Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm checking out a movie from 2010. That movie is "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam".
And with that title alone, I have summarized the entire plot of this movie to you. We have Shazam and Superman teaming together to take on Black Adam. Now, you would think that this is all what this movie's going to offer, however...that's not really the case, and I'll get to why in a second. I should mention that I had forgotten that this movie even existed right up until last year, when I stumbled upon it at one of my local video stores and I decided to pick it up. I mean, after all, it was a DC animated movie that I hadn't seen yet, and I had to pick it up based on that fact alone.
Now, there's something about this particular movie that peeked my interest. According to the back of the DVD case, it advertises 3 extra short films as bonus features. So upon noticing this, I decided to do the scant bit of research on this movie, and I found out something rather interesting. You see, this DVD was released as part of the "DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection". Which were basically featured as short films that were released as bonus features on plenty of other DC's direct-to-video animated movies. And I found out that this movie, the one features Superman and Shazam fighting Black Adam, is only about 24 minutes long. Now this is important to note, because in order for a movie to be covered for Reaction & Review, the minimum runtime for any movie has to be at least 40 minutes long. And I was thinking about booting this movie off the schedule when I found out about this.
However...there is a way for me to cover this movie. You see, I went ahead and checked the special features for this DVD, and there is an option where you can watch all four short movies in one go. Basically, it'll feature the main title film, "Green Arrow", "Jonah Hex", and "The Spectre". And all of this will hopefully combine into the 63 minute runtime that this DVD was advertising. So basically, I'm gonna be covering what's essentially an anthology film of sorts. So, this will prove to be very interesting. I'm certainly hoping that all 4 short films will end up being good. But the only way I'm gonna find out for myself, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam".
3 minutes later
OK, I gotta dumb question here. So, I'm going to assume this is Billy Batson. Why is he living in such a barren apartment? He only has, like, a few shirts with the exact same color, he has plenty of open space in his apartment, and...OK, and apparently he has rats living with him as well...interesting. I didn't think Billy had this much empty space in his apartment. It just seems really odd to me.
6 minutes later
OK, I wasn't expecting the Monument Tower to completely collapse onto Black Adam like that. That was certainly cool.
6 minutes later
You know, guys, I am going to say that this movie, well short movie anyway, has some really solid animation. But every time that I'm seeing a CG vehicle of sorts being thrown looks hideous. Like, this is some REALLY ugly-looking CG, too. I understand that this has been kind of a problem with these direct-to-videos DC films, but this scene is solidifying that. I'm hoping that the other short films won't have this sort of problem, but somehow, I'm not holding any hopes for that.
4 minutes later
All right, I have another stupid question. So, Black Adam just destroyed this dam, which is causing the flow of water that's heading towards the city. Superman has tried all of twice now to use the terrain around him to stop the ongoing stream of water, and failed on both accounts. Why doesn't he just use his freeze breath to stop it instead? I mean, it would make much more sense to try and freeze the water instead. At least, to me, it would make the most sense.
2 minutes later
Well...I guess Superman's not as stupid as I thought he was. Apparently, he DID use his freeze breath to stop the water. Well, at least the movie was smart enough to address that, so I gotta give the writers some credit there for addressing my complaints.
9 minutes later
So, the Spectre can make mannequins come to life and make them like zombies...all right. That's sorta cool. And these, I guess, zombies look kinda creepy, too, I gotta say.
4 minutes later
OK, guys, you know, as cool as this all is, I'm kinda hoping we get more of a story here. Because, so far, this story hasn't really gone anywhere, and I'm hoping it picks up soon.
3 minutes later
Wait, that's it? That's how this second story ends?! That was anti-climatic as shit! Seriously, that second story sucked. I'm kinda hoping the other two short films are better, because that second story really sucked.
7 minutes later
All right, guys, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that this story is already a huge improvement over that shitty second story. But then again, I do like Green Arrow as a character, so there is that. The bad news, however, and I didn't think that this was possible, the CG is worse here than what was in the first story. That is a feat in and of itself, guys. I just wanted to mention that.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam". And holy shit, was that last story ever so good. I'm gonna go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. I'm just gonna say this now, the best story of this collection was easily "Jonah Hex". And I'll get to why a little bit later on. But for now, I should get into the review proper.
