My Review of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies · 9:58pm January 27th
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” released in 2009. Now this movie was actually pretty interesting to look at; not only did it serve as a another Superman/Batman story but also as a movie where both main characters work together instead of fighting each other like most stories do. That alone made this movie much more unique, in my opinion.
This film is about Lex Luthor becoming the new president of the United States. He later frames Superman for a crime he didn’t commit and sends his own team of superheroes to take him and Batman down. The duo have to look out for each other and discover Lex’s true intentions aside from finding a way to destroy an incoming asteroid.
I must say that after watching this movie twice, I admire the way they adapted this “Public Enemies” storyline from the comic book series and did everything in their power to remain faithful to the source material. It was simple enough to follow along, and they did a good job showing us how evil and dangerous Luthor was.
Seriously, they did him so much justice in this movie. Luthor is once again portrayed as a cold, calculated, and narcissistic villain as he should be; even better, Clancy Brown reprises his villainous role as the character. He stole every scene he had and proved himself to be a formidable force from start to finish.
The animation looks pretty good, to be honest. Although it pales in comparison to the animation of most other DC animated projects, it still holds up and paints its universe with its own unique style.
The voice acting was likewise pretty well done. The late Kevin Conroy never slipped up as the Dark Knight, and they even got Tim Daly to voice the Man of Steel here. The way these men interacted with each other showcases their genuine friendship and how long they’ve known each other. They got each other’s backs and worked together to save Metropolis.
The action was even pleasing to watch. They didn’t feel too long as it knew when to stop unlike “Superman: Brainiac Attacks”.
The only issues I have with this animated film are the pacing and most of its throw-away characters. It felt a little too fast for my liking, and I would’ve liked it if it had about twenty more minutes to flesh out its other characters. Speaking of which, most of the characters were just there for the sake of the plot—some of them didn’t even need to be in it.
For example, the scenes involving Major Force felt forced and unnecessary. The plot had enough drama and conflict already, so making him so angry and stubborn than the others only for him to eventually be comatose felt shoehorned into the story. I didn’t really care about him or the other characters.
Other than that, this was a pretty great adaptation of the storyline that remained faithful to the characters of Batman and Superman, made Lex a force to be reckoned with, and taught firm lessons of truth ultimately prevailing over lies and deception. With that said, I will give this a 9/10. I recommend you see this for yourself to understand how iconic Batman and Superman’s friendship truly is.
Peace!
Metallo's design in that movie was also my personal favourite look for him, and he looked like a more macho Terminator which was neat.