ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
Now, the question bodes...Could this conceptualized tale of a deconstruction of Superman from ground zero be translated and reconstituted to the usually impressive DC ANIMATED MOVIES? Or would we end up grasping at flailing straws and insipid overtures?
Dwayne McDuffie takes on writing duties as he did on Justice League: Crisis on 2 Earths, Justice League: The Series, Ben-10, Static Shock, Teen Titans etc. He also is versed in DC COMICS such as 'JLA, Firestorm', and even has a decent arsenal of Marvel titles to his name such as 'Fantastic Four, Deathlok and Beyond!' to name a few...and he's quite revered with his array of comic-scribes complimenting his animation forays.
Sam Liu directs this film, with the likes of Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano, always overseeing with an altruistic sense of reassurance. When they're onboard, little goes wrong...safe to say! The backroom staff was well structured and it remained to see how this tale would match the books...and would the critical reception be promising with that on-screen?
The Film -
The story starts with Superman saving the day atypical to what we know of our boyscout- with Dr. Leo Quintum and his space mission team falling prey to the squalors of Lex Luthor. Superman is brilliantly voiced by James Denton as he gives a logic, rational...yet charmingly human feel to the character...mature and wise...cool, calm, confident and collected under pressure; but Anthony LaPaglia steals the show with his conniving machinations and scheming sense of purpose in the movie. He's as sneer and snide as Denton is charismatic and charming. They add a lovely rival-feeling to them, a yin-yang sort of texture that is most welcome.
It's a lurid plot by Luthor that sees Superman saving Quintum's crew at a full-price...Superman has been exposed to radiation that not only empowers him, but is killing him. It's a tale of decay and wither, and comes with our protagonist now facing the one thing he never worried much for, Mortality. This story is how he deals with inevitable death...and also, how he factors his loved ones into the web...with Lois Lane taking spotlight.
Christina Hendricks voices Lane nicely and there's a well-plotted romance factor that is perfectly brought over from the comics -
What would you do if you had to tell your One True Love you were dying? How would you spend your remaining days with that person?
It's Herculean tasks that conjure a fun trip and the lovely tale of endearment between the two lovers meshes in with cynicism, lucidity and eventually ends up where fans would want and expect things to go...despite, the looming eerie gloom that is engraved throughout the film with Superman's fate running threadbare. It's literally his last will and testament!
Not only does Clark run afoul of some fiends vying for Lois' affections but affiliations such as Jimmy Olsen, Ma Kent and Perry White are all timely placed and voiced to a tee as the supporting cast never waivers. There are some surprising voice talents that gracefully deliver the goods in this movie. The exchange with Clark Kent interviewing a death-row Lex Luthor is the highlight of this film, and the irony seeps in fully, as we see Luthor at his smartest, yet his lowest intellectual point. Lex's view of the world and humanity is matched when he asks Clark what would the reporter do if he had Superman's powers -
Save the world is the response that steals the scene as Clark displays his innocent dominance as the world's Saviour.
Familiar villains rear ugly heads here and there as Clark's trials and tribulations grow with his impending death; and shout outs to Jonathan Kent, Kandor, Krypton, the Phantom Zone and other lore that DC fans hold dear come in abundance as the movie actually takes the poignant portions from the comics, and abbreviates the excess material well with the proper aspects of the books left out as they may be simply too much and too irrelevant for the overall scope of the tale. It's a nice editing job on the vivid breakdown of this book...and one which I was pleasantly surprised to see the writer and team...commit to...spot-on! It was a well-gauged condensation of Morrison's book!
The crescendo hit with Lex's machinations on death row, building to fruition as we learn that isolation is never a good thing with Lex. Superman's Fortress of Solitude and its denizens all factor in greatly as we see the serenade of a Grant Morrison created-villain in 'Solaris', whose pivotal role hinges on another tease of a DC character in the 'Sun-Eater'. Lex's schemes and these other not-so-peripheral characters segue nicely into each other as the tapestry of Superman's final moments are woven with loyalty, honestly, selflessness and perseverance to protect the Home and the people he love. Lex takes his game to a new level to combat and triumph his rival, as Superman wanes to withstand the threats to Earth, and at the same time, contend with the aftermath that Lois faces.
We get epiphanies, self-realization and...clarity...amongst those who we never would expect.
We end with a semblance of sacrifice amidst constant hope and the furore of redemption, which will surprise those who have not read the comics. It comes left-field to them, and this shows just how different this story is from the usual Superman ones we read and view on cartoons. This does not end the way we expect it to...and with Grant writing...that is not a shocker!
It's no surprise that McDuffie doesn't censor that much to the end. We get a sense of introversion in folks that are usually assertive and non-changing, and by the time this film ends, it's the redemptive aspect that blows the lid off as redemption comes in the form of something and someone that isn't usually associated with it. Hope lingers on in the end-scenes with Jimmy and Lois as McDuffie tweaks the final scene a bit, as I hoped for a bit more literal expansion on that last shot...one that echoed the final scenes of the comic a bit more mechanically so to speak...that's something I garner only readers of the book will grasp when the film's final scene sprays across our eyes...machinery of the Sun much?
...Your Bright Eyes are an Illuminating Inferno that turn off the dark of the world...It's the Fire of 1000 Burning Suns is a quote that reeked pleasantly in my mind at the end as we saw exactly why Superman stands for Truth, Justice...and moreso, why he remains akin to a Saviour and Messiah that the faithless, wayward & hopeless sometime look to...
Look to the skies...and that phrase has never had more meaning than it did at the conclusion of this film...
Thumbs up as DC delivers a good story...with an optimum stability and level of pseudo-perfected achievement...that I expect them to never falter with
It's a good job with a story that I honestly never thought they'd translate well to the screen...
Glad to be proven wrong...
"Batman: Year One">...anyone????