Superman/Batman: Public Enemies review

   Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
    available now on DVD and Blu ray

On Tuesday, September 29, Warner Premiere unleashed more DCU Direct-to-Video goodness. Hot on the heels of Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman and Batman step up the the plate... again... to wow us with Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, a direct adaptation of the first six issues of the Superman/Batman comic book series. 

Movie Rating: 8/10

Special Features Rating: 6/10 

Synopsis: 

Lex Luthor is President, and not a bad one at that. At least, as far as the public is concerned. Superman still has his doubts and refuses to play ball with the new administration even when other heroes are signing up to be on the government payroll. Cue the giant kryptonite meteor zooming toward earth. 

President Luthor uses the impending crisis, and the green stuff's intimate ties to the man in blue to frame Superman and turn public opinion against him, even going so far as to declare him an enemy of the state and offering a one billion dollar bounty on his head. 

Now it's up to Superman and his only friend and ally Batman to expose Luthor and save the world. Business as usual. 

Movie Analysis: 

Praise: 

If Bruce Timm was in charge of all DC movies, not just the animated, Halle Berry's Catwoman might have actually turned out to be something watchable. Timm and company continue their string of animated successes here. 

While some of the plot and story elements might seem a bit far fetched, and even downright ridiculous (blame comic writer Jeph Loeb), this movie ramps up the fun factor enough that you just don't care. This flick is what most comic movies should strive to be. If you have a man in tights who is invincible and can shoot lasers out of his eyes, you want to see him slugging it out with similarly dressed individuals, not lifting a bunch of heavy stuff and then hovering silently outside of Lois Lane's house spying on her with his x-ray vision just begging for a restraining order (I'm talking to you Superman Returns). The billion dollar bounty provides the opportunity for just that as every B-grade supervillian (who would never be featured in a movie otherwise) come crawling out of the woodwork to duke it out with Superman and Batman in one of the feature's best scenes. 

The dialogue is actually quite refreshing for a comic book cartoon and is often witty and razor sharp at the same time. Many of Jeph Loeb's best lines from the comic are present and made all the better being exchanged back and forth by DC voice acting alums Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly. Their Batman and Superman are as pitch-perfect as they have always been, and Clancy Brown's Lex Luthor is as vile as ever. 

Also, screenwriter Stan Berkowitz and the producers/director deserve a lot of credit for visually showcasing the dichotomy between Superman and Batman that was such an integral part of the comic's storytelling. The trick was translating that without the interior monologue that the comic used. In comics, caption boxes (generally used to convey inner thoughts) are more plentiful than spandex. However, as any screenwriting professor will tell you, inner thoughts translate to a character standing still and doing absolutely nothing. No one wants to watch a character think, and most films opt not to have endless voiceovers conveying a characters thoughts. So, with a major staple of the original comic being unavailable, everyone involved did a great job showcasing the contrasts between the two main protagonists through costume and character design, fighting style, dialogue, settings, etc. 

Complaints: 

Length. This, as with all of the DCU animateds, is no where near long enough. For a movie that is rated PG-13 and marketed toward adults, the pace and length seem to be decided upon with a child's attention span in mind. While the 66 minutes given are well paced and filled with plenty of action, it seems like there could have easily been an extra 20 minutes thrown in to make this feel more like a theatrical animated release. So many more scenes from the graphic novel could have been included. 

Many comic fans are going to be disappointed when they don't get to see the Superman and Batman family of Superboy, Steel, Nightwing, Robin, and the rest team up with their patriarchs to storm the Whitehouse. It was a shame that this was one of the scenes from the graphic novel that didn't make the cut. That must have been an interesting meeting: 

"Okay. What do we cut to get this thing down to 60 minutes? A bunch of fan-favorite, A-list heroes, or the giant Superman/Batman rocketship?" 

With just a few more minutes of screentime, perhaps we could have gotten both. 

But, I guess complaining that the movie was so good, the audience wants more, isn't the worst critique to get. 

Special Features: 

As with all of the previous DCU animated films, you only really get any bonus features if you spring for the 2 disc DVD or the Blu ray. And, also like previous entries, these bonus features are almost worthless to the dedicated fanboy. 

Sure, there are two nice (albeit short) behind-the-scenes features. There is also the obligatory "First Look" at the next DCU animated project. Here we get a peek at Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths which looks promising. 

That's where the features really end for the fanboy. The next set of features is a sneak peek (glorified trailer) at all of the previously released movies. Any nerd worth his salt already has them, so those seem kind of redundant. Then, there is the feature that is the real reason that this disc cost $5 more: Six episodes of various DC cartoons featuring Superman/Batman teamups. These might actually be nice if most people willing to pay the extra money didn't already have the complete seasons of all of those shows. 

Hopefully in the future these discs will include a more extensive look into the making of the film, or documentaries on character history instead of rehash of things we already own. But, then again, if you don't already own the cartoons, it's kind of a fun bonus. 

Bottom Line: 

This movie is a fun, faithful adaptation of the comic. Fans, and non fans alike owe it to themselves to check it out. Put one more check in the "Win" column for Warner and DC.

Need to drop a few extra bucks on Wednesday? Pick this up: Spider-man: The Clone Saga

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