I'm gonna start with writing. And I'm gonna approach the writing in a similar fashion to when I reviewed "Memories" a couple of years ago. I'm gonna start with the weakest story of the bunch, which was "The Spectre". I will say that it did start off kinda interesting. Because we had this story about this guy named Jim Corrigan, who is a detective that is investigating a movie producer's death. And it turns out that it was the Spectre that was behind it all. Now, when I was watching this short film, I thought this movie was going to take a different approach. Because, where the other three stories each followed a different superhero, I thought that we were going to follow the Spectre as a villain. And that we would to get to see how Corrigan was going to take down the Spectre once he tracks him down. However...that's not really the case. And I'm gonna have to spoil this story, because it didn't really make a lot of sense. Basically, Corrigan IS the Spectre, and he's basically killing off these movie producers because...reasons, I guess. And that's all he does throughout this entire short. Which isn't really an interesting story, but I'll get to why in a second. Now, I will say that his powers are kinda cool. I kinda like how he can turn inanimate objects, such as mannequins, into zombies. I thought that was really cool. And I also liked how he was able to turn this car, that one of the movie producers was driving, into it's own version of Christine. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, "Christine" was one of the many films that John Carpenter made, which was about a killer car. I don't know anything else beyond that because I haven't seen "Christine" yet. But I am, at least, familiar with that car. Back on to my point, though. So, the Spectre turns this car into a killer, and basically kills this other movie producer. And that's kinda it. Oh, and there's a twist that happens towards the end of that short, but it really doesn't work, and I think I know why. And this is gonna be a running theme for this entire anthology, because the runtime on most of these short films are what holds these movies down a bit. Also, I'm not totally sure if this story in particular was trying to parody either the noir style of films or Grindhouse. I'm not totally sure, because the movie was kinda uneven on one of those two genres. But anyway, this story ended up being complete shit. There was no character development whatsoever, and it just ended up being a waste of time.
So, since we have that story out of the way, what about the rest of the films? I'm gonna save the main title film for last, and I'm gonna quickly talk about both of the other two short films. I'm gonna start with "Green Arrow". Green Arrow's story is a very straight-forward plot. We have Green Arrow, who is trying to meet with Black Canary at the airport. And he is going to try and propose to her, once meets her. But then, our story kicks in. Which involves a villain of his known as Merlyn, who he, along with his gang, are trying to assassinate this kid, who's basically royalty, because she is a queen. And throughout this entire story, Green Arrow ends up protecting this kid, while trying to go through the many sections of the airport. And the story here is perfectly fine. There's no stupid ending, and our characters are rather likable. I mean, OK granted, it's not something that's going to set the world on fire, but it is a rather decent story. Part of the reason why is that, as I stated earlier, I like Green Arrow as a character. I do remember watching some episodes of "Justice League: Unlimited" where it featured him in certain episodes, and they were really good. So, I did enjoy that story quite a bit. But then we come to what is, at least in my opinion, the best story of this anthology, which is "Jonah Hex". I think part of the reason why I like this story so much is that it's basically a Western. And you guys know how much I really enjoy Westerns, so I was able to get into this story no problem. Basically, this story involves our title character, who is after a killer known as Red. Red ends up getting killed by this whore, and her two henchman, and they end up dumping the body shortly afterwards. And Jonah Hex is there to collect the bounty from them. The only real negative to this story is that, as I stated earlier, the runtime is just far too short. Now, I will say that the ending of this story was awesome. I just wish that it would've been longer. And it kinda makes me yearn for a full length animated film dedicated to this character. Because there is so much here that they could work with. And I'll be honest, I didn't really feel like I was watching something that came out of the DC Universe. I felt like I was watching a completely different genre of film that was animated by Warner Bros. I hope that, someday, we do get an animated film dedicated to "Jonah Hex", because this story was just that awesome, even if the story was very short. So yeah, I can easily say that "Jonah Hex" was the best short film from this anthology.
But now that I've gotten all of those other films out of the way, let's finally talk about the main feature short film that this DVD advertises on the front cover. How does this film fare out? Well, this entire short film is basically an origin story for Billy Batson becoming Captain Marvel, or Shazam as DC would later stick with because I think there's some sort of legal issues involving the name "Captain Marvel". But I'm not gonna get into that here. And I will say that the origin story here is perfectly fine. It does a really good job on developing Billy Batson's character, as he ends up being the most likable character in the entire film. As for Black Adam, we do learn a little bit about him, as he use to inherit the powers of Shazam, but later ended up abusing it's power, and thus he got banished to another dimension. And so, the wizard Shazam ends up giving the powers to Billy Batson due to his good nature as a person. Now while all of that works fine with it's given runtime, it also sacrifices character development for Black Adam. I mean OK, yes, we do get to hear a little bit of Black Adam's background, but I kinda wish his character was a little more fleshed out. By itself, Black Adam's character ends up being kinda flat. And had this film not got stuck with a short runtime, then I think it would've been great. Now, mind you, this short film isn't bad by any means, it's just that it could've been so much more. I think if this movie were given a longer runtime of around 70 or 80 minutes, then we could've gotten a potentially amazing film. And I do know that there is a live-action film dedicated to the character of Black Adam, which I believe is gonna star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Black Adam, in the works. I don't know if it's STILL in the works, or if it was post-poned, I don't know. But that it is what I've heard. But anyway, that's just me talking about a live-action movie that hasn't existed as of yet. Still though, what we got here for this story is still rather solid. It's just, again, the one thing that brings most of these short films down is the runtime. I say 'most', because the only one that works really well with it's short runtime is "Green Arrow". That story had a perfect runtime, and I don't think you could've done anything else to stretch that story any further. But as for the others, they could've definitely benefited from being longer. Especially "The Spectre". I really think that you could rewrite that entire story, and give us something else that would've been much more interesting rather than just kill a couple of movie producers, and call it a fucking day.
Now, beyond all of that, the stories here, minus "The Spectre", are still really solid in their own right. But with what I've said about these short films given runtime's, it also could've done more. Now, what about the acting? Well, this is one thing that I can totally give all four short films. The acting in all of these shorts were fantastic. There are two noticeable voice actors I have to make mention of. One of them is George Newbern. He reprises his role here as Superman from both "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited". And he still does an amazing job here. The other noticeable actor that I have to make mention of is the actor who plays as Shazam, the wizard. He is voiced by legendary actor James Garner. And when I was doing the small amount of research going into this movie, I found out that this was, sadly, James Garner's last role before he had passed away. And I will say that he does a really solid job here, for the short time that his character is in the movie. And that goes for everyone else. And I'm even going to include Steve Blum, for the very, VERY short time that he's in this anthology. Specifically, he has a few lines in the Green Arrow story. And thankfully, they're all very short. Because if he had any longer roles, I probably think that he would've dragged that story down a bit. But beyond him, the acting from everyone was great, so I can't really say anything bad about most of the acting, because it was just that good.
The animation for these short films is really solid, the art style is great, and the color palettes are used very well. All four of these movies look really good, and that's something that DC and Warner Bros. really excel at, when it comes to these direct-to-video films. However...that being said, there is also something else that is very consistent with a lot of these movies that I have seen. And that is the usage of CG. Oh boy...where the hell do I even begin with this one? You know, I've commented in the past on how bad the CG looked in most of these direct-to-video animated films, but this one, I swear to god, has some of the WORST CG ever implemented into these films. And all of it has to do with the vehicles. I don't know what it is with these particular animated films, but it seems like DC and Warner Bros. always fuck up on the CG vehicles. I thought it looked really bad in the first story, which was "Shazam!", because the two instances in that story were when Billy Batson had to travel underground in a subway train. And the CG subway train looked fucking hideous. And it didn't get any better when we get to see Black Adam throw vehicle after vehicle at Superman. Now, I really thought that was the worst of it when it came to the CG for that short film. But somehow, "Green Arrow" actually topped itself by presenting even WORSE CG. And it happens during a scene when Merlyn is shooting arrows at Green Arrow, as he's hiding behind one of those long roller cars that you see people driving around at airports. And that vehicle looked so awful in CG, that it stands out, and it stands out like a motherfucker! The CG for those two short films looks so bad that it would've been laughed out of a PlayStation 1 cutscene. That is a terrifying thought, especially considering that these short films came out in 2010. Hell, the CG would've looked terrible if it came out in the year 2000, much less 2010! So...yeah, the CG is fucking shit, and I'm still shocked that this is still a problem that DC and Warner Bros. haven't figured out yet for these animated films.
Sound-mix is here is really good. Music, at least for the score, works really well. My favorite score in this film has to go to "Jonah Hex" once again. But that might be because most of it is something that I would hear out of a spaghetti Western that would've come out in the late 60's to early 70's. So yeah, the score here is really good overall, with "Jonah Hex" edging itself out a little bit.
So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam"? Um...I would say that if you're someone who is new to these DC direct-to-video animated films, and you want to start off with some of their shorter films, then sure. I could recommend it to those people. However, if you own the short films that were also released on many of these direct-to-video animated films, be it on DVD or Blu-ray, then there's not much of a reason for you to get this, unless if you want to see the main feature short film that's advertised on the front cover. Otherwise, I would probably just skip it. However, seeing as how I don't have any of these short films on the direct-to-video animated films that I own, I think it was still worth getting. Especially knowing that 3 out of the 4 four films from this collection were really good. Again, with the one lone exception being "The Spectre". However, every other short film is still worth watching again, and I'm happy that I'm able to own this film for my DVD collection. Now...seeing as how "Jonah Hex" was so good, I'm kinda in the mood to watch another Western. Let's see...I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "The War Wagon". That one is a really good Western, so I'm gonna go ahead and do that.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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