Movie Review: "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham" - Batman vs. Cthulhu

 

For those who've followed my blog, you may have noticed the decline of posts for the DC Universe animated movie line since "Apokolips War." Well, to put it bluntly, the current era of films since then just haven't captured my attention compared to how the line used to. "Long Halloween" is one exception, and I may have another "Tomorrowverse" (not a fan of that name) related post coming in the future. Today though, we have the latest DC animated film, "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham".
Based on the Elseworlds miniseries from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, a 1920's version of Batman works to save Gotham from a Lovecraftian apocalypse. Since this story doesn't get talked about as much as other Elseworlds tales like "Gotham by Gaslight" or "Superman: Red Son", I went into this mostly blind. Regardless, I had a hell of a good time watching this film, so much so that I watched it twice in one day, with the horror mystery aspect making it fun to find the foreshadowing the second time around.

Much like "Gotham by Gaslight", it was fun to see Batman and elements of his lore transported to a different era, with how notable characters are adapted and catching the hidden references; one character that stood out to me was Kai Li, who I felt was an amalgamation of Carrie Kelly and Cassandra Cain. With "Doom", I particularly liked the Lovecraftian twists to the rogue's gallery. Some stories have played into the idea that something about Gotham creates the very madness it endures from the villains and Batman himself; "Doom" takes this further by having a more supernatural origin to the idea and it really works for this kind of story.
Giving life to these characters are a star-studded voice cast. You have reprisals such as William Salyers as Penguin and Brian George as Alfred, veteran voice actors like John DiMaggio and Jason Marsden as James Gordon and Dick Grayson respectively, and stand-out performances from David Dastmalchian as Mr. Freeze and Jeffrey Combs as Kirk Langstrom. Not to keep comparing the film to "Gaslight", but I found David Giuntoli's performance as Bruce Wayne similar to Bruce Greenwood's, which is a good thing. The two versions have similar looks and methods to their crusade, though I'd say Giuntoli's is more similar to the mainstream version, maybe due to being in more proximity to the character's debut year. What I love most though is that despite being in a different era and facing a different kind of evil, we still see the core of what makes Batman such a great character: someone who's willing to give it all for the city he calls home.

The animation makes this a real winner in my book, particularly with the lighting on Batman when he's on screen, making him pop out more in the darker scenes. It feels like a callback to how the DC animated films would be consistently great in that aspect. Apologies to fans of the "Tomorrowverse" films and despite the enjoyable aspects of them, but the animation just looks so cheap compared to its predecessors. "Doom" just hammers in that point, showing they're still capable of churning out good looking films. This might all be a moot though since the future of the line may be up in the air with James Gunn's plans to streamline the new DC Universe across films, live action and animated series, and video games, but time will tell. But back to "Doom", my only complaint is that the horror visuals could have gone a little further if it weren't for the PG-13 rating.

To sum it up, "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham" is definitely worth a watch. Couple it up with "Gotham by Gaslight", and you have quite a double feature for fans of Batman and the horror genre.

Movie Review: "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" - Gods 'zam It (SPOILERS)

2023 will see the end of the DC Extended Universe as we know it. Under James Gunn and the newly minted DC Studios, the DCEU will be softly rebooted into simply the DC Universe, with some elements and actors carrying over from the previous universe while others such as Superman and Batman confirmed to be recast. Gunn's plans don't kick off until 2025 with a new Superman film, so we still have four DCEU films this year to wrap things up. The first is "Shazam: Fury of the Gods".
Much like "Deadpool" and its sequel, a lot of the magic that made the first "Shazam!" special is still there, but some of it becomes lost in the usual superhero tropes.

Many of the returning actors from the first film continue to do a good job as their characters, and I feel there's a good balance to give the Shazam kids enough time between their normal and superhero forms. That is except for Billy, though this is by intent. Much like the first film, Billy uses Shazam as an escape to ignore the real-life issues he's facing. This time around, now that Billy has found a family and home that accepts him, he worries about everyone growing up and drifting apart, yet his attempts to keep them together shows signs of pushing them away. It leads to him learning they're family even when they're apart; it's a lesson that's been seen in other stories, but it's still somewhat effective.
Going off the "growing up" part, they do make it clear that some time has passed since the first film, but this does cause an issue when it feels like some plot points were written to follow up directly after the first film. I feel like they should have realized that some things that seemed fine during the script writing process needed to be reworked once filming began.

