First Reviews For DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Paint Woeful Picture
The first reviews for DC's Legends of Tomorrow are in and it isn't pretty. "Like Agents of SHIELD at its outset." "Legends of Tomorrow just barely holds itself together, and doesn’t feel worth the taxation on Arrow or Flash this season." Ouch! But there are a few bright spots apparently.
"We're not at the comic book TV saturation point yet, but there are now so many of these shows that they need a reason to exist beyond filling a niche that's already overflowing. "Jessica Jones" figured out how to a superhero story in a way that felt wholly new and gripping. At this early stage, "Legends of Tomorrow" feels more like "Agents of SHIELD" at its outset: a way to extend the brand by any means necessary, and worry about what the show actually is later."
---HitFix
"For the most part, it’s all played as big, fun and slightly goofy, albeit with the dark streak that the world’s blighted future hangs in the balance. What “Legends of Tomorrow” hasn’t mastered, at least as it races to establish its premise in the two previewed hours, is the elusive and vital chemistry among these characters that’s necessary to transform an ungainly assemblage of costumed heroes into more than just a group that randomly kicks as much butt as the budget allows."
---Variety
"As I said, I’m at a loss. Plans for a second season aren’t exactly set in stone, nor would the underdeveloped Vandal Savage be their focus anyway, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the first sixteen episodes completely shift focus now and again. As it is, Legends of Tomorrow just barely holds itself together, and doesn’t feel worth the taxation on Arrow or Flash this season, even in its brightest spots.
It’s a hodgepodge of different ideas and deliberate rips from silver screen, and I still can’t make heads or tails of why we really needed such a weird branch of this world, entertaining or otherwise. It’s ten shows at once, and terribly unfair to ask audiences to sort the best pieces for themselves."
---ScreenCrush
"DC's legends of Tomorrow isn't exactly flawless right out of the gate, but there's more than enough in this first episode to hook fans of The Flash and Arrow, or just anyone who craves a good Doctor Who/superhero mash-up. "
---IGN
"The production values are alternately spectacular and chintzy, the tone is wildly eclectic, the time-travel logic is whatever. Will every episode be about repairing the timeline due to a mission mistake, or blowing a clear shot at Savage? I hope not. Still, the charming cast and some poignant, surprising turns hooked me. If it can learn how to play well with all its toys, Legends of Tomorrow might pass the test of time."
---Entertainment Weekly
"Unfortunately, the show’s immortal villain, Vandal Savage (Casper Crump), isn’t as big or as bold as he should be. Both Arrow and The Flash have recently introduced great foils for their heroes in Zoom and Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), but Vandal Savage — aside from his immortality — doesn’t seem to inspire much fear or, frankly, much interest. We’re told, many times, of the bad things he can do, but we don’t see it. With a more dynamic villain (or with an expansion of Vandal’s abilities and malice), Legends could really accelerate into a truly great show."
---Collider
"There are many opportunities there but, at least from what I’ve seen, it’s wasted with a visit to the way overused 1970s and too much time giving everyone screen time. While Prison Break alum Miller and Alias vet Garber (who played his Dr. Martin Stein character on Flash) are solid foundations for the show, it’s hard to get a handle on the other Legends between the seemingly endless set-up, battle scenes and one hell of a bar brawl. There’s Arrow’s White Canary, played by Caity Lotz; former Superman Brandon Routh as The Atom; Dominic Purcell as Heat Wave; Ciara Renée, who also appeared on several episodes of The Flash, as Hawkgirl; Falk Hentschel as Hawkman; and Franz Drameh as the other half of Firestorm. When CW boss Mark Pedowitz called Legends a mash-up of Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy and Doctor Who at TCA, he wasn’t kidding – though it would do the WBTV-produced series a favor not to make its influences so obvious."
----Deadline
"A crippling problem rapidly emerges as you realize that the thing about populating a show only with broad supporting characters is that there's no center, there's no still point. Every once in a while a Con-Air works (and many people don't think Con-Air worked), but you're more likely to get a mess than a cohesive story. Routh's Ray is the most conventionally heroic, but he's square to the point of caricature. Purcell has fun grunting one-liners like "I love the '70s!" after a bar brawl to Captain & Tennille, but even after all his time on Flash, the writers haven't figured out how to make him say anything "normal." Bit by bit, Miller has refined a delivery of hipster supervillainy, a boredom with his own evilness, and he also can't be given casual conversation. Hentschel and Renee just aren't very good yet and they have enough trouble acting around their goofy masks and goofier Egyptian backstory, so they can't anchor the story. And while Garber and Drameh are both good, they're two very different men who have to hold hands to become one hero and nobody's wanted to play with the subtext yet."
---The Hollywood Reporter
DC's Legends of Tomorrow premieres in just 2 days on The CW at 8/7c.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow stars :
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary
Victor Garger as Professor Stein/Firestorm
Franz Drameh as Jefferson Jackson/Firestrorm
Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/Atom
Dominic Purcell as Heatwave
Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold
Ciara Renée as Hawkgirl
Falk Hentschel as Hawkman
Casper Crump as Vandal Savage
Legends of Tomorrow will premiere in the United States on January 21, 2016 and is expected to conissts of 16 episodes. The series was developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim. Phil Kemmler serves as showrunner.
When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat – one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known? DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW stars Victor Garber (“The Flash,” “Alias”); Brandon Routh (“Arrow,” “Superman Returns”); Arthur Darvill (“Doctor Who”); Caity Lotz (“Arrow”); Ciarra Renee (“Pippin”); Franz Drameh (“Edge of Tomorrow”); with Dominic Purcell (“The Flash,” “Prison Break”); and Wentworth Miller (“The Flash,” “Prison Break”). Based on the characters from DC Comics, DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” upcoming “Pan”), Marc Guggenheim (“Eli Stone,” “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”), Andrew Kreisberg (“The Flash,” “Eli Stone,” “Warehouse 13”) and Sarah Schechter (“The Flash,” upcoming “Pan”).