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 (021719)
Last year, DC Animation gave us the best Superman film in years with
The Death
of Superman. If you read my review for that film, then you know that I
absolutely loved it!
The Death
of Superman did a great job respecting its source
material, while also making key changes to allow that story to fit into the
current animated universe. While "The Death of Superman" comic was a pretty cut and dry
story to adapt – especially when written by comic legend Peter Tomasi – the
writers behind Reign of the Supermen don’t have it quite as easy. So, while I
was excited for this film, I was far more curious to see what would change and
how. To say that the source material for this movie is a bit convoluted would be
an understatement, and there’s simply no way to fit everything from the 90s saga
into a DC Animated Universe primarily influenced by The New 52 without making
drastic changes.
The DC Animated Universe keeps churning out product, and its latest offering is
one of the more overcooked entries in the series to date. A direct sequel to
The Death
of Superman , Reign of the Supermen is bursting at the seams with more
characters, more subplots, more action and generally more stuff than any of its
predecessors. It took the original DC artisans over 700 pages of graphic novel
to cover the material that RotS tries to cram into 87 minutes. The result is a
frantic mess. It'll hold your attention while it's on, but nothing in the film
has any staying power. As soon as it's over, it vanishes from your head quicker
than a Justin Bieber song.
It doesn't help that so much of RotS's storyline was recently covered by the
live-action
Justice League, leaving us with the distinct feeling that we've
already seen much of this movie. For all its considerable flaws, the live-action
Justice League still managed to draw more emotional impact from Superman's
resurrection than the DCAU iteration. And as far as exposition and back story
are concerned,
Justice League does a better job of it compared to RotS. The
live-action film made at least some effort to explain important plot points like
a "Mother Box", but RotS appears to have been made strictly for hardcore
fanatics. If you don't already know your DC mythology backwards and forwards,
you're out of luck.
RotS begins six months after
The Death
of Superman, with the world still
mourning the loss of its greatest guardian in the battle against Doomsday. But
then everyone, especially Lois Lane (Rebecca Romijn) and the members of the
Justice League are startled by the appearance of four separate claimants to
Superman's mantle, three of whom purport to be Superman himself. Superboy
(Cameron Monaghan) is the brash junior version (and hates being called "Superboy").
Cyborg Superman (Patrick Fabian) resembles a souped-up verison of the Justice
League's Cyborg, while The Eradicator (Charles Halford) has formidable powers
but acts more like an emotionless cyborg than any of the characters who are
actually named "Cyborg". Steel (Cress Williams) is the only one who doesn't
pretend to be Superman; he's a formidable fighter against evil, but he knows
that he's really John Henry Irons in a metallic suit.
Lex Luthor (Rainn Williams) and the seemingly infinite resources of Lex Corp
remain in the mix, and so is the super-villain known as Darkseid (Tony Todd,
with his intimidating basso profondo). As for the Justice League itself, let's
just say that they get sidetracked by a convenient (and less-than-convincing)
plot device, leaving the world to sort out the profusion of would-be Superman
successors. We also get an invasion of Parademons, visits to the Fortress of
Solitude, competing plots for world domination and an army of ordinary people
transformed into cyborg clones in service of . . . oh, never mind. RotS devotes
as little effort to explanation as it does to emotional depth or character
development. It rushes through key story points so that it can devote as much
time as possible to the kind of destructive smack downs that have become the meat
and potatoes of modern superhero tales. By the time DC and Marvel have finished
busting up the world and sacrificing its citizens—allegedly in the fight against
evil, but in reality for the entertainment of the Comic Con crowd—there won't be
anything left worth saving.
Reign of the Supermen is an action-packed film that suffers from trying to
accomplish far too much in a mere 87-minute run-time. Events from two colossal
comic book events (Reign & Return) unfold at break-neck speed, which makes for a
shallow experience.
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