The Daughters of Atlas are well done as the film's villains and the relationships with each other and where they go serve as a good parallel to Billy's family issues. Each one comes off unique in terms of motivation and demeanor; Helen Mirren is the levelheaded leader and seeks a sense of justice for their father as Hespera, Lucy Liu is more bloodthirsty and vengeful as Kalypso, and Rachel Zegler seeks a peaceful solution that can be seen as a sense of naivety as Anthea (and I also enjoy her relationship with Freddy, giving me shades of Aladdin/Jasmine).
Elements at the disposal of the daughters were entertaining to me as well. Their dragon Ladon reminded me of a few different versions of Godzilla, with the fire breath being reminiscent of the Legendary version's atomic breath while the sharp texture of its skin I found similar to Shin Godzilla's. And the Tree of Life they plant made me think of a mix of the Tree of Might from Dragon Ball Z and the black goo from the two Alien prequels with a Greek mythology twist. The latter element plays well with director David F. Sandberg's horror roots, similar to James Wan's use of the Trench in "Aquaman."

If I could pinpoint the big problem with the film, it's the ending, and yes, I will be going into spoilers. So after Billy sacrifices his life to defeat Kalypso and Ladon to save the world, the wizard says they could bring him back if his staff hadn't been drained of godly magic. And that's when Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman (a daughter of Zeus for those who've forgotten) shows up, charges up the staff, which is then used to revive Billy and grant all the kids their powers back.
The first problem with this is that WB chose to spoil Wonder Woman's appearance in the film in commercials less than a week before release. As nice as it was to see Gal again, especially since her future as the character is up in the air at this point, I would have been geeking out as hard as when Henry Cavill's Superman appeared in the mid-credits scene of "Black Adam" if they kept it a surprise. It also takes away some of the impact of Billy's sacrifice when we know he's going to interact with her as Shazam pretty soon. At least when they spoiled Mystique's death in "Dark Phoenix", it still left an emotional impact because of the characters' reactions to it. I don't know if it's WB not caring about the rest of the DCEU slate this year or if they think showing Wonder Woman would boost the box office, but this was a bad move.
The in-story problem though is it's a literal deus ex machina. Diana just comes out of nowhere after not appearing anywhere prior with the only mentions of her having to do with Billy's crush on her. If they were going to do this, she should have had a bigger part in the story. Maybe not necessarily a team-up film, but at least more involvement. I'm going to chalk this up to the lack of a cohesive vision the DCEU films have faced since "Josstice League" and they couldn't use Wonder Woman in a big way without Patty Jenkins' say. Hopefully this won't be much of a problem under Gunn's direction.
And going off of that, the two post-credits scenes seem kind of a waste since we don't even know if they'll be followed up on.

Aside from the ending, "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" still delivers a fun film for the most part, even if it doesn't leave the same impact its predecessor did.

Retro Review: "Batman: The Imposter" - Extra Vengeance

 

Happy one year anniversary to "The Batman"! Since its release, the film would go on to be one of the best movies of 2022 and a sequel is set for release for October 2025. To celebrate, I wanted to take a look at a comic considered as a recommendation for fans of the film: "Batman: The Imposter".
Written by Mattson Tomlin with art by Andrea Sorrentino, "The Imposter" was a three-part miniseries focused on a young Batman hunting down a killer copycat while trying to evade capture himself. The book was released through DC's Black Label imprint, another one of which I reviewed back in 2019 with "Batman: Damned." Besides "Damned" and "The Imposter", the only other Black Label Batman series I've read include "Last Knight on Earth" by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo and "Three Jokers" by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Between the four books, I've noticed a pattern: each have a good premise with amazing artwork but by the end leave me disappointed in some respect. So going back to "The Imposter" a year after first reading it, have those feelings changed towards this story in particular? Eh, not really, but they have softened a bit.

