the Earth’s
crust, his destruction begins and leads him immediately to Metropolis.
Engaged by Superman, the two throw down in one of the most violent and
beautifully choreographed fight sequences I’ve yet to see in DC
Animation. While it’s true a lot of the beats can be traced back to what
we saw in Justice League’s “A Better World” and Justice League
Unlimited’s “Doomsday Sanction”, there is some new moves to be seen
in this fight and the final method Superman uses to take Doomsday out
was new to me (and much more dramatic than what we got in the comic
version).
One thing viewers will also notice right off the bat is the beefed up
role Lois plays in this film over past animated appearances of her.
Right off the bat we see that she and Superman are romantically
involved, although she isn’t painted as a naïve reporter and immediately
gets on Superman’s case for not revealing his secret identity to him
(which she correctly guesses is Clark Kent—take that puny glasses
disguise!). That’s one cool thing about this adaptation is Lois is given
a much stronger role and isn’t simultaneously written as someone who is
a great investigative reporter and yet completely overlooks the
Superman/Clark connections.
The new voice cast in the film is also superb. I’m always wary of new
voices for characters when I’ve grown so used to their past actors. The
only newcomers I have qualms with is Cree Summer’s Mercy Graves and Anne
Heche’s Lois, which, while giving the character a certain strength,
doesn’t seem to mesh with the design which is overly thin and young
looking (especially odd when paired with the much older looking Superman
design). The issue with Summer’s Grave’s stems from the fact that woman
seems to only have two voices (her own and a mix of children voices),
making everyone of her voices sound the same.
Adam Baldwin and James Marsters, however, are the definite highlights of
the film. Baldwin’s voice is much deeper as Superman and I oddly didn’t
have an issue adjusting to the voice at all, despite questioning it by
the little I’d heard in clips from the film. Marsters Luthor is
perfectly sinister and I daresay it rivals Clancy Brown’s. As
blasphemous as that my sound, I surprised myself while typing that, but
after watching the film a couple times, Marsters really gives a rocking
performance that is easily one of the highlights of the film. As cool as
the original cast for these characters is, one of the exciting things
about these films is the new cast we get to hear new interpretations and
without Marsters in this film, I doubt it would have much of a lasting
appeal.
Also new to the world of DC animation is the composer Robert Kral of Angel
fame (I think Bruce Timm likes to steal as much from Joss Whedon as he
can, whether it be voice actors or composers). Kral manages to
incorporate a wealth of music that all sounds like it belong in the
world of Superman. Not only does his score start off with the signature
John Williams “bum-ba-duh” intro, but it eventually carries off into
scores reminiscent of Justice League Unlimited, all the while
sounding fresh and new. There were a few particular music cues that
stuck out, most of which are all repeated in the end credits music and
there are some very nice dramatic cues throughout as well, during
Superman’s funeral and Lois’s discussion with Martha Kent. Overall a
very strong score and one of which I would love to have a copy of.
Hopefully if Warner continues to follow the trail Marvel has blazed in
live-action and animated features, we’ll eventually see some of the DC
Animated Universe film scores up on iTunes. Quick, easy and cheap
distribution, Warner! Bring it on!
Despite being an all-around well crafted animated venture, Superman/Doomsday
fails to be the truly revolutionary “mature” outing fans are no doubt
hoping it will be. While there is certainly more in the film than what
the television show could get away with, what with the few “ass” and
“hells” here and there for language, the excess splattering of violence
and gore and the not-subtle-in-the-least scenes with Lois and Superman
together alone in the Fortress of Solitude and her apartment, it
ultimately feels like the only reason it was rated PG-13 was for the
things that people only associate with “mature” animation, which is the
aforementioned extra language and violence.
Of course that’s a strong reason for an animated film to be rated higher
than it has to be, but this film really doesn’t take advantage of the
extra room given to it. With it adapting a storyline we’ve seen split
across two plotlines in past DC animation TV shows, it’s hard to be too
excited about seeing Superman fight Doomsday again or seeing how the
world reacts when Superman dies. I fully understand the desire to do a
DTV of the epic Superman death that caused newspapers across the world
to cover it when the original comic book hit, but at this point in time
we’ve seen it in comics and we’ve seen it in animation before, so we’re
essentially just getting a third adaptation of the same characters and
story, which is really a shame to devote such a large budget to
something that’s really just a retread in the end.
Another issue I have with the film is that even before we saw Doomsday
in Justice League I knew Bruce Timm was no fan of the “Death of
Superman” storyline in the comics. Doomsday’s appearance in Justice
League was cool and a once one-dimensional comic book character was
given a new life in later episodes of Justice League Unlimited
when his origin was revealed. Still, watching Timm go back to Doomsday
so soon and essentially re-trimming his character down again to a one
dimensional killing machine makes me wonder how much pressure DC Comics
was putting on the creative team to make the Doomsday story be the first
of the mature animated ventures. Despite Timm stating that he and
Capizzi initially brushed off the idea of doing Superman/Doomsday in
favor of doing some other comic book adaptation and eventually caving
when they realized there was potential in doing this film, in the end,
while it was a fine effort, is going to really surprise anyone. It’s
by-the-books and the only shock value comes from not seeing the amount
of violence before in an animated Superman outing.
