SUPERMAN: UNBOUND (2013)

"I am the knowledge and strength of 10,000 worlds. I am flesh and machine.
I am becoming everything."

2013 is shaping up to be a great year for Superman. With the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the most recent Man of Steel trailers, it seems like everybody is once again ready to believe that a man can fly! However, his first big adventure of the year has already come out, and its name is Superman: Unbound.

After rescuing his girlfriend, Lois Lane, for the 63,842nd time, Clark Kent starts to become annoyed with her taking his powers for granted so she can keep chasing the scoop of the century. While Lois does enjoy the perks of being Superman's girlfriend, she tells him that she also feels like he's smothering her by trying to protect her from every little thing as well, like being hit on by co-workers. Meanwhile, Kara Zor-El, who is still adjusting to her new life on Earth as Supergirl, is growing tired of her older cousin lecturing her, believing that he doesn't know what it's like to be powerless for most of his life, like she was.

When Superman learns that a meteor is about to collide with the Earth, he heads over to stop it, only to discover that it's actually a robot drone. Supergirl recognizes it and reveals that it belongs to Brainiac, a mysterious being that abducted Krypton's capital city, Kandor, as she watched, and left the rest of the Kryptonians for dead. The Man of Tomorrow then tells a disappointed Lois that he needs to go out into space, and then leaves to take on this mysterious invader.

Over the years, Superman's amassed a very interesting and varied rogues gallery, and Brainiac, through his many different incarnations, has long been a fan favorite. I find this version of him particularly interesting because in this story, he comes across as an accurate representation of how the U.S. continues to portray the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He's an unsympathetic, calculating, physically-imposing information vacuum that will go through anything and anyone to obtain all the knowledge in the galaxy. Add to that a truly chilling performance by John Noble (The Lord of the Rings, Transformers: Prime), and this take on the classic DC villain makes for an exciting antagonist for the personification of Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

For as powerful as Superman is and how exciting his fights usually are, I believe that he's at his best when he's faced with a dilemma that challenges his sense of morality. What I like most about Unbound is that while Brainiac's invasion of Earth may be the conflict that's at the forefront of the story, the whole event helps Superman to realize the problems that Lois and Kara are going through because of him, and what he can do to save them from himself.

If you aren't really all that familiar with Superman as a character, then Superman: Unbound is a really good place to find out why he has had such incredible staying-power, among his many other powers.

 
Superman: Unbound was directed by James Tucker, and is the sixteenth entry in Warner Bros. Animation's successful DC Universe Animated Original Movie series.

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, pt. 2 (2013)

"Tonight, I am going to maintain order in Gotham City. You are going to help me."

If you haven't read my review of The Dark Knight Returns, pt. 1, you can find it here.

After the defeat of the Mutant gang leader at the hands of Batman, many of the former members have splintered off to form new gangs. Among them is one calling themselves the "Sons of the Batman", a vigilante group who hunts down and slaughters any street criminals they come across. Although it may seem as though crime has been contained in Gotham City, extensive press coverage of Batman's return has re-awoken one of the worst plagues to have ever befallen the city: The Joker!

Meanwhile, President Reagan is doing his best to instill a false sense of security among U.S. citizens while the military is fighting the Soviet Union for control over the island nation of Corto Maltese. At the same time, the press is putting pressure on him to figure out a solution to the Batman "problem", so he sends the most powerful man on his payroll, Clark Kent, to Gotham to try to calm the storm.

I said in my write-up of the first movie that aside from the absence of the main characters' internal monologues, there were no noticeable differences between Frank Miller's original story and this adaptation. For the most part, that's still true, but I was able to recall a couple scenes that had been removed for part two that I believe created a stronger emotional impact in the graphic novel. The one that stuck out most to me was when the Joker was shown applying his mind-control lipstick before appearing on TV, and he doesn't make any use of it. The scene that was cut out was one that I felt not only helped give the audience a chance to guess what the Joker's horrible new weapon could do, but also demonstrated how insane he'd become after ten years of catatonia. It's a deeply disturbing scene that I wish would have been left intact.

Unfortunately, I felt this adaptation was really dragged down by its portrayal of Clark Kent. I said in my review of the first part that the internal monologues from the comic weren't really necessary here, as enough of the exposition and emotion was plainly visible through the animation and acting. That's not the case with Clark, as all we're shown is that he now takes direct orders from the president, and will obey them all. This makes him seem very callous, out of character, and sometimes even a little sinister. In print, Clark is definitely an antagonist, but through his thoughts, we're able to discover that he's very reluctant to take orders from Reagan and only does it so he can continue saving lives while remaining within the government's favor. A little bit of that does shine through in the movie, but not until about halfway through his fight with Bruce during the climax.

The acting remains tight, with all of the actors from the previous part reprising their respective roles. I was especially pleased with Ariel Winter's performance as Carrie Kelly/Robin this time around, since she got to show a greater range of emotion. New cast members include Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest) as the Joker, and Mark Valley (ER, Boston Legal) as Clark Kent. Emerson was absolutely perfect as the Joker, and while I could say the same about Valley's portrayal of Clark, the issues I mentioned earlier with the script really detract from what could have been an amazing performance.

This is a very well-done, though flawed conclusion to what started as a nearly perfect adaptation of one of the most important comic book stories ever published. If you've already watched the first half, you owe it to yourself to see how it all ends. For all the other Superman fans out there: don't fret, we're getting a new live-action movie and a new animated movie later this year.

The Dark Knight Returns, pt. 2 adapts the final two chapters of Frank Miller's ground-breaking graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns.