Genre: Animated Action
Directed by: Lauren Montgomery
Staring: Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Andre Braugher, Summer Glau
Released: Sept 28, 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
Batman discovers a mysterious teen-aged girl with super-human powers and a connection to Superman. When the girl comes to the attention of Darkseid, the evil overlord of Apokolips, events take a decidedly dangerous turn.
THE GOOD
The visuals and the action in this film are amazing and its great to get Kevin Conroy as Batman and Tim Daly as Superman again. Their voices are a natural fit for the characters. And Summer Glau as Kara Zor-El.
The character designs are impressive. Obviously the traditional characters look like they are supposed to. And they somehow make the Kirby-esque Furies look good.
The final battle surprised me and easily the most enjoyable part of the movie.
THE BAD
Doomsday is the ONLY foe to ever best and “beat” Superman. Using him in this film was a ranwank, and sullies the terror that Doomsday represents. They were not the same as Doomsday and not nearly as powerful. It was cheap to even use the character in such a minor way.
The dialogue sometimes sounds weak and read. Like they were not in the same room recording the lines.
And Superman punching fire? I know physics take a backseat when we are talking about a man who can fly, but when the flamethrower spits and everyone dodges, there’s Supes … punching it.
The movie should have been called Supergirl… or Darkseid’s Fury. Calling this a Superman/Batman title is inaccurate. Sure, they are in it, but so is Wonder Woman, and almost half the movie takes place on Darkseid’s planet Apokolips. But the title is spelled Apocalypse.
The PG13 rating gives them permission to show some blood and say “bitch” and “ass” but outside of that, they didn’t really need this rating.
OVERALL
There seems to be a passion missing from this film that was present in previous releases. It pains me to say it, this is not the best film DC has put out. It has its moments and there is some fun to be had, but its not a great movie.
On a side note, the Green Arrow short included on the Bluray and DVD was pretty good. They use the traditional look of Oliver Queen, and they use a classic Green Arrow villain Merlin (who is basically an evil version of Arrow who also uses a bow). Lots of great action.
I give Superman/Batman: Apocalypse a 4 out of 10