This brings me to another point about the film: the violence. I
mentioned it above a bit in how it feels tacked on, but the “mature”
elements of the film are really nothing that couldn’t have been left
out. Sure it’s cool to see Superman get punched in the face three times
and then three more in the gut (I love mindless violence) and at no time
does the film feel obnoxiously violent, I just don’t think Warner’s
incessant instance on upping the violence and making it “darker” lent
itself well to the project. If the comic they’re adapting into animation
doesn’t immediately lend itself to a stronger MPAA rating from the get
go (New Frontier and Judas Contract [which is now
currently on the backburner], for example, already have a stronger
subject matter from the get go, purely because of how they were written
and the issues they deal with, while the “Death of Superman” storyline
was just pure violence), then it shouldn’t be forced to become a PG-13
film just so it can be marketed as an adult film. Even though there are
no frivolous one-liners from the characters to appeal to children, there
is nothing in here aside from the sexed up relationship between Superman
and Lois that parents could truly find objectionable to show to their
young ones. And even then with the likes of young Hollywood starlets
constantly flooding headlines about their sexual exploits, I don’t think
Superman sleeping with a lady friend would really faze children that
much in this day and age.
I don’t want my review to come off as negative—I really enjoyed the film
and the more I write about it the more I find I liked about it. The
animation was spot on and there were only a few instances I noticed
oddly proportioned models and not once did anything seem sloppy to me,
not even the CGI. The voice acting, as mentioned before, is top notch
and there was a lot to like about the film…I just wasn’t so entertained
by it because I knew what was coming. Yeah Capizzi and Timm did a great
job at adapting a new telling of this story with Luthor’s involvement,
but in the end it is just a retelling and nothing that is going to
resonate with fans much when other adaptations of comic books that are
less exposed are revealed (after viewing the ten minute preview reel on
the Superman/Doomsday DVD for The New Frontier, my
anticipation for that film jumped tenfold) for the first time in
animated form.
Also something I want to tackle is the complaints the film immediately
attracted when Duane Capizzi’s name was attached to it. Capizzi’s
previous Superman outing, Brainiac Attacks is, without a doubt
one of the worst animated DC titles I’ve seen in my life. I even
eloquently called the movie a “pile of horse crap” in my original review
of the film and I still stand by it; however, Capizz is in no means a
bad writer. I know the man can write extremely well and it was later
revealed the extenuating circumstances behind the Brainiac Attacks mess
(explained in our own interview with Duane Capizzi here), so those who
are in the least bit worried about his name being attached to this or
future DC projects need not worry—Capizzi in no way needs to defend his
writing credentials, neither before or after Brainiac Attacks, but for
those that feel he has to will be shut up after Superman/Doomsday — it’s
nothing short of a superb outing in the writing area and I’m sure his
next outing, also a DC animated film, will be great fun to watch as
well.
In a sense, Superman/Doomsday is simply a couple years too late.
If you ignore the existence of the previous telling of Doomsday and the
death of Superman in Timm’s animated series then this film is
immediately much stronger. It does a superb job in showcasing Doomsday’s
destructive force and just how much the world would mourn the loss of
Superman and throughout the film Capizzi and Timm have written excellent
scenes for all of the characters, ranging from the child-loving Toyman
(talk about creepy—although hearing John DiMaggio’s voice emit from this
version only made me laugh as it was so close to that of Bender from
Futurama) to the new area Jimmy Olsen’s character traveled to
after Superman’s death, we get a smattering of new character
explorations throughout that keep the film fresh and new viewers will no
doubt be enthralled by the quality of the writing, animation and voice
acting in this film. In the end, even with the burden of past stories on
its shoulders, Superman/Doomsday comes Recommended.
The Blu-ray
After apparently solid Blu-ray sales of The New Frontier and
Gotham Knight, Warner Home Video chose to revisit their first DC
DTV outing and release Superman Doomsday in a new loaded Blu-ray
release as well as a two-disc DVD edition. This Blu-ray release comes
with a few new tweaks which we’ll get to, but first off is the
packaging. It’s a standard fair, with an all-gold cover to differentiate
itself from the previous release and the slipcover front is embossed and
foil reflective. Inside the packaging is just the disc (plain black disc
art) and an insert telling you to keep your players firmware up to date.
The VC-1 encoded 1.85:1 video transfer hovers around the 29mbps max bit
rate range, giving this film a particularly impressive looking transfer
that really floored me at times. I hadn’t watched this film since the
original DVD release, so watching it again in HD was a bit of a
revelation as I picked up on elements in backgrounds (in particular a
strange sign in Lois’s apartment that says “I Heart Lava.” The hell does
that mean?) that I didn’t notice before. I was also quite amazed by the
film’s opening credit sequence, with every one of the stars in the sky
coming through with perfect clarity. An absolutely brilliant looking
transfer through and through and one I’m glad they re-released on
Blu-ray.
