Iron Man Movie Review

I saw Iron Man on Thursday and was completely blown away by it. I loved all the trailers for it, especially the one with the "I am Iron Man" music playing, but I was kind of on the fence in regards to if it was going to be good or if the trailer had all the good parts in it, as it looked like it was just going to be Iron Man vs. some jets and a knock off armour. Thankfully, it was the former and few movies have I enjoyed for every minute, from start to finish, like I did with this movie.

As always, my reviews are full of spoilers and this will be no exception. So, if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'd recommend holding off on reading this until you do so. I won't go into a full plot breakdown, as that's covered in a variety of other places already, but there will be spoilers, so tread lightly.

First off, I just want to show off this awesome fan-made costume someone made for the opening a couple weeks back. I wish I had the time or motivation to make something like that, but, for now, I'll just have to stare on with nerd envy.


What I Liked

Not Just An Origin Story

While this is a standard super-hero origin movie, it actually had a story, fleshed out characters and real action, unlike others that just have the hero fly around or pose in their costume while showing off powers one after another.

Great Characters

Robert Downey Jr will forever be known as Tony Stark in my mind. He was absolutely perfect. Many forget, with all of Downey's troubles in his personal life, that he's an exceptional actor and without him, I don't even want to imagine how this movie would have turned out.

Also, Jeff Bridges turned what could have been an overacted and Superman Returns' Lex Luthor-ish performance into a menacing villain that didn't fall into the typical super villain tripe.

Other key performances came from Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, who I can't wait to see in the sequel, and, surprisingly, a perfect performance from Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots.

Fan Service

There was plenty of fan service for the comic fanboys. My favourite was the "Next time, baby." line from Jim Rhodes, as he looks longingly at the prototype black and grey Iron Man armour, alluding to his War Machine armour.

Another great, but obscure, one was the Iron Man cartoon theme song. You'll have to be quick to notice it, but it shows up in a rather obscure form and I'll let you guys pick it out, if you haven't already.

I guess the biggest one was the Nick Fury and Avengers Initiative bonus clip at the end of the credits. I love the new Marvel Studios due to stuff like this. It actually feels like a universe now that we can see "crossovers" like this in the movies. I can't believe DC and Warner Bros hasn't exploited this with their movies yet.

No "Tobey McGuire Syndrome"

By this, I mean the fact Iron Man doesn't lose his helmet in the first 5 seconds of every encounter just so we can see the damn actor's face. We know who's playing the character. You pay them millions of dollars. There's no reason for the mask to come off all the goddamn time!

Thankfully, this only happens once and for a very brief moment, and in a very plausible situation, in the final battle with Iron Monger / Stane. They kind of get around this with the interior armour shots of Stark's face and his HUD inside the armour alla Tony's Extremis interior views in the comics. These felt natural and didn't pull me out of the movie like seeing Christian Bale or Tobey McGuire instead of Batman and Spider-Man, the actual characters I came to see for those movies.

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

I know I said this already, but he really makes this movie. The switch from the boozy, womanizing asshole that only cares about making weapons and money at the beginning of the movie is almost the story of his life and Downey displays the perfect amount of emotion during his trials after being captured and dispalying Stark's newfound resolve to change the world. I can't believe I'm even contemplating this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get an Oscar nomination for his role, something I never thought a "comic book movie" actor could possibly do.

Fun fact - one of my best friends and former university roommate is named Robert Downey Jr. Yes, he's even a Jr.

Action and Special Effects

They don't go overboard on the action scenes, but this isn't the Hulk movie from a few years back where all we saw was Hulk throw a tank and punch a couple dogs before fighting a water cloud at the end or Superman Returns where the villain of the movie is a giant rock. Bolstered by a great story and competent actors, the action scenes add just the right amount of excitement and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Whether it's his escape in his original Iron Man armour or the badass walking away as the tank blows up scene or his final fight with Iron Monger, there are no "filler" action scenes here. Everything is perfectly excuted and leave you dying to see what they'll throw at you next.

On top of this, the suit and all the effects were amazing. I'm surprised at just how often we got to see the suit in action, as it must have eaten up a nice chunk of their budget animating it.


What I Didn't Like

It Ended

Seriously, we have to wait three more years for a sequel? I hope they film two back to back next time or I may go into withdrawal.