Those who loved the gritty tone of "The Batman" may be interested to know that Mattson Tomlin had an uncredited writing contribution to the script and is signed on to write the sequel with Matt Reeves in an official capacity. That said, Tomlin brings that same feel to "The Imposter", but with an even more grounded approach. The Bruce Wayne and Batman we see in this story is very close to Robert Pattinson's portrayal with his obsessiveness, with Tomlin doing an even deeper psych profile on the character and shows how very close Bruce could have been to being a serial killer (make your own Patrick Bateman comparisons here). The costume is a dead ringer for the film's version aside from a more traditional bat-symbol on the chest. Where it differs though is the lack of highly stylized gadgets. There's no Batmobile or grapnel imbedded in the gauntlet and closest thing to a batarang are double-edged throwing blades. It makes for a Batman that comes across as someone who you would believe is some street fighter and in turn makes him as fallible as the "Earth One" version of the character. Whereas "Earth One" could be compared to Brian Michael Bendis' more optimistic approach to Marvel's Ultimate Universe, "The Imposter" would be similar to the dark Mark Millar stories.
Going off that comparison, the Gotham on display is one of the more cynical and somewhat realistic versions I've seen. In this universe, Batman never became fully accepted by the city; his very partnerships with mainstay characters like Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent lead to their careers being ruined after an attempt to bring down corrupt judges resulted in no charges against them due to Batman's involvement and multiple criminals being released after having their cases overturned. And yeah, let's be honest, vigilantes just don't fly with the law by real world standards. And aside from Leslie Thompkins in a more reluctant capacity, Bruce has no allies to call upon at this point in his career. Yes, even Alfred isn't present with this version having abandoned Bruce at a young age after being unable to deal with the boy's needs following his parents' murder. While this is a less traditional Batman story outside the mainstream comics continuity, it's really hard to swallow Alfred Pennyworth of all people leaving Bruce behind, especially as a child.
While not the main focus, "The Imposter" does give us a glimpse at some of Batman's rogues gallery in this universe. Given the grounded approach, we don't see anyone too fantastic or colorful. We have brief shots of Penguin, Black Mask, and Zsasz as well as non-supervillain depictions of Ventriloquist and Ratcatcher, both of whom have pivotal roles in the story. There also seems to be a Joker tease in the final moments of the book, but it's kind of hard to tell; if it's similar to what we've seen of Barry Keoghan's brief moments as the character in Reeves' film, then it's quite possible the Joker could fit here with this world as well.

Andrea Sorrentino was a great choice of artist for a book like this. His dark, gritty, and sometimes realistic style is perfect for Batman, especially one of this nature. One of the highlights of his artwork in "The Imposter" is how detailed the action scenes are; Sorrentino makes sure to pinpoint the damage being inflicted on or by Batman, from bullet wounds to broken bones and even shards of glass being stuck in the cowl. However, there are times where choices in panel structure or coloring can make it hard to follow what's happening in some scenes. This kind of hurt the identity reveal of the imposter Batman in the book's climax during my first read through, but I will admit I picked up more details and clues leading up to it the next time around.

Something I feel the need to talk about is how there seemed to be some miscommunication with the marketing department concerning the book. In the solicitations for the first issue and description on the back of the trade collection I have, it says Batman has been active for less than a year and that the imposter is a plan by Gotham's power brokers to discredit Batman and have the GCPD bring him down. In the actual story though, Bruce has been Batman for over three years. And while the one percent doing something about Batman is a theory in the first issue, it doesn't really go any further from there and could be considered a red herring. Now to be fair, while I think how the book was described would have been a good story in itself, the way the story actually goes still works as it's treated as a mystery we're trying to solve along with Batman. I guess it's not false advertising, but I think it would affect one's expectations.

Overall, "The Imposter" is a unique Batman comic in its approach and art style, for better and worse, and I certainly wouldn't mind a follow-up story in the future. I wouldn't recommend this as someone's first Batman comic (especially not for kids), but if you have basic knowledge of the character or indeed want something similar to "The Batman", give it a go.

Dragon Ball Z Movie Retrospective Part Three: Movies 10-13

Welcome to part three of the Dragon Ball Z Movie Retrospective, where today we're looking at the final four entries of the original releases. These movies were released during the Buu Saga, and while that saga has its memorable moments, it's regarded as the weakest by DBZ fans. I believe the same applies to the films of that time as well. This set of DBZ movies are ones I've watched the least or have more negative opinions on. And aside from movie 13, it's hard to place these movies within the show's timeline like I do with the others because the Buu Saga is so busy that there's no breathing room to do so. But given how long it's been since I've watched some of these, maybe I'll find some good in them that I missed before. Let's get started.

BROLY - SECOND COMING

Original Japanese Title: Two Dangerous People! Super Warriors Can't Sleep

SYNOPSIS: Broly, one of the greatest evils in existence, is back to wreak havoc on humanity.
MY THOUGHTS: Right from the beginning, this movie has problems. The first scene shows Broly following his defeat from Goku in a Saiyan pod arriving on Earth, with a nearby body of water filling the crater from his landing and then flash frozen for seven years. This is despite the fact that in his first movie, Broly exploded from Goku's finishing blow in the moments before New Vegeta was destroyed by a comet. It's a plot hole as big as the crater he left and makes "Somehow Palpatine returned" look like brilliant writing.
People's problems with the original Broly can be pinned squarely on "Second Coming". It's complete Flanderization as all but one of his lines is him screaming "KAKAROT!"; I guess that can be attributed to whatever brain damage he got from the end of his last film. There's also apparently the fact that hearing Goten's fake crying during his, Trunks and Videl's quest for the Dragon Balls is what awakens Broly from his frozen slumber, triggering his memory of baby Goku with Goten's similar hair not helping things. Because apparently Goku's crying is all that made Broly who he is.
"Second Coming" is just bad all around. It's painfully boring until Broly unfreezes, then it gets annoying as Goten and Trunks do their best to fight him, and by the time Gohan shows up and things start to get serious, my investment got pretty low. There's also a bit of laziness as they just reuse Broly's full Legendary transformation from the previous film here. And going off that, the end credits has clips of the first Broly movie play as they roll, almost like they're teasing us with "Hey, remember how good this one was?" knowing there would be disappointment in "Second Coming."
Even what good parts that are present are questionable. For one thing, Krillin shows up dressed as Piccolo to save Gohan from a close call. On one hand, it's a nice subversion of the trope the movies had going of Piccolo arriving to the scene to save Gohan from danger. On the other, why was Krillin dressed like Piccolo?
The most iconic moment to come from the film though is a family Kamehameha with Goku, Gohan, and Goten working together in beam struggle that ultimately defeats Broly once and for all. But how it comes about is weird. Goku, who is still dead at this point, apparently arrives due to a wish from Goten on the Dragon Balls, despite the fact that Shenron didn't appear to grant a wish and Goten only made it in his mind. You could just say this was another "divine intervention" moment like when Goku gave Gohan a quick hand in "Bojack Unbound", but the Balls disperse as if a wish was made. Again, seeing father and sons work together is cool, but it doesn't make much sense when you get down to it. And that's "Second Coming" in a nutshell.
Maybe if they created a new villain instead of making it a Broly sequel or if some more thought was put into the story, the movie could have worked. As it stands, "Broly - Second Coming" is the first of the DBZ movies that I just don't like.
On a side note, I wanted to take the time to say that I like Gohan's blue gi as shown in the poster above. Gohan usually wears something similar to Goku or Piccolo to honor his mentors, but his blue gi was something uniquely him and I feel it was meant to set him apart from Goku when the plan was for him to take over as the main character. I really wish this outfit stuck around longer than it did.

