Review: Superman/Batman – Public Enemies

Warner Bros has done a great job of leveraging two corporate strengths – a seasoned animation division and a library of iconic DC Comics super-heroes – in a series of straight-to-home-video movies. While Warners has been producing DC Comics movies for decades, this particular batch is notable for two reasons: the stories mostly come direct from recent DC Comics plotlines, and all the movies have been rated PG-13 (usually for violence and language). Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is the third such film for 2009, following Wonder Woman and Green Lantern: First Flight, and the sixth in the run since 2007.

Straight from DC’s ongoing “Superman/Batman” comic, Public Enemies is a 67 minute adaptation of a 2003 story arc from writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuiness. Back then, the DC Universe was in the middle of an interesting hook: Lex Luthor had recently been elected President of the United States. After months of President Luthor, Public Enemies was the storyline that dropped the veil of Luthor’s benevolence and re-exposed him as a super-villain. While I read the story when it was originally printed, it has been long enough that I no longer recall the nitworthy specifics, so I feel I can come to the animated version with an open mind!

THE SUMMARY

Before the credits roll, Public Enemies has an intriguing problem: how do you make the audience believe that Good Americans could elect Lex Luthor to the Presidency? The movie ups the ante by briefly showing an America turned destitute, devolved to martial law. Luthor’s aggressive platform is seen as an outsider solution. And by the way, the movie is very clear that he is running as a third party candidate!

One of the planks in his campaign is that super-heroism has run amuck, and that his administration will rein in the heroes. Some good guys (and bad guys) side with Luthor, chiefly out of patriotism since he is the President. While this may seem derivative of Marvel Comics’ “Civil War” event, remember that this “Superman/Batman” story hit pulp three years earlier. And the entire concept is echoed from DC’s own “America vs the Justice Society” miniseries from 1985, where the JSA disbands rather than submit to a government-forced unmasking. Regardless, Public Enemies does not go as deep as “Civil War,” focusing primarily on President Lex’s call to have Superman and Batman arrested as enemies of the state.

But why would people accept Superman in particular as a public enemy? Luthor engineers a frame-up, centered around the murder of Kryptonite-fueled villain Metallo, of all people. And when a massive Kryptonite meteor is discovered on a collision course with Earth, Luthor leverages that as the reason Superman turned murderer: the incoming Kryptonite is driving Supes nuts.

Now, with less than a week before the meteor strikes, Superman and Batman must find a way to stop it while simultaneously evading capture from both villains and the heroes under Luthor’s thumb.

THE LOOK

After years and years of the smooth line economy of the various DC television series – from Batman: The Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited – it is disconcerting to see the characters presented in the muscles-on-muscles style of Ed McGuiness. While the animated models do not quite maintain McGuiness’s outlandish proportions as seen in the comics, they do have a Masters of the Universe beefiness that reminds you this isn’t just a lost League. Captain Atom in particular benefits from the McGuiness body design, but you can see Ed’s touch in everyone’s face… especially in the male eyebrows and jawline. I actually wish they had pushed the McGuiness vibe further for an even more distinctive look.

Although his Amanda Waller probably takes the “cartoony” angle too far. She seems especially out of place among the others, like she just walked in from a Garfield comic strip.

THE ACTION

With a PG-13 rating to fill up, you can count on some brutal fisticuffs. The Superman vs Metallo fight is a monster, and it is followed up by a series of great super-hero fight scenes. While much of the movie has Superman and Batman squaring off against Captain Atom and his goon squad (Black Lightning, Katana, Major Force and Power Girl, followed later by Captain Marvel and Hawkman), there is a great villain melee that is packed with fan-service cameos. Bane! Killer Frost! Gorilla Grodd! Girder! Deadshot! Solomon Grundy! Giganta! Mongul! (The last voice credited to DC animation godfather Bruce Timm, although it’s nothing but grunts and moans!)

I loved that Starfire does the thing where she whips energy balls out of both hands, which I believe to be an invention of the Teen Titans cartoon and not anything specific to her comic appearances!

What is compelling about the fights is that they are almost completely silent. There’s no flip commentary or stage-direction-style narration. It’s just punching vs throwing vs shooting vs leaping. Not even the everpresent heroic “I… must… defeat… you” junk! The lack of dialogue here is very subtle, but it makes the whole effect darker and far more tense.

THE VOICE WORK

While the visual style may be different, the key voices are the same. Returning to breathe life to the characters they worked on in previous DCU animated series are Tim Daly (Superman), Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Clancy Brown (Luthor). They all perform to high expectations; their versions are more or less definitive by now.

While C.C.H. Pounder and Allison Mack have plenty to do as Amanda Waller and Power Girl, respectively, there are some cast choices that seem hardly worth the effort. John McGinley (Scrubs) has no more than three lines as Metallo, and LeVar Burton has maybe one line as Black Lightning. On a previous DC movie, I watched a preview extra of Public Enemies where McGinley was interviewed. He said more about his role than he does in his role. Strange decisions indeed to bring on name actors for roles that are barely there.

THE FINALE

At just over an hour, Public Enemies is tailor made for the inevitable 90-minute TV slot on Cartoon Network. I think there are a couple areas that could have been expanded to add a little more content – like perhaps making us think Captain Atom has turned heel, for example – but what is there is solid, fast and fun. I am very impressed that the movie retained the comic’s almost-ridiculous ending, where an unknown character comes out of nowhere to help save the day. (And what did DC ever do with that guy, anyway? I loved him during his few appearances, but I fear he may have been tossed aside during some super-event.)

The movie’s best moments are what makes the “Superman/Batman” comic great: when it becomes a buddy picture between two unlikely friends. There are several choice conversations where you see the unique relationship between Superman and Batman. They joke together. They get on each other’s nerves. They have a shared history. (At one point, Batman says “It’s your funeral.” Superman quips “Already had one.”)

We’ve had a lot of Superman and definitely a lot of Batman in animated form. But nothing focuses on the pair like Public Enemies. Separated from the often dry parliament of the Justice League, it’s great to see two beloved characters stand alone against both heroes and villains.

THE MEDIA

Public Enemies follows the usual release pattern: DVD movie, two-disk DVD special edition, and single-disk blu-ray. The two-disk DVD and the blu-ray include a free Digital Copy, but, bafflingly, it is Windows Media only. Wonder Woman includes an iTunes (Mac or Windows) option, but Green Lantern and Public Enemies do not. It would be great if Warners could standardize this, so we know what “Digital Copy” means on every box without having to check the fine print. Windows Media quality kinda sucks, and iTunes/iPod/iPhone is so ubiquitous that you have to wonder if there are simply political reasons for the Digital Copies bouncing back and forth like this.

The bonus features include two episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, a look at DC Comics’ Blackest Night event, and old “previews” of previous DC animated films. Public Enemies has the first look at the first movie for 2010, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Based on an unused Dwayne McDuffie script for the cancelled Unlimited, this movie pits the League against the Crime Syndicate. I was a bit meh towards this until I heard James Woods doing the voice of Owlman.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies releases next week on September 29.