The Power Source On The Chest

This is a small nitpick, but the suit is covered in titanium gold alloy, yet they leave this bright, glowing power source right in the center with what looks like a glass case covering it. Even on the Iron Monger armour, they don't go to any length to cover it up and I half expected Tony to just rip it out of his chest at some point to end the fight. I've suspended my disbelief with everything about the movie already, so I'll just assume it's some invisible paint or ridiculously strong glass or plastic covering.

No Mandarin

Another small complaint, but he is pretty much the only big name Iron Man villain outside the odd Dr Doom adventure and he's primarily a Fantastic Four villain anyways. They reference him with the Ten Rings named terrorist cell and talk of Ghangis Kahn, so I expect he'll be in the next movie. I think he could be the first recurring villain for 2 and 3 if they go with the traditional Mandarin appearance and rings on fingers followed by the current Knauf version with them embedded in his spine. I think the movie turned out better without him, though, as they were mainly doing the origin this time around, so I guess it was for the best he didn't appear.


Verdict - Must See

Great story, great characters, lots of comedy and the most faithful comic book to movie adaptation to date. I don't typically do this, but I'm probably going to go see this again next week when my brother comes for a visit. It was that damn good.

As you can see from the likes and dislikes, there's almost nothing I can fault this film with that wouldn't just come off as nitpicking. I don't even go into the comical parts of the film, like Tony and Jim drinking sake on his private jet or Tony's workshop AI's and his bloopers while testing out the prototype Iron Man suit. Oh, and let's not forget, "Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!". Truely the greatest meme to come from that movie and a hilarious line that could have been extremely corny, or cornier, if delivered from another actor.

The Dark Knight Returns and Hulk have their work cut out for them if they want to measure up to Iron Man in the battle for Best Comic Book Movie this year. I'm still going to both movies, but the bar has been significantly raised for them and any future comic book movies.

Before I wrap this up, here's a cool shop of an Iron Man still shot depicting what War Machine could potentially look like in the inevitable Iron Man 2. There's a small bit of red visible on the helmet if you look closely, but, overall, I think the unknown creator did a great job on it and that small defect can easily be overlooked. Add a little bulk to his armour and it would be perfect.

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New Hulk Movie CGI Model - Yeah or Nay?

I didn't have time to do Cover to Cover today, so check back tomorrow for that. In the mean time, there was a new Hulk trailer last week that, obviously, showed off the new version of the Hulk. It got me to thinking about which Hulk I preferred and I'm still a bit torn on it.

The newer one looks better, animation wise, simply because it's been four or five years since the other Hulk came out. However, I don't like the colour scheme or bushy, bed head hair and chocolate chip nipples he's got going on. The face looks a bit small for the body, as well.

The old one, well, looks old. Like comparing 90's CGI to the newer stuff. But he's got the size and bulk that I'd associate with the Hulk and, aside from just a little too much green tone, the right colour scheme.

Honestly, I'd love to see them smash the two together, but I guess I'll have to wait for them to remake this same movie again in 5 years time. I think I liked Banna more than Norton, but, to be fair, I haven't seen Norton's movie yet either. Banna just seemed like a better fit for Bruce Banner to me.

You can check out the new trailer after the jump, but, for those who have seen it, what's your take on it? New Hulk or Old Hulk? Norton or Banna? Lee's movie was a bit too much drama and not enough smashing, but I still enjoyed it. The new movie's trailer looks great, but so did the early Banner Hulk-ing out trailer for the first movie. Hard to say how this will turn out. They better not spend an hour on the origin that we just saw in the last movie.

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Justice League: The New Frontier Movie Review

As I promised the other day, I've prepared a Justice League: The New Frontier advanced review for the upcoming straight-to-DVD animated movie. I'll get it out of the way right now - this is the best comic book movie I have ever seen. Almost completely faithful to the source material, excellent animation quality and great voice work. The only complaint is it ended.

A note before you go on, if you haven't read DC: The New Frontier, shame on you and you'll find some vague spoilers along the way. If you have read it, the movie is the book. This isn't the Spider-Man or Dark Knight Returns movies that barely resemble their comic stories, so feel free to dive right in as there's not really anything I can spoil for you except telling the one or two things they had to cut.

So, hit the jump and enjoy the review!

Justice League: The New Frontier, due out February 26, is based on the critically acclaimed DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke (2004). The movie, much like the book, follows an alternate take on DC's history, beginning in the 1950's where heroes, such as the original JSA, are forced to register, quit or be hunted down and ending shortly after the Korean War with the birth of a new and brighter era for super heroes and the world.

Throughout the story, we are treated to seemingly random appearances of numerous mainstays in the regular DCU, such as Batman, Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman, all while following the exploits of a young fighter pilot in the Korean War named Hal Jordan. All of these events add pieces to the puzzle as the ominous Center, a primordial creature of immense powers in the form of a floating island, decides that humanity has grown too reckless and dangerous with their lust for power, based on flashes of nuclear bombs and the numerous wars we've waged, and it has decided to cleanse the Earth of us.

With so many heavy hitters present and accounted for, you would assume this movie falls into the traditional Superman saves the day routine, but the focus is almost completely on characters like Martian Manhunter, Flash and Hal Jordan, who is probably the closest to a main character this movie has. In fact, Superman and Wonder Woman are both taken out at the outset of the final battle with the Center, seemingly dashing all hopes the heroes had of vitory.

Alright, enough with the vague story details, is the film any good and how does it compare to the comic book? I've read, and absolutely love, the comic book and, after seeing this film, I believe the movie is the best comic book adaptation of any comic I have ever seen.

I was as gitty as a school girl watching this, as the animation was beautiful and they nailed the art style that the comic used, as you can see from the screen captures. I am so thankful they didn't just rehash the Bruce Timm style 'blocky square' style that all the other DC animated movies, such as Superman Doomsday, and cartoons have used. It really makes the difference and the style and tone of the film would have been completely off if they went another way.

As far as content goes, they did an amazing job fitting so much of the story into this relatively short film, which was about 90 minutes if I recall correctly. It's not a comic book though, so things did have to be cut or changed slightly. I can safely say that no one, with the exception of Rick Flagg and the Losers fans, all 3 of you (I kid, I kid), will be more than happy with this film.

The only major change I can think of was the complete exclusion of the opening parts of issue one where we are introduced to Rick Flagg's trip to Dinosaur Island and the forced "retirement" of all the heroes in the 50's. However, these instances are touched on, in passing, in the opening narration of the film and various background newscasts and newsclippings and Rick Flagg does show up and plays his regular part later in the film.

The only really odd change was how King Faraday died in the movie compared to the comic. It was a senseless change and I don't really know why they thought it would be better to have him die differently in the movie. It's a small thing and accomplished the same goal, but I don't see the need for that particular change.

Obviously, there were other minor changes as well, such as the John Henry Irons segment, which is only seen in a brief cameo, the Challengers of the Unknown were completely left out and only Hal and Ace, there was a third in the comic, went into the Center at the end, and the lack of the magic character's cameo, by which I mean the one with Billy sitting on the magic carpet eating icecream.

Only other thing to talk about is the voice acting, I suppose. On the whole, it was great. Some voices were excellent, like Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, while others managed to get the job done, like Hal Jordan's voice actor, and others still were underwhelming, such as the Martian Manhunter's, which, compared to the JLA version, was inadequate. I think it might just be the fact I was so used to the JLA version, but this voice didn't seem to resonate as well with me in regards to the lone alien survivor of his race and the distant emotions he typically shows. It's more nitpicking than anything though and I think everyone will enjoy the voice work on this film.


Verdict - Must See. Did I mention this film was amazing and the best comic book film I've ever had the pleasure of watching? Faithful almost to the extreme, it's a film I was wishing I could watch again as soon as it was over.

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Marvel Zombies - The (fan) Movie

I came across this over at the Penny Arcade forums and thought I'd share it with everyone. It's a fan made trailer for a Marvel Zombies movie. It's got just the right amount of B-movie cheesiness a zombie movie requires and the creators did an excellent job with the costumes and makeup. Taking into consideration it's fan made, that Hulk and Spider-Man look amazing and they even got a decent looking actress to play Mary Jane. Stay tuned after the credits for Colonel America, who is probably an after thought by the creators, as he doesn't look quite as good as the Hulk and Spider-Man zombies.

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Justice League: The New Frontier Series Review and Movie Preview

"Perfect, immaculate, pure...flight. The kind of flight that fills your spirit in a way only a dream can." - Hal Jordan

That quote from Hal Jordan, in DC: The New Frontier, perfectly sums up the series. This is the kind of comic book that makes you believe heroes can be heroes again. They don't need to be the dark and gritty characters that are far too often depicted in comics today. They can be fun, heroic and someone to aspire to be like. This is why, when DC announced that The New Frontier would be adapted into a 70 minute animated movie for early 2008, I was ecstatic. Read on for my impressions and review of the original comic, DC: The New Frontier, and a quick preview of the upcoming movie Justice League: The New Frontier.

