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Review: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)
This movie wasn’t that interesting. It was a pretty straightforward good guys vs. bad guys story with little nuance and lots of tropes. The characters weren’t compelling. There are good DC animated movies, this is not one of the better ones.
Spoilers.
Story
Lex Luthor became the president and he of course wanted to use his power to eradicate the world of superheroes, particularly Superman his nemesis. Luthor framed Superman and Batman for the death of Metallo, putting a bounty on their heads. At the same time, there was a meteor heading towards earth. Superman and Batman fought off the heroes and villains that wanted to capture him for bounty. At the same time, they also worked to destroying the meteorite. At the end, Superman and Batman defeated Luthor and convinced the world they did not murder Metallo, and also destroyed the meteor.
There’s nothing wrong with a straightforward story, but the characters also seemed incredibly tropey, as did the story. Superman and Batman were fine, they were watered down versions of their usual selves. But Luthor’s descent into power hungry madness felt tropey and not interesting.
Production
The direction wasn’t the best I’d seen. The fighting was okay but not that exciting or eye-catching. The drawing was also kind of weird and oddly proportioned at times.
Characters
As mentioned, Superman and Batman were watered down versions of their normal selves. They were good friends who knew each other well and would help each other through thick and thin. Superman was the righteous one, and Batman was the logical one. The perfect duo.
Lex Luthor was a very zany villain that didn’t really match my perception of Lex Luthor. I think of Luthor as someone who’s a little more savvy and subtle. However, this Luthor was incredibly obvious and also very selfish in his endeavours and not the business mastermind we should see him as.
Amanda Waller was Lex Luthor’s right hand woman and was skeptical of his evil ways. When Luthor deleted his files, Waller had saved a backup and gave it to Batman and Superman. I thought the scene that that happened was executed extremely poorly. Waller had walked in immediately after Luthor’s files were deleted. If that was the case, wouldn’t Luthor rush to grab the flash drive and destroy it? It was all very poorly executed.
Power Girl was one of the heroes assigned by Luthor to capture Superman on allegations of murder, but she doubted the allegations and thus was reluctant to capture or harm Superman. It was a weird story line. I think the only reason for it was to later show Captain Atom that Superman was a good man? Very odd.
Themes
This movie was literally a parody, a cartoonish version of American politics. It exaggerated certain phenomena, but some of them were unironic and we were just supposed to take it seriously that certain political views were always correct.
Overall
Not one of the better DC animated movies unfortunately. You can skip this one.
Spoilers.
Story
Lex Luthor became the president and he of course wanted to use his power to eradicate the world of superheroes, particularly Superman his nemesis. Luthor framed Superman and Batman for the death of Metallo, putting a bounty on their heads. At the same time, there was a meteor heading towards earth. Superman and Batman fought off the heroes and villains that wanted to capture him for bounty. At the same time, they also worked to destroying the meteorite. At the end, Superman and Batman defeated Luthor and convinced the world they did not murder Metallo, and also destroyed the meteor.
There’s nothing wrong with a straightforward story, but the characters also seemed incredibly tropey, as did the story. Superman and Batman were fine, they were watered down versions of their usual selves. But Luthor’s descent into power hungry madness felt tropey and not interesting.
Production
The direction wasn’t the best I’d seen. The fighting was okay but not that exciting or eye-catching. The drawing was also kind of weird and oddly proportioned at times.
Characters
As mentioned, Superman and Batman were watered down versions of their normal selves. They were good friends who knew each other well and would help each other through thick and thin. Superman was the righteous one, and Batman was the logical one. The perfect duo.
Lex Luthor was a very zany villain that didn’t really match my perception of Lex Luthor. I think of Luthor as someone who’s a little more savvy and subtle. However, this Luthor was incredibly obvious and also very selfish in his endeavours and not the business mastermind we should see him as.
Amanda Waller was Lex Luthor’s right hand woman and was skeptical of his evil ways. When Luthor deleted his files, Waller had saved a backup and gave it to Batman and Superman. I thought the scene that that happened was executed extremely poorly. Waller had walked in immediately after Luthor’s files were deleted. If that was the case, wouldn’t Luthor rush to grab the flash drive and destroy it? It was all very poorly executed.
Power Girl was one of the heroes assigned by Luthor to capture Superman on allegations of murder, but she doubted the allegations and thus was reluctant to capture or harm Superman. It was a weird story line. I think the only reason for it was to later show Captain Atom that Superman was a good man? Very odd.
Themes
This movie was literally a parody, a cartoonish version of American politics. It exaggerated certain phenomena, but some of them were unironic and we were just supposed to take it seriously that certain political views were always correct.
Overall
Not one of the better DC animated movies unfortunately. You can skip this one.