quinta-feira, 1 de novembro de 2007

Superman: Doomsday (2007)


Terrific self contained animated movie, as expected from any Bruce Timm work.

In early 90´s, the international media was shocked by DC´s decision to "kill" Superman. Which was nothing more but one in a long list of temporary Superhero deaths, but at the time,it was promoted like the real thing outside the comics. I even still have the TIME magazine talking about it.

It worked, i must say, and I followed the published storyline, "Death of Superman" "Funeral for a Friend","Reign of the Superman" "Return of Superman" "Doomsday Returns" and so son.
So, with skeptical cynicism i followed the comics, giggled at the fact of how incompetent that ragtag Justice League was at the time, and was curious about how much repercussion this storyline had in other books. "Action Comics" "Batman" etc. But reading those splashpages, detailed one panel per page, showing Superman being beaten to a pulp by Doomsday, i found myself quite nervous and tense.

Of course it was a gimmick, of course it was a trap..but hell..it worked!

"But most will remember this sad day as the day the proudest, most noble man they ever knew finally fell. For those who loved him -- one who would call him husband, one who would be his pal, or those who would call him son -- this is the darkest day they could ever imagine. They raised him to be a hero: to know the value of sacrifice, to know the value of life."

I was pond of tears before i finished the book. Great writing. A good story. Whad'Ya Know?

Where were we? Oh yes, the recent animation : What can i say? It´s Bruce Timm´s work!

Great orchestral score. Good voice acting. Beautiful design. Terrific "punch" effects with plenty of shockwaves abound. Great sound effects. It was like.. AKIRA lite, as it obviously has AKIRA influences on it, as much as the budget allows it.


It was good as any episode of "Justice League" unlimited, but sadly, without the League, with surely was missed. That makes this animation look a little...understaffed! There is a few crowd scenes, but it looks like there´s too few actors, too few extra people.

Lois Lane´s voice was masterly interpreted by someone named Anne Heche (?), and this Lex Luthor, by that guy from Buffy (?)...well, doesn´t matter, it was nicely done as well.

About Superman´s design. Maybe in order to distinguish this Superman slightly from previous Timmverse animated Supermen, this one had accentuated cheekbones, or something of the sort, which makes him look like he´s 70 or something Clint Eastwood look alike. Luckily, they seem to forget about this detail in some scenes.

Anyway, it was a great movie, of course it could be better, maybe with the presence of the JLA, maybe by following the Superman cartoon continuity, but that´s being too picky.

Can´t wait for the upcoming adaptation Justice League: The New Frontier. Weee! :)

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