"This is my fight. These are my people. And tonight, for one last time, I am their champion." - Ted "Friggin' Wildcat" Grant

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER
Written & Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke

DC: The New Frontier is an epic DC Comics series that has won numerous awards, including an Eisner, Harvey and Shuster, since it was written in 2004. The story draws comparisons to The Golden Age as both books set out to bridge the gap between the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics. Re-imagining many of the DC contemporary heroes as if they had been active since before, and during, WWII, The New Frontier spans nearly 20 years of history, ending with the speech from President John F. Kennedy, a speech in which the book draws its title from.

The series deconstructs the hero concept and depicts the various tones and political meanings behind each hero. The superheroes from the 30's grew out of a response to the Great Depression and represented hope and showed that people and things could get better. Those of the 40's were designed with the intent of inspiring and bolstering patriotism in the face of WWII. They showed that America and the world was right to fight against such unmitigated hatred. Finally, the new generation of heroes that sprung out of the post-WWII era in the 50's symbolized America's own self-image as the leader in scientific development and the defender of democracy against communism. These new heroes and the world they live in serve to tackle the paradigm shifts in thinking and life in post-war America and deal with various topics, such as the paranoia of a communist agenda, racism and the inability of America to protect the rights of its own people while they strove to lead the rest of the world and the changing perceptions of heroism and patriotism. These and more make up DC: The New Frontier.

The New Frontier, on top of the incredible story and deeper meanings, is a beautiful work of art. Combining the art styles of the legendary Jack Kirby, using his squared fingers, muscles and jaws art style, with the minimalist and clean lined style of other Golden Age artists and beautiful, yet classic, colouring techniques, Cooke has managed to create a timeless masterpiece that perfectly meshes with the style and tone of the story itself.

New Frontier is a sophisticated, adult story that deserves to be mentioned with such classics as Watchmen and A Contract With God. This book manages to blend its comic book heritage with US history to tell a riveting and emotional tale that is about people and their relationships, as well as the values of classical superheroes that serves to show us the different vantage points and philosophies behind each eras' heroes. Truly one of the best comics ever written and if the movie can be half as good as the actual comic book, it will go down as one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.

Justice League: The New Frontier

Set for release on January 28th, 2008, Justice League: The New Frontier is set to be one of the biggest and most ambitious comic book animated films of all time. Focusing on the journey of Hal Jordan, from the Korean War to his eventual becoming the new Green Lantern, the plot deals with the mounting concerns of an alien presence on Earth. Spanning almost two decades, the movie features many Golden and Silver Age superheroes, including Superman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter as well as many lesser known or under appreciated characters like King Faraday, the Losers, the Challengers of the Unknown and many more. One of the greatest comics ever written will surely become one of the greatest movies ever made.

“My America… Our America is an ideal, not an administration. During World War 2, we knew we were right, and we’ve always just assumed we were right ever since.” - Wonder Woman to Superman

Cast

Director:
Dave Bullock

Writers:
Stan Berkowitz
Darwyn Cooke

With Voices By:
David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern
Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman
Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen / The Flash
Brooke Shields as Carol Ferris
Jeremy Sisto as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Kyle MacLachlan as Clark Kent / Superman
Phil Morris as King Faraday

Comic to Screen

"There's the door Spaceman." - Wonder Woman to Superman

Above, in one of the few released shots from the upcoming movie, we can see the scene where Wonder Woman is celebrating with the female villagers she freed in Korea. Below is the comparison shot from issue 2 of DC: The New Frontier, which shows how faithful the movie has managed to stay to the original style and presentation of Darwyn Cooke. While Cooke has admitted they have had to cut many of his favourite scenes from the comic, he is still quite pleased with the direction of the movie and understands everything cannot be shown in the 70 minute feature. Most of those cut scenes will end up as news reels or background happenings that take place in various scenes with the heroes the movie does focus on.

Based on the interviews done with Cooke along with the 10 minute preview on the Superman: Doomsday DVD, which you can read all about here, this movie is set to potentially be one of the best comic-to-film adaptions in history and most likely will set the bar high for the planned live-action JLA movie that DC is planning. While not nearly as good as the Superman: Doomsday preview, I leave you with this previously released Justice League: The New Frontier preview, which is over 3 minutes long.

