Superman Red Son is a DC animated feature based on Mark Millar's comic books series of the same name. To be perfectly honest I haven't read the comics yet and so I am reviewing this movie purely on its own merit, although I know for a fact that a lot of creative liberties were taken with this movie in moving away from the comics' original story line.
I had a hard time rating this one but eventually gave it a 6 out of 10 and even then it felt forced. I will say, however, that overall this was movie was enjoyable. Disappointing at the same time but enjoyable.
In terms of positives, I am extremely happy to see Bruce Timm back working on DC animated features. I really do hope this isn't just a one-off and he will be working on other DC projects over again and again. You're always guaranteed a level of quality with any given DC animated movie with him linked in somehow, and Red Son is certainly no exception. Great animation, great designs and great voice acting by most of the cast. Jason Issac especially was surprisingly spot on with his performance. I personally thought he'd too deep and regal a voice for Superman but he absolutely proved me wrong. This is despite the fact that his Russian accent wasn't really very Russian sounding, call me picky. Also the Batman opposing Superman angle was very nicely executed in the movie and created some interesting tensions between main the characters.
Where the movie becomes problematic: gender politics aside (and there are plenty of points I can raise here but won't), I think it's always problematic when writers tie in comics storylines to actual historical events or, as in this case, actual historical personalities. This probably comes directly from the comic books' storyline, so really you can't blame the movie makers, but Superman killing off Stalin comes off as a bit weird if not disrespectful to history. My biggest issue personally was seeing Superman turn into a dictator and then actually a momentary villain. I appreciate the alternative reality premise of the whole movie, but the logic wasn't very convincing. Also, Superman throwing an unprovoked punch at Wonder Woman came off as childish and really didn't make sense in the context of the movie. Lex Luthor marrying Lois Lane was probably not a good idea, although again I think this stems from the comic book's storyline. The whole Lex - Lois relationship comes off as too smug and frankly too irritating. Leaving Superman as single with no love interest didn't work for me and I think a lot of hard-core fans would take issue with this as well. I generally love Diedrich Bader in everything he's ever done. His Luthor was far too suave for my liking.
All in all, this was an interesting take on Superman. Alternate reality in the truest sense, packing in as much of the familiar Superman lore we all know and love, with added twists here and there most of which were very welcome. However, as enjoyable as this was, it had its down moments. As a result I really do not recommend getting the movie on DVD or BluRay, there's very little in terms of value-added material on there to justify the costs. You're better off renting it on whichever platform you're using. It's only worth watching once or twice.
I had a hard time rating this one but eventually gave it a 6 out of 10 and even then it felt forced. I will say, however, that overall this was movie was enjoyable. Disappointing at the same time but enjoyable.
In terms of positives, I am extremely happy to see Bruce Timm back working on DC animated features. I really do hope this isn't just a one-off and he will be working on other DC projects over again and again. You're always guaranteed a level of quality with any given DC animated movie with him linked in somehow, and Red Son is certainly no exception. Great animation, great designs and great voice acting by most of the cast. Jason Issac especially was surprisingly spot on with his performance. I personally thought he'd too deep and regal a voice for Superman but he absolutely proved me wrong. This is despite the fact that his Russian accent wasn't really very Russian sounding, call me picky. Also the Batman opposing Superman angle was very nicely executed in the movie and created some interesting tensions between main the characters.
Where the movie becomes problematic: gender politics aside (and there are plenty of points I can raise here but won't), I think it's always problematic when writers tie in comics storylines to actual historical events or, as in this case, actual historical personalities. This probably comes directly from the comic books' storyline, so really you can't blame the movie makers, but Superman killing off Stalin comes off as a bit weird if not disrespectful to history. My biggest issue personally was seeing Superman turn into a dictator and then actually a momentary villain. I appreciate the alternative reality premise of the whole movie, but the logic wasn't very convincing. Also, Superman throwing an unprovoked punch at Wonder Woman came off as childish and really didn't make sense in the context of the movie. Lex Luthor marrying Lois Lane was probably not a good idea, although again I think this stems from the comic book's storyline. The whole Lex - Lois relationship comes off as too smug and frankly too irritating. Leaving Superman as single with no love interest didn't work for me and I think a lot of hard-core fans would take issue with this as well. I generally love Diedrich Bader in everything he's ever done. His Luthor was far too suave for my liking.
All in all, this was an interesting take on Superman. Alternate reality in the truest sense, packing in as much of the familiar Superman lore we all know and love, with added twists here and there most of which were very welcome. However, as enjoyable as this was, it had its down moments. As a result I really do not recommend getting the movie on DVD or BluRay, there's very little in terms of value-added material on there to justify the costs. You're better off renting it on whichever platform you're using. It's only worth watching once or twice.