DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 3 "Blood Ties" - Recap and Review

At the end of the previous episode, Carter Hall/Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) was murdered by Vandal Savage (Casper Crump). Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée) was severely injured and her condition was being closely monitored.

Similar to the previous episode, we see different team members go on separate missions (two of which are for greater good and one for decidedly personal reasons). All of these missions are motivated by their  loved ones and hence the title of the episode.

Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz) convinces Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) to go after Vandal's wealth. The rationale is to bankrupt him and weaken his attempts to take over the world. Or as Rip puts it, delay by a few decades.

Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) guides Ray Palmer/Atom (Brandon Routh) as he uses his Atom suit to enter Kendra's body and heal her injuries. Ray faces defeat in his first attempt and it is upto Dr Stein to boost his morale in order to save Kendra's life.

A far less altruistic minded is the attempt by Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) to have a better childhood by preventing his father from going to jail for stealing a highly valued emerald.

After a great first part and a relatively weak concluding part of the pilot episode, the show returns to smashing form in the third episode.

I have remarked in the reviews of the previous episodes that Victor Garber, Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell are my favorite parts in the show. They are in good form here too.

But what makes this a standout episode is that even the actors who were bland so far really got to shine this time. I am referring to Arthur Darvill and Brandon Routh.

Brandon Routh finally manages to show some acting chops as Ray Palmer. We get to know more about what inspired Ray to make the Atom suit and become a superhero. His scenes with the always excellent Victor Garber were pretty good. The special effects were much better this time for the Atom. 

Equally good was Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter. He finally gets some screen-time to emote and not just stand around barking orders in a stiff British accent. Similar to Ray Palmer and Captain Cold, we get to know more about his background. Rip had crossed paths with Vandal 4000 years ago.

Despite coming close to killing Savage, Rip hesitated and that is one decision that has resulted in a lot of self-loathing for our Time Master.

The third cast member who comes into the limelight is Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary. She gets to beat up  a bunch of bad guys/assassins and looks totally at ease in the action scenes. She reveals how her recovery with the help of the Lazarus Pit considerably affected her psyche