Superman and Batman: bad guys? What madness is this? Well in a world where Lex Luthor is President, anything’s possible. That’s the background premise of “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies”, the most recent D.C. direct-to-DVD movie starring their two biggest icons.
If you’ve seen D.C.’s recent spate of DVD movies, you probably won’t be surprised that “Public Enemies” has no interest in regurgitating the origins of its characters. The filmmakers assume you already know who Superman and Batman are, and it’s a justifiable assumption: there seems little chance of Joe Blow Non-Comic Book Reader picking up the DVD. As a result, the film jumps right into its storyline: Luthor is President, and has all but outlawed superheroes except those working for the U.S. Government, i.e. him. Superman and Batman remain the lone hero holdouts. The front and center storylines of “Public Enemies” has a giant meteorite composed of Kryptonite headed right for Earth, and Superman being framed for murder by Luthor.
The script for “Public Enemies” is by Stan Berkowitz, and is adapted from a story arc in the “Superman/Batman” comics by scribes Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. For the most part Berkowitz has done a faithful adaptation, though with several huge detours, additions, and subtractions. The meteorite storyline remains, but the murder frame-up on Supes is new, though curiously Lex Luthor’s motivations remain just as muddled in the movie as they were in the comics for me. We always knew Baldy had a grudge against Superman the size of Mt. Everest, but the whole Kryptonite meteorite plot always seemed overly McGuffin-ish to. Adding the complications of Superman’s frame-up also seems a tad unnecessary, especially in a 60-minute movie.
The first thing you notice about “Public Enemies” is the animation. The characters look like they were designed by a 12-year old kid who hasn’t progressed pass the thick bulging (and lumps upon lumps) of muscled bodies, the result of which has all the male characters looking identical except for whatever silly paste-on costume they’re wearing. The female superheroes are represented by Power Girl (no Wonder Woman in sight), whose ample bosom provides some sly adult humor. The fresh-faced Superman looks like a teenager from a Charles Shultz Peanuts comic strip playing superhero, which is a tad disturbing since Tim Daly is voicing him. Kevin Conroy, a longtime Batman voice actor, returns as Batman. Overall, the animation in “Public Enemies” is probably the least impressive of the recent spate of D.C. animated movies, coming across as rushed and overly generic.
Fortunately the action in “Public Enemies” is excellent, and director Sam Liu, who has directed episodes of The Batman and the Hulk vs. Thor segment of Marvel’s “Hulk vs.” DVD, has a great eye for comic book carnage. The movie is short, with just over an over of running time, but Liu and Berkowitz manage to pack in a hell of a lot of action. Every five minutes or so of screentime features Superman and Batman punching their way through some costume goon or wayward superhero, closing with Superman taking on a supersuit-outfitted Lex Luthor, who decides to finally stop with the cheap murder frame-jobs and try to strangle Superman to death himself, something, he boasts, he has wanted to do every single waking morning. The man has issues, in case you haven’t figured it out by now.
Considering its fan-heavy elements, no doubt comic book readers will get more out of “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” than the average viewer. The camaraderie between Superman and Batman is really the movie’s strength. The fact that this very human man and this very Godlike alien have, despite their vast differences somehow managed to become not just friends, but actually best friends make for an interesting dynamic. The original source material, with its dueling captions told from both men’s perspective further pushes this point home, but I thought Berkowitz’s script translated the unspoken bond over to the movie just fine, even without the benefit of floating captions.
“Public Enemies” doesn’t quite rank as high as “Justice League: The New Frontier”, which is still the best of the direct-to-DVD movies D.C. has produced. Although I did enjoy “Public Enemies” much more than “Green Lantern: First Flight”, which unfortunately isn’t very hard to top. I have issues with the animation, but there’s no denying that the filmmakers took every advantage of the medium to showcase their story. It’s hard to keep up with all the D.C. direct-to-DVD movies at the rate the company is putting them out (about once or twice a year), but if I had to guess, I would say that the films are separate entities, and don’t necessarily exist in the same universe, so in that respect familiarity with the other movies are unnecessary to enjoy “Public Enemies”. Though to be sure, knowing your comic books certainly help.
Sam Liu (director) / Stan Berkowitz (screenplay), Jeph Loeb , Ed McGuinness (comic book)
CAST: Xander Berkeley … Nathaniel Adam / Captain Atom (voice)
Clancy Brown … Lex Luthor (voice)
LeVar Burton … Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning (voice)
Ricardo Chavira … Clifford Zmeck / Major Force (voice)
Kevin Conroy … Bruce Wayne / Batman (voice)
Tim Daly … Clark Kent / Superman (voice)
John C. McGinley … John Corben / Metallo (voice)