BIO-BROLY

Original Japanese Title: Defeat the Super Warrior! I'll be the Winner

SYNOPSIS: Corruption and technology combine to resurrect one of the greatest evils the universe has ever known. Broly is back and more deadly than ever. The sinister Super Saiyan appears to be unstoppable until Trunks discovers a secret that could stop the symbiotic scourge.
MY THOUGHTS: "Bio-Broly" is widely considered to be the worst Dragon Ball Z movie. Surprisingly, I found it better than "Second Coming". There's actually more substance by comparison. "Bio-Broly" plays the mad scientist angle again; granted they redo some of the Bio-Warrior stuff from "World's Strongest", but they do it differently that I don't hold it against them. This also leads to the final outcome being determined by ingenuity rather than raw power. The inclusion of Android 18 and Mr. Satan not only brings some good comedy as she's seeking her payment for throwing the World's Martial Arts Tournament against him in the main series, but we actually delve a little deeper into Mr. Satan's past. And this is another movie where the animation is the best element. It's truly a step up from "Second Coming", with better fight scenes and some really good imagery.
So Broly is in this, but it's technically a clone. And once he's broken from his containment pod, he quickly degenerates into what looks like a combination of a giant walking turd and Swamp Thing if he had highlights; admittedly, his beating heart showing through his chest cavity is a cool feature. While most likely not the intent, I think it's representative of Broly's use through these movies; they keep bringing him back and it gets worse for him each time that he's unrecognizable from when we first met him. This is another story that could have been told without using Broly, but it's clear they were banking on his popularity. On the plus side, he's not screaming "KAKAROT!" at all this time.
Something I picked up in "Bio-Broly" is that there's a way they could have made "Second Coming" slightly better. The character of Maloja from the previous film appears here and is the one who found a blood sample of Broly's to use to clone him, despite the fact he had no interaction with Broly whatsoever. And now I have to ask, why not? "Second Coming" could have had Maloja finding Broly and taking care of him, creating a friendship similar to Frankenstein's monster and the blind man in "Bride of Frankenstein", only for things to go wrong when Broly loses it upon seeing Goten. "Bio-Broly" could have seen Maloja wanting to have his friend back while also getting revenge on those who destroyed him.
While I'm not saying "Bio-Broly" is actually good, it does have some unique elements that place it higher for me than its predecessor. Thus ends the Broly trilogy, and despite the tease at the end of this film and the premise of the next one, I'm really surprised they didn't try to incorporate him there in some way.
(Before we move on to said film though, I just have to say it felt really weird seeing Trunks use the Kamehameha.)

FUSION REBORN

Original Japanese Title: Resurrection Fusion! Goku and Vegeta

SYNOPSIS: An industrial disaster in Other World unleashed the monstrous Janemba, a beast who grows stronger with each passing minute. While Goku and Vegeta fight for Other World's survival, Goten and Trunks confronts a ghoulish army of the undead back on Earth. A dangerous plan of attack is devised and only an unprecedented act of teamwork can save the universe.
MY THOUGHTS: "Fusion Reborn" has a lot going for it that makes it popular among Dragon Ball fans. The first appearance of Gogeta (whom I prefer over Goku and Vegeta's other fusion of Vegito), Janemba is a cool looking demonic villain with a visually appealing powerset, Gohan destroys Frieza with one punch, and Goten and Trunks fight freaking Hitler, just to name a few things. While it's made up of good moments, I honestly don't care for "Fusion Reborn" as a film. I think I can pinpoint it down to three problems I had.
1. So Janemba is a villain who starts as this overweight childlike monster who may or may not know his actions are causing chaos, transforms into a slimmer, terrifying, and more powerful form and fights a fusion of Goku and Vegeta. Yeah, they just copied Majin Buu. Granted this movie came out before Vegito's debut in the series and the movies have retread villains before, but not while the original villain was still an ongoing threat.
2. Before Gogeta arrives, Goku and Vegeta have a botched fusion known as Veku, who's overweight and farts a lot. Comedy aside, this wouldn't be a problem if Veku's fight with Janemba didn't last longer than the one with Gogeta. I'm just saying a longer fight between Gogeta and Janemba could have been on par with all the other great fights with the villain up to that point. 
3. The animation gets cheap at certain parts. Obviously the driving force of the film is set in Other World and this is where the money went to, with the accident that created Janemba also distorting reality and delivering surreal backdrops for the fights. The undead escaping from Hell to Earth seems like something that was added to extend the run time and isn't brought up in Other World, and it's making me think the Super Android 17 Saga, despite being the weakest GT saga, executed the idea better. Some of the animation looks fine but you can tell the budget got low when some of the backgrounds lack detail while characters and objects have these thick black outlines like they were pasted in with some scenes being repeated. Compare that to the all the great animation from the rest of these movies, and it's just sad.
I may be treating it harshly, but "Fusion Reborn" just isn't for me.