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Superman: Doomsday Full Movie Summary & Review

"Enjoy your reign while you may, Superman. For as surely as night follows day... there comes a time when even gods must die." - Lex Luthor

Those ominous words, voiced by none other than James Marsters, in the opening of this feature really set the tone for the entire movie. Superman: Doomsday is the first of, hopefully, many direct-to-DVD movies from DC featuring some of the greatest moments in it's illustrious history. Planned, so far, are adaptations of Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans: Judas Contract, a Wonder Woman feature and January 2008's JLA: New Frontier. DC has stated that they have plans for several other 'major events' to be adapted to movies after these initial releases. I will be doing several features on these direct-to-DVD movies over the next week or so, so make sure to check back for those. For the rest of the Superman: Doomsday review, hit the jump.


In Brief

Superman: Doomsday, the animated, direct-to-DVD movie from DC Comics which retells the Death and Return of Superman. Released September 18, 2007, it is the first of many planned movies featuring the biggest events in DC's history.

Cast

Produced by:
Bruce Timm

Written by:
Duane Capizzi

Starring:

Adam Baldwin - Superman / Clark Kent (voice)
Anne Heche - Lois Lane (voice)
James Marsters - Lex Luthor (voice)

Also featuring:

John Di Maggio - Toyman (voice)
Tom Kenny - Superman's Robot (voice)
Swoosie Kurtz - Martha Kent (voice)
Cree Summer - Mercy Graves (voice)
Ray Wise - Perry White (voice)
Adam Wylie - Jimmy Olsen (voice)

Synopsis

The movie kicks off with a brief interlude of Superman doing some heroic deeds while Lex Luthor waxes philosophical with the quote from the beginning of this article. After some brief moments showing Lois and Clark's interactions and basically writing Clark out of the movie by sending him to Afghanistan as correspondence, the movie quickly shifts to a Lex Corp dig site. Lex Corp is digging an unauthorized tunnel deep into the Earth in hopes of harvesting thermal energy from the core. The dig team, already quite deep down, unearths what appears to be an alien space craft. After consulting with Lex, the team begins excavating the ship only to rupture the hatch, unleashing Doomsday upon the world. Doomsday quickly makes short work of the Lex Corp employees and begins destroying everything in his path on a collision course with Metropolis.

Meanwhile, Superman and Lois are having a weekend getaway at the Fortress of Solitude where it is revealed they have been dating for the past 6 months. Lois appears to know he is really Clark Kent, or at least has suspicions, and tries to coax him into telling her his secret identity, which he refuses to do. After a corny 'soldiers are the real heroes' speech in relation to the Iraq War, Lois and Superman are interrupted by Superman's Super Robot, which informs Superman that an incredibly powerful entity from the Kryptonian database is on its way to Metropolis, causing massive amounts of damage along the way. Superman calls the weekend retreat short and brings Lois with him back to Metropolis.

This leads to the high point of the movie, the roughly 20 minute long battle with Doomsday. It is a beautifully animated fight that highlights the incredible power of each of the combatants. What starts off looking like a typical "Superman saves the day" fight quickly shows that Superman is really in trouble with this fight. Superman doubled over, coughing up blood, is an excellent sequence in this fight, and does exactly what it set out to show, that this villain will be the death of him. The fight culminates with a battered and beaten Superman whisking Doomsday into the upper atmosphere before bringing him crashing back to the Earth below, cratering in downtown Metropolis, apparently killing both combatants. From the crater, Superman stumbles forward before collapsing at Lois' feet, asking if everyone is safe, before dying in her crying arms.

Days later, a massive funeral is held in downtown Metropolis at a memorial resting place with people all over the world mourning the death of Superman. Lois notices Martha Kent, Clark's mother, at the funeral and, if she only suspected before, confirms Clark was Superman. What follows is a series of newscasts detailing the fallout of the death, people's reactions and the drastic increase in crime associated with his death. Lois, an emotional wreck, journeys to Smallville to meet with Martha, the only person in the world that loved and was loved by Superman, to help her through the grieving process. At this point, Jimmy Olsen is offered a job with a sleazy tabloid paper, which he accepts, in a pointless subplot that seems to have no reason for being in the movie.

