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The recent Direct to DVD movies have been good, solid movies IMO, just not amazing on the standard that Bruce Timm fans have come to expect from his work. He blew us away with JLU, and these brief little movies don't have the same impact as the show did.
Superman: Doomsday had good emotion, fight scenes that demonstrate how a big-budget live-action Superman should fight, and an interesting (if disturbing) take on Lex Luthor. It just seems a little "been there, done that" since Doomsday showed up in "A Better World" and "The Doomsday Sanction," while the emotional response to the death of Superman was done in "Hereafter." The movie came across like something Bruce Timm was pressured into doing, because the comic story was so well-known.
New Frontier suffers from the length of the source material being adapted, the huge cast of characters, and the limited running time. The voice actors were well-cast, and the movie was good at creating moods and taking us back in time. Several characters, most notably Hal Jordan, have the the foundations of a really compelling story behind them. But there just wasn't enough time to go around. The movie felt a bit like a series of vignettes. By the end its messages of tolerance and unity were communicated, but not with as much punch as the movie could have if it had been longer.
Gotham Knight was advertised up-front as a series of vignettes. It was therefore scattered, but not as much as New Frontier was because it only had one hero to focus on. The movie's problem is the inconsistent writing between various vignettes. A lot of big-name creators were brought in, but not all of them lived up to the hype.
The first vignette, "Have I Got a Story For You," was a cliche stock story that had already been done in the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight." I don't know how they didn't pick up on the similarities, or if they did, judged that the fans wouldn't notice or care. I also can't believe that they thought this part would be a good lead-in to the rest of the movie, since it was goofy, kiddy, and completely unnecessary, while the rest of Gotham Knight was dark, dramatic, and interconnected.
"Field Test" was also hampered by mediocre writing. The purpose was to show Batman's strong sense of morality, and his compassion for the very criminals he fights. That's a worthy goal. However, the execution was lame: a young punk gets hit in the shoulder by a bullet ricochet, causing Batman to frantically rush him to the hospital? At one point, the punk says "You've killed me" which was just a total exxageration. The vignette ends with Bruce retiring his forcefield device because of the punk's injuries, capping off the series of overreactions. The point would have been made much better if the punk actually suffered a serious injury.
And while Gotham Knight was partially intended as a showcase for various anime artists, some effort to enforce a bit more consistency would have been nice. It was a midquel to Nolan's movies after all. Batman looks like a manly badass in some parts, and a bishounen pretty boy in others. In the first part, he notably looks like a poorly-drawn fat guy. What was up with that? They couldn't decide on whether Batman was wearing the Batman Begins armor, or gray spandex. Sal Maroni gets taken down in "Crossfire" (part 2), but is the villain again in "Field Test" (part 3). Batman is apparently BULLETPROOF in part 2, which confused the hell out of me. Was that just over-stylization in the action? Or was it a reference to the forcefield in part 3? But then, when do those two parts take place in relation to each other (see Sal Maroni)?
The second half, with Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Bruce's training with the Indian woman, and Deadshot was better.
Overall, I think Bruce Timm and his guys haven't really been given the chance to make something great yet. Superman: Doomsday seemed like a chore, and New Frontier and Gotham Knight's fractured formats made it hard to tell a story. I still liked them all, but I know that the people behind these movies are capable of more. I'm looking forward to Wonder Woman, which doesn't look like it'll be handicapped the way the others were.
This is not a bashing thread... just a nice, polite opinion...
Superman: Brainiac Attacks, Superman: Doomsday, New Frontier, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo....
Does anybody else feel NONE of these movies lives up to the outstanding quality of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm????? It sucks because MOTP came out soooo long ago and yet I feel none of the DC DVDs since then have been as good. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (uncut) was the exception, because it had so much dramatic weight in regards to the Batman Beyond series.... it matched Terry up against the Joker, it showed what happened to Bruce, Tim, Barbara.... it revealed so much that the audience was dying to know that watching the DVD was very exciting...
Sure, the animation of MOTP was not perfect, but the storyline was excellent. We've all seen the movie, so I'm not gonna bother going into the details, but seriously... what's going on? MOTP was amazing.... so why are we getting movies like Superman: Brainiac Attacks??? That was hardly watchable. Mystery of the Batwoman was ho-hum and forgettable. Superman: Doomsday (even though it was based on the comic from long ago) felt like a retrend of Superman's "Legacy" series finale, and Superman's internal battle during the Cadmus arc of JLU...it was just the same story again. New Frontier was a step-up, but it still wasn't MOTP.
I don't know. I just feel like no DVD has yet matched the first one... MOTP. And it always sucks when the first movie is still the best because you always wonder "Why can't they make something as good anymore?"
Greg
PS: I thought Batman: Subzero was a solid conclusion to Mr. Freeze's arc in Batman: The Animated Series.
Those are just the DVD sales. They don't include Blu-ray sales, which are tallied on a different chart and aren't available on pages for these movies on thenumbers.com. Superman: Doomsday was initially released just on DVD, whereas the other two were released on both DVD and Blu-ray. Both titles did very well on Blu-ray, so their overall sales are a lot higher than they appear when just looking at their DVD sales.JLA Frontier sold 297,905 units, Superman Doomsday sold 675,938 units. Gotham Knights sold around 389,000.
"Deadshot" in Gotham Knight was worth the purchase alone. I really wish they made a spinoff series using the same animation style -- like a grittier version of Batman: The Animated Series, anime-style. I also liked "Working through Pain" too.
I'm inclined to agree. Is it me or was that the only segment to feature an accurate character design for Bruce Wayne?^I agree. The Deadshot one was the best.
I don't think there was anything unintentional about it.Although how obviously gay they made Lex Luthor is hilarious and worth the purchase for the unintentional comedy.
I thought that he was more...bisexual seeing that he put the moves on Lois too...I liked Gotham Knight (Animatrix fan right here), The New Frontier was brilliant bt Superman Doomsday was a dissapointment. It's fun seeing stuff blow up but it just doesn't capture the emotional resonance of Donner's and Singer's movies. Although how obviously gay they made Lex Luthor is hilarious and worth the purchase for the unintentional comedy.
Although how obviously gay they made Lex Luthor is hilarious and worth the purchase for the unintentional comedy.