Reviews -
Film
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Original
Release Date - September 29th, 2009 (DTV Only)
A desperate solution for
a troubled country: Lex Luthor
for President with the Justice League in the service of the
government. Only Batman and Superman stand against the new
regime – and their disloyalty proves to be exactly what Luthor
intended. Using their outcast status to instigate a scandal
against Superman, Luthor finally tastes a victory in his
vendetta against The Man of Steel. From Executive Producer Bruce
Timm and voiced by the cast from both hit Batman and Superman
animated TV series including Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly and Clancy
Brown, this DC Universe Original Animated Movie of Jeph Loeb and
Ed McGuinness’s popular graphic novel seethes with political
intrigue and action-packed battles between heroes all believing
they’re on the right side of the law.
Casting and Voice
Direction by Andrea Romano
Executive Producers Benjamin
Melniker, Michael Usland, Sam Register, Bruce Timm
Producers
Michael Goguen, Bobbie Page
Co-Producer Alan Burnett
Music
by Christopher Drake
Edited by Margaret Hou
Written by
Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Sam Liu
Main Title Animation by
Peter Girardi, Sarofsky Corp.
Animation Services by Lotto
Animation |
Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor
Kevin
COnroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tim Daly as Superman
Xander
Berkely as Captain Atom
Corey Burton as Captain Marvel
Ricardo Chavira as Major Force
Allison Mack as Power Girl
John C. McGinley as Metallo
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
LeVar Burton as Black Lightning
Calvin Tran as Toyman
Mark
Jonathan Davis as Newscaster
Brian George as Gorilla Grodd
Jennifer Hale as Starfire
Rachael MacFarlane as Nightshade, Billy Batson
Alan Oppenheimer as Alfred
Andrea Romano as Giganta
Bruce
Timm as Mongul
|
Gallery
Click here for
more images.
Review (Zach Demeter)
Behold, the worst
kept secret of the DC Universe films: Superman Batman: Public Enemies.
The trailer for this film leaked onto internet supersite
IMDb.com and within hours was all over comic book news websites
and forums. The trailer was eventually pulled, but not before
the majority had seen the animation contained within. Mind you
the leak isn’t all that surprising (it’s the internet—these
things are all too common now), but what was surprising was how
far along this animated film was. We were still waiting on Green
Lantern to finish up and here was Public Enemies, all
polished and pushed into a trailer already. Exactly how did this
film essentially get produced and creep up out of nowhere so
damn fast?
So there you go—a brief history lesson on this
film. Or, at the very least, the history of the film as it
pertains to the online side of things. The film itself was known
for awhile before the trailer leaked, it was just the fact that
the film was already so far along in production that it made
fans wonder exactly what was up at DCU headquarters. In the end
it didn’t matter: months later we got Green Lantern and
another peak at this film, so everything eventually evened out.
Besides, a little early publicity for a film starring DC’s
biggest heavy hitters, even as premature as that trailer was, is
never really a bad thing.
The story itself is adapted
from the comic book of the same name (one I admittedly didn’t
even read until right before I started writing this review) and
while it definitely centers on the same plot, the extraneous
“fat” on the sides is once again excised for simplicities sake.
It’s usually just minor things; Robin and Nightwing don’t show
up, nor does Green Lantern and the dual Superman fight (whatever
it was) in the bat cave doesn’t occur. Quite a few things don’t
happen either, like the intro to the comic book or we get it
mixed into other areas of the story. Unlike other films that
“suffered” the same fate, however, Public Enemies never
feels like too much is being crammed into the story…which is
rather surprising considering this is the shortest DCU film to
date (a brisk 67 minutes).
In fact, and I know I say
this with just about every DCU title that comes out, but this
may very well be my new favorite of the bunch. I enjoyed all of
the films in some fashion or another, but as epic and exciting
as they were at times, they always felt like they bit off more
than it could handle. Not so with this film. No, this one is
(dare I say) lighthearted; it’s got weighty material, to be
sure, but none so much as to really drag the film down. I
honestly haven’t had this much fun watching Batman and Superman
on screen together since “Knight Time” way back in STAS/TNBA
days. It’s really just a fantastic little self-contained story
with the two of them and I’m genuinely surprised by how
brilliantly this was pulled off.
I hesitate to say this
as well, but I’m going to just because it’s what I felt while
watching the film: this film could’ve easily been supplanted
(crude comments/dialogue aside) into a three-part story in Justice
League with little difficultly. I never read the Superman
Batman comics before seeing this film so I don’t know if the
entire series is like this, but just how the characters interact
with one another and the rather quippy and fast paced dialogue
that takes place in this film really sets it apart from any
other DC Universe titles thus far. I found myself laughing at
this one way more than any of the other ones and I think that’s
an important thing to have when you deal with superheroes and
super villains—nothing campy, mind you, but just some genuinely
entertaining laughs. The banter between Batman and Superman
really is some of the best I’ve ever heard and those of you
hoping to hear the “Magpie” bit from the comic book will not be
disappointed—Conroy and Daly deliver that whole sequence
absolutely perfect.
Having said that, I suppose I should
talk now about the voice actors on this piece. Tim Daly, Kevin
Conroy and Clancy Brown return to the roles they played in the
Bruce Timm cartoons and it really adds another layer to the film
in terms of how easy it is to adapt to it. I especially found
Daly’s performance to be really refreshing; I know we’ve heard
him as Supes before his absence after STAS, but hearing
him alongside Conroy, again, was something you hadn’t heard
since “Knight Time” and “The Demon Reborn.” In terms of mood,
this story is a lot closer to “Knight Time,” as, again, it’s
just a very easy to enjoy and breezy viewing. It honestly just
flies by.
Brown really deserves a special note for his
performance as Luthor in this film, however. While Daly and
Conroy bring back what they’re known for, Luthor was a bit
different in this film. With him as president and jacked up on
kryptonite injections, Luthor was skewed a bit more towards the
maniacal scientist angle, but at the same time still very much
the regal and imposing Luthor we’ve been accustomed to hearing
Brown as over the years. He was definitely the source of more
than a few laughs in the film, particularly in a bit with Waller
that was taken from the comic book as well.
The only
thing I can honestly complain about this time around is the
animation. CGI backdrops of the city as Luthor and Superman fly
over them just look strange at times; I can’t really pinpoint why
it looks unnatural, as the cityscapes are just loaded with
detail…maybe the models on top of them were too clean compared
to the out of focus city. And then there are the cars/vehicles
in this piece—they look like something out of STAS, but
with the more detailed models, their simplicity just doesn’t
gel. Probably just budget constraints and I get that, but the
cars really do stick out like a sore thumb. Aside from that, the
animation was remarkably solid; I figured that this piece would
look rushed considering how quickly it was finished, but the new
detailed designs and six-packs on everyone really didn’t
distract from the picture in the least. I really enjoyed the new
look and quite frankly I would love nothing more than an entire
series of Superman Batman titles. This film was just too
much fun to not revisit with another outing down the line (plus
apparently they’re quick to produce).
While the film did
ultimately lose some of the story points of Ed McGuinness and
Jeph Loeb’s original graphic novel, in the end it doesn’t
matter. From the Jon Stewart like news anchor opening the film
with a rather explicit joke (it’s censored, don’t worry…but it’s
pretty easy to make out what it is. I’m just surprised the
“crude comment” that the film denotes in the PG-13 rating showed
up so early in it) to the power packed and almost non-stop
flights of heroes against villains and heroes against heroes,
this film wasn’t exactly thick on plot, but it didn’t matter. It
was just a lot of fun to watch and I honestly think the DCU
titles would be better served to stop gnawing on epic and
complex graphic novels like The New Frontier until their
run times can expand and instead focus on one-shot pieces like
this (or original outings like Wonder Woman and Green
Lantern).
Overall Public Enemies comes
Highly Recommended. This was the first of the DCU titles
since New Frontier that I wanted to watch again
immediately and it should be a big hit among fans. Not only for
the superb voice cast, excellent character designs, simple and
easily progressed story, but also just because it’s just so damn
enjoyable.
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