After Lois returns from Smallville, she begins reporting again. While covering the Toyman, who has kidnapped a bus full of children, she immediately falls into old habits, jumping in and helping the kids escape, even though she no longer has Superman watching her back. Toyman notices her once the children have escaped and, after a few attempts to kill her, knocks the bus over the edge of the building, sending her to her supposed doom. At the same time, the ground at the Superman memorial erupts and, at the last second, Lois is saved by none other than Superman! After taking care of Toyman and turning him over to the shell shocked authorities, he flies the equally shocked Lois home. He mistakenly flies past her home, and seems shocked when she kisses him, before revealing that he seems to have forgotten many key details in his life.

With Superman's return, Metropolis is overcome with joy and Superman is making his presence felt all over town before ending up at Lex Luthor's home, where he seeks his sworn enemy out. He apparently stumbles into a red solar light room where a kryptonite gauntlet-wearing Lex Luthor beats him half to death before thanking him for doing a good job impersonating Superman. It is here that it is revealed Lex stole the body of Superman from his grave and created a clone from his blood, which was swabbed at the scene of his death. The clone has all of Superman's powers, morals and most of his memories, with the exception of non-public things like his relationship with Lois or his true identity, but is under the control of Lex.

Meanwhile, Lois and Martha begin questioning the authenticity of the 'new' Superman, wondering why he does not remember either of them and how he came back and so on. As if to affirm their suspicions, the current Superman sees a news report on the Toyman escaping, and how he had murdered a 4 year old girl, and quickly intercept the police taking him back into custody. Seizing the Toyman, he flies him high into the air and drops him, letting him fall to his death, slamming into a police car roof. At the same time, Lex is horrified to find that the real Superman's body has been stolen, which later was revealed to have been done by the Superman Robot, who detected Kal-El's heartbeat. At the Fortress of Solitude, the robot tells us that Superman entered a state of hibernation, his heart beating every couple weeks. After noticing the first one, he arrived too late to find the body stolen and had to wait for a second beat to relocate it at Lex's tower. With Superman's body recovered, the robot begins reviving him with Kryptonian technology and yellow sun light generators.

Meanwhile, Lex begins questioning the cloned Superman's actions of late, with his sudden dark streak and murder on his hands, and orders him to find the real Superman's body or be destroyed. The Superman clone takes the orders and leaves begrudgingly. Later, he disobeys orders and removes the lead encased kryptonite capsule Lex implanted in his brain. Around the same time, Lois recruits Jimmy back from the tabloid he was working for and begin investigating Lex's tower. After incapacitating Lex, they begin digging for clues until they find all the clone research and, eventually, the labs, where dozens of Superman clones, in various stages of development, are found, confirming the truth of a fake Superman.

During their search, Lex awakens and quickly pulls a gun on the duo of Jimmy and Lois. Before he can kill them, the Superman clone shows up, destroying Lex's gun before he can kill them. Lex, questioning his creation, threatens to kill him if he does not obey and it is here where it is revealed to Lex that the clone has removed the fail safe already. The clone destroys the lab and all the remaining clones before pursuing Lex. Lex, believing he will be safe from the clone, or at least on equal footing, in his red light strobe room with his kryptonite gauntlets finds out that the clone is far from stupid. The clone rips the entire lead shielded room out of Lex Corp Tower and throws it through several buildings, where it eventually falls to the ground and we are left to believe Lex is dead.

With the clone out of control, the army is brought in in a useless attempt to force him to surrender. After destroying most of the army, the now revived, but still weakened, Superman decides he must take action to stop this monster. Utilizing a yellow light-collecting black with silver S-emblem suit, the one true Superman arrives in Metropolis to stop the impostor and reclaim the mantle of Superman. As he is weakened from his hibernation, he tries to utilize Lex's old kryptonite gun to even the odds against the clone, but it is quickly dodged and the gun sent flying across the city, leaving the weaker Superman to face his full powered clone.

Lois and Jimmy, along with the rest of the city, see two Superman fighting and wonder which, if either, is the real one. Lois, making her decision after being completely shocked, decides to retrieve the kryptonite gun and help stop this clone menace herself. Meanwhile, the two Superman engage in an epic battle, resulting in nearly as much damage as the Doomsday fight. The clone quickly gains the upper hand with his superior strength. Our Superman is winded, and it is obvious he is struggling to keep up, while the clone barely looks phased after the titanic clashes.

The fight leads to the Superman memorial, where the two battle it out before Lois, carrying the kryptonite gun, evens the odds, blasting the clone with a direct hit from the gun. The clone quickly disposes of the gun, destroying it, but the damage is done and it is now an even fight. However, while the gun was destroyed, the kryptonite that powered it is still in its lead cartridge casing rolling in the rubble. After putting our Superman to the ground after a brief struggle, the clone raises the giant S-emblem memorial and prepares to crush Superman with it, finishing him for good. Before he can do so, Superman points out to the clone that he attached the kryptonite casing to him and promptly shoots it with his heat vision, causing it to explode in a large cloud of kryptonite gas. The clone falls, the memorial crumbling on top of him. Mirroring the death of our Superman, the clone rises from the cloud, stumbles out and asks Superman to look after Metropolis and the people before he, himself, dies in Superman's arms.

In the aftermath of the battle, the city re-embraces its fallen son. The scene shifts to a later time with Lois and Superman in her apartment. He points out she misspelled 'resurrection' and reveals he won the Smallville spelling bee competition when he was younger, in turn, revealing to her, finally, that he is actually Clark Kent, putting a cap on their relationship. The final scene of the movie reveals Lex Luthor is still alive, living on life support from machines, with Lex narrating, similar to how the movie began, with another ominous quote.

"If history has determined that gods can die, it has also proven they can return from the dead. It would seem you can't be destroyed after all, Superman. It would seem…"

Review

Let me start by saying that this movie is great. It is a movie any comic fan would want to see and does an excellent job of telling the death of Superman. Superman's battle with Doomsday is easily worth the price of the DVD or rental. In fact, I would go so far as to say the movie is worth buying for any comic fan based on the Superman / Doomsday fight alone. The battle truly feels epic and the futility of Superman's actions are emphasized with each attack and the monster shrugging them off to dish out more punishment on our hero. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't feel something when Superman slams Doomsday into the Earth and stumbles out of the rubble before dying in Lois' arms.

The movie's retelling of the Return of Superman, however, was not so great. The biggest mistake the movie makes is trying to fit all of the Death and Return of Superman into one movie. This forced them to cheapen the entire death of the character. In the comics, we had months before we ever saw Superman again with Funeral For A Friend and the build up leading to the Reign of Supermen. Here, Superman is dead for all of five minutes before the clone shows up. We find out Superman didn't die shortly after that and the entire first 30 minute epic battle with Doomsday is washed away and forgotten in less time than it took to take place or setup. It didn't hurt that everything after the supposed death was almost trivial. You literally know he cannot lose now. He already died and there's nothing major that could happen. The movie devolved into a generic action adventure cartoon. While it was not terrible, it was not the same as the first half of the movie and the quality of the story really shows. The final complaint for the Return is with Jimmy Olsen's plotline of leaving the Daily Planet. It made no sense, offered nothing to the story and had no pay off at the end. It was a waste of screen time that served absolutely no purpose.

Another problem I had with the movie was a small gripe with the Doomsday fight scene. Superman has ample opportunities to move Doomsday away from the city and all the people, yet continues fighting with him in downtown Metropolis. In fact, at one point, he opts to save Lois and Jimmy in a helicopter and throws Doomsday down into a building, causing the entire building to collapse, probably killing dozens of bystanders or security and cleaning staff left in the building. Even the final death, he flies into the upper atmosphere before plunging back to the Earth and landing smack in the middle of Metropolis, causing a huge crater and probably killing dozens or more people. A small, infintesimal change in his trajetory would have put him into the outskirts of town, saving those people. I know they wanted to use dramatic license for the final death, but it was just something odd that stuck out to me and the only detraction I can think of for the first half of the movie. Again, this is only a minor thing I noticed and does not really affect my enjoyment of the movie in the slightest.

The final complaint I have is with the art designs. While the animation is fluid and crisp and truly brings to life the Man of Steel and gives power to his slightest motions, the actual character designs and artistic direction is quite poor in comparison to the lower budget DC cartoon television shows, like JLU or even the 90's Superman cartoon. They use an odd outline on the faces to depict jaws, which is most noticable, and distracting, on Superman himself. While James Marsters' voice for Lex was perfect, the character is quite slim and suffers from the same jaw deficiency that Superman does. Considering Bruce Timm did the art for both the TV series and this movie, I find it hard to understand why he chose to differentiate from the superior versions he helped design already.