WRATH OF THE DRAGON

Original Japanese Title: Dragon Fist Explosion! Who Will Do It If Goku Doesn't Do It?

SYNOPSIS: Dark magic has unleashed an ancient monster, Hirudegarn, that consumes both flesh and soul. As the beast rampages on Earth, its power threatens to increase to unthinkable levels. Such wickedness can only be defeated by Tapion, a man who has already given so much and who will now offer his own life to save the universe.
MY THOUGHTS: I'm happy to say we're ending the retrospective on a high note. Taking place after Kid Buu's defeat, "Wrath of the Dragon" delivers an original and fleshed out story coupled with amazing animation that makes for one of the best DBZ movies. And thanks to undertaking this retrospective, it's now higher on my rankings of the original movies.
The two central characters of the film are Tapion and the main antagonist in Hirudegarn. Tapion has a compelling backstory, having given up a normal life in order to keep Hirudegarn at bay. His broody exterior melts as he forms a brotherly relationship with Trunks. It must have been some cosmic connection given Trunks' future counterpart also came from a place ravaged by evil and fights with a sword. The final moments of the film show Tapion passing on his sword to Trunks before he departs; as the initial clips during the final credits show Future Trunks using his sword in his debut appearance against Mecha-Frieza, it implies it's the same sword as Tapion's. A knee-jerk reaction would be that this doesn't make sense, but it's very likely some version of "Wrath of the Dragon" happened in Future Trunks' timeline given Super showed he also prevented his Majin Buu's revival.
Hirudegarn is just a beast and it's what makes him terrifying. We've seen the Z-Fighters fight villains who grow to giant size, but Hirudegarn is a straight up kaiju in the vein of Godzilla. It's really entertaining to see our heroes in such a fight while trying to keep the city safe from further destruction. Hirudegarn has two forms, the first one with a skull face being my preference over the bug like one he evolves into.
I will admit two problems I had with the film. The first one, albeit a minor one, is Vegeta's brief inclusion in the climax despite not appearing anywhere else in the film compared to the other characters in the fight. But the bigger problem is the ending with Goku delivering the final blow to Hirudegarn with the new Dragon Fist ability (his only original technique I might add). Considering this has been Tapion's story, enemy, and responsibility, he should have been the one to get the win. The Dragon Fist could still be used to weaken him, but then Tapion could have came in with his sword for the final strike. It's like the film's Japanese title was really hammering in that only Goku would save the day in the franchise from here on (at least until Super Hero). But I digress.
Issues from the climax aside, "Wrath of the Dragon" is a diamond in the rough of Buu saga movies and a fine final outing from the original line of Dragon Ball Z films.

This retrospective was a nice nostalgia trip and I had fun for the most part while rewatching these movies, gaining some new appreciation I hadn't before. Obviously, some films had more effort put into them than others, with the earlier films being the strongest batch in my opinion. But when you have stories being told outside the main continuity, they all can't be a winner. Regardless, the original Dragon Ball Z movies are just as memorable in one way or another for fans of the franchise.

And with some new clarity, here's my official rankings:

1. Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
2. Cooler's Revenge
3. Bojack Unbound
4. Tree of Might
5. World's Strongest
6. Dead Zone
7. Wrath of the Dragon
8. Return of Cooler
9. Lord Slug
10. Super Android 13
11. Fusion Reborn
12. Bio-Broly
13. Broly - Second Coming