Unfortunately the audio accompanying this mix is the same disappointing
DD5.1 mix that was originally released with the original DVD release.
Although it is 5.1 and the rear channels occasionally get a voice or
sound effect, the track might as well have been 5.0 as there is very
little, if any, thunder felt from the subwoofer. Only when Luthor goes
off during the second act do we feel anything, Superman’s entire brawl
with Doomsday is unfelt—extremely disappointing. This is what you buy a
subwoofer for and whoever mixed this track must have completely
forgotten about the bass. It’s not merely a case of underuse; the
subwoofer channel was simply not utilized in the least. My receiver does
a better job faking bass with the 2.0 Justice League Unlimited
mixes than this audio track did with its supposed full surround.
Moving onto the extras (all in standard definition) we get to revisit
the same extras from the previous release. First up on the disc is a
full audio commentary with producer/writer/director Bruce Timm, writer
Duane Capizzi, voice director Andrea Romano and executive producer
Gregory Noveck. The track is lively throughout and Timm and Capizzi
freely share their experiences on the film and what they like about it.
Timm is quick to correct those who question just how violent this film
is over his past superhero outings, although he does yield when Romano
insists that Superman was never punched three times repeatedly in the
face like he is by Doomsday early on in their battle. The track is well
worth listening to and the only real dry moment comes when Timm begins
to comment on Superman’s face getting pushed into the train by
Doomsday—he seems to be gearing up to compare it to the
Spider-Man/Sandman subway fight in Spider-Man 3 when everyone
goes quiet on the commentary for nearly a minute and the discussion that
starts up after it is completely unrelated. I guess if they did mention
Spider-Man 3 it might have been cut for legal reasons, but you’d
think they’d have trimmed his comment about the head bashing completely.
“Requiem and Rebirth” (43:16) is the heaviest portion of the DVD,
covering the entire history of the “Death of Superman” storyline.
Running a full hour in length, nearly all the original artists and
writers of the Death and Return storylines are interviewed and a couple
even get choked up remembering some of the more dramatic issues that
followed Superman’s death. Rightfully so as no matter how you feel about
the comic, a few of the writers threw their heart into some of the
stories, even if most of them were all just filler before the Man of
Steel returned. Overall it’s a cool featurette to watch, but having read
the comic myself and finding it a giant waste of time, the back-patting
everyone gives one another made me roll my eyes after awhile.
“Behind the Voice” (5:18) is a quick featurette on the voice actors that
worked on the film. Although the crew discussed some of the voice
decisions on the commentary, we go a bit more in-depth here and even get
interviews with Anne Heche, Adam Baldwin and Ray Wise. Oddly enough the
Amazon.com video clip of James Marsters talking about his work as Luthor
is completely omitted from all releases of this film, meaning we don’t
get any word from Marsters at all about his role in the film on the set.
I understand making clips exclusive to retailers to help promote the
release, but I’d think making exclusive clips from the film would be
more appealing than completely omitting what an actor has to say about
his role from the DVD/Blu-ray.
While the lack of Marster’s clip annoyed me a bit when the film was
originally released, this re-release is a great deal more impressive
with the extras that focus on the film. There are two new ones, the
first of which is When Heroes Die: The Making of Superman
Doomsday (29:17), a fairly in-depth documentary about the
production of the film. The first half of the extra is just talk about
the origins of the idea for the film, which seems like a bit of a
retread from the “Requiem” extra. By the time we get halfway into it we
have a decent view into the production of the film and how the story was
shaped. As a bonus, this appears to be a retrospective piece, likely
recorded during the same period as the Wonder Woman extras (I’m
only guessing on that one, we’ll see once that release hits). The second
film focused extra, The Clash of the Juggernauts (13:10) really
seems to be more of the same information we got from the “When Heroes
Die” piece, as odd as that is. This also seems to be a bit more of an
EPK style release, with an advertisement for the films eventual DVD
release date included at the end. You’d think this would have been
included on the original release as well, considering how short and
actually film-focused it was.
In addition to those we have Bruce Timm's Top Picks (1:24:51),
four episodes from Superman: The Animated Series including
“Apokolips…Now!” Parts 1 and 2, “Brave New Metropolis” and
“Mxyzipixilated.” All fantastic episodes of the series and definitely
episode that would spark ones interest in the series if Superman
Doomsday was their first expedition in animated Man of Steel. The
remaining extras include the original New Frontier publicity
piece, as well as the same Wonder Woman sneak peek from the
Batman: Gotham Knight release.
Overall this Blu-ray release is definitely a worthy upgrade from the
standard single disc DVD release, especially if you’re a fan of the
film. The two new featurettes are interesting enough to check out, but
it’s the 1080p video transfer that will really push you to upgrade, as
it is quite the impressive visual feast. A Recommended double
dip. |
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