On the voice acting side of things, just about every character is voiced perfectly. There are some complaints for Anne Heche's Lois on the internet, but I cannot figure out why. She did an excellent job here. Adam Baldwin's Superman is servicible. It is not overly great or terrible either. It does the job and he depicts a very good Superman. James Marsters steals the show here though with his Lex Luthor and he will be the definitive Lex voice for me from now on.

Animation

As I said earlier, the animation is incredible. While I disagree with the designs, everything in motion is perfect. Every blow between Superman and Doomsday, and later his clone, are beautifully animated and the DVD transfer is nearly perfect from what I can tell. This is top notch superhero animation and you will be hard pressed to find anyone complain about the actual animation of this film.

Comic Book Comparison

There were some very odd changes from the comic book that made little sense to me. Things like the Reign of Supermen being dropped are fine by me. They are far too complicated to explain in the limited time frame or even do justice. Same goes for the whole Lex Luthor garbage that was going on in the comics at the time with Lex II really being the original Lex's clone after he died of kryptonite poisoning. Ya, it was actually much more convolted than that and I'm surprised I managed to condense it to one sentence.

What I'm complaining about though is stuff like the Jimmy Olsen plotline, where he leaves the Daily Planet and joins a trashy tabloid, or things like Clark's father never being seen or mentioned and assumed dead by the viewer, which never happened in the comics. Little things like that are very odd and I honestly can't think of a reason for the changes.

Another oddity is the timeframe. The fight takes place at night in the movie, yet in the day during the comics. Is this some animation related change? Is night time easier to animate or colour? I have no idea why such a small thing was changed, but it was instantly noticable for me.

The last major difference I can think of is the death of Superman and Doomsday. I assume dramatically, flying into the atmosphere and having a giant craterring explosion, is a much more fulfilling and believable death than the two just randomly connecting on each other and killing one another, as seen in the comics.

From a comic standpoint though, the movie does an excellent job staying faithful. Some creative liberties are taken, but even the clone of Superman seems to be modelled off of Superboy, who was a clone, with Cyborg Superman's appearance and sinister motives and finally with the Eradicator's killing and ruthless methods. So while it does not accurately depict the Reign, I think it does an excellent job condensing it for movie consumption.

DVD Extras

Many reviews of this movie ignore the plethora of extras that came with the DVD. Some of these are almost worth the price of the DVD alone and are definitely worth renting to see.

The first extra is a commentary, featuring Timm, Capizzi, Romano, and several others. Timm, Romana and Capizzi dominate most of the commentary, but the other members are never left out and everyone gets a chance to have their say. The dynamic between Timm and Capizzi shines through and it's great hearing them discuss the various things they did not see eye-to-eye on.

Next up is easily the best extra, the hour-long documentary Requiem & Rebirth: Superman Lives!. It is a thorough and complete documentary, detailing the entire process, from conception to completion, of the death of Superman in comics back in the 90's. Many great creators that were involved in the event, including Jurgens, Stern and more, are featured here and it's great to see them weigh in on the events leading up to, and including, the death. It even goes into the reasons for the death and how they post-poned the in-comic wedding due to the live version TV show, Lois & Clark. It's a great documentary and, as far as extras go, it doesn't get any better than this. The only complaint is the lack of Superboy due to the ridiculous lawsuit currently going on over the rights to the character. Everyone else is featured, and while they talk about him in general, they never once show him.

Finally, you get an amazing Justice League: The New Frontier 10 minute teaser. It is a great sneak peak at the upcoming film with never before seen artwork and finished animation and much better than the ones currently floating around YouTube. Another incredible extra that makes owning this disc a must.

The remainder of the extras are standard fair and barely worth mentioning. Stuff like vignettes on the voice actors and random trailers from other Warner films. Decent, but nothing major worth discussing. Someone should like it though, so I thought I'd mention them to be thorough.

Conclusion

Despite my complaints, this movie is a must see for any comic fan. The fight with Doomsday is more than enough to make this movie worth it. Add in the incredible extras, especially the hour long documentary, and this is a no brainer purchase for most comic fans. Great job all around. Takes the best of the comic, and with some minor qualms on my part, combines it with new material to make an incredible movie experience. Do yourself a favour and rent this the next time you're at Blockbuster or even buy it if you have the extra cash. I'm not much of a Superman fan, but this is definitely a must own film for me and even with the changes from the actual comic, the movie is still a great experience that can't be missed.

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