Greetings,
Okay, this "movie" is a bit different from the others I am reviewing. I will be reviewing this as it appears on the DVD, and on the DVD, which is, in fact, entitled Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam, we get the titular short film as well as three others. All of it is technically referred to as a DC Showcase, so I thought I would talk about the whole collection featured here.
The first and longest of the short films is the one which shares the title with the DVD, Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. The main focus of this story is on young Billy Batson and how he eventually learns to transform into the superhero Captain Marvel. We follow Billy as he randomly meets Clark Kent, who, as we all know, is Superman, and Billy happens to be a great admirer of Superman. What are the odds! And the villain here is, of course, Black Adam, whose power is based in magic, and magic is something to which Superman is vulnerable. Oh, so I guess if you want to fight Superman but don't like the color green, get yourself a magic wand. So, eventually, Superman teams up with Captain Marvel, whose power is also magic based, therefore, enabling him to be an equal to Black Adam. See, teamwork is awesome. Now I must be honest, though this is the longest and lead in short film of the collection, of the four, it is my least favorite. Still good, though. Moving on.
Next up, we have The Spectre. This little film is about the murder of a film executive named Foster Brenner and the investigation that follows. A detective named Jim Corrigan decides to check things out despite the fact that it's not his case, but he does so because he was once involved with Brenner's daughter, Aimee. Turns out, a bunch of people were mad at Brenner for not being including in his last film, which means that we've got a nice, long list of suspects. I hear cops either love it or hate it when they have one of those. Anyway, the dead Brenner starts showing up and morphing into The Spectre. That means that he's The Spectre, right? Well, maybe, but remember that even in a twelve minute short film, you can have a twist.
And while we are on the subject of guys who wear green hoodies, let's move on to our next story, Green Arrow. This one has the kind of plot that is oft ignored. Specifically, a plot of . . . kiddie assassination! No, really, someone tries to kill a kid in this thing. But she's royalty, and they tend to be targets for assassination. Basically, there's this guy named Count Vertigo (really?)who hires a guy named Merlyn (okay?) to kill Princess Perdita (come on!). AND Count Vertigo is the uncle of Perdita, who is technically now the queen, since her father has been killed . . . by Count Vertigo! Yeah, keep it all in the family there, people. Ironically, all of this goes down in an airport, where it just so happens Oliver Queen is waiting for his girlfriend to arrive. But, in the meantime, he manages to do his Green Arrow thing and tries to be the hero. By the way, we also get an appearance by Black Canary. No kidding. Oliver Queen mentions a girlfriend. Of course, it's her.
Finally, we have Jonah Hex. I must bring up the fact that I have seen the Jonah Hex live action film, and it was kind of not good. I feel like they tried really hard on that movie, and ended up trying too hard. This short film, however, is the opposite of that, in my opinion. The plot is a nice, compacted little thing about this madame at a bar who kills guys for their money, and Jonah Hex has to deal with her. It's like they were just trying to say, "Here's Jonah Hex, and here's what he does". Boom! Done! Thank you. That is all I need. And it is so much better than the complicated . . . whatever that the feature film was trying to do. So, if you like Jonah Hex, just watch this.
Now since I have not yet made mention of this, I'd like to say a word about the voice acting here. We get a lot of great people in this short films, like Neil McDonough, Thomas Jane, Michelle Trachtenberg, Linda Hamilton, Gary Cole, Jerry O'Connell and George Newbern, who reprises his Justice League role as Superman. Everyone was really good in these little mini movies.
So, while I mentioned, this isn't full on movie, I say check it out. Sometimes we just want a nice short film that doesn't take up too much time in our lives. You get that here, and you get something that is really worth the watch.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
