Superman: Doomsday (2007): When LexCorps accidentally unleash a murderous creature, Doomsday, Superman finally meets his greatest challenge as a champion. Based from the award-winning “The Death of Superman” trilogy.
I’m a fan of the JLA/JLU cartoon, and I’ve been meaning to go back to the Superman and Batman series. I was very disappointed that JLU was cancelled, so I was happy at the news that DC would produce straight to DVD movies based on popular comics runs.
This movie is based on the Death of Superman storyline that shook the DC universe some years ago, and that got lots of mainstream press. That was also the first time I actually read a Superman comic, so I am familiar with the original story.
SPOILERS FOLLOW!!
Unfortunately this movie is only inspired by the comics, trying to streamline it and make it as simple as possible. Which is understandable, but in the end I am not sure if it worked.
The first part is about Doomsday and the death of Superman. That part is similar to the comics, except that there is no other superhero in this movie. It would have been nice to see someone else, but I can understand why they did it. I liked this part, it was fast paced fighting and it delivered the seriousness of the threat. The reaction of the various characters was also emotional.
As soon as Superman comes back I was very angry, how can this be?! They can’t kill him and bring him back 2 minutes later!? However as soon as we find out that he is just a clone I was relieve and intrigued.
After that everything proceeds as expected, and it even reminded me of Superman III, the movie. Bringing back Superman with the black suit is taken from the comics, as well as the long hair.
For the voices they went out and hired mainstream actors, instead of the original series voices. I must say at first I was a little lost, because I was so used to the original voices. But very soon I got used to them and I thought they weren’t too bad.
Overall I think it was a good effort, but a bit of a let down for people familiar with the comics story.
Rating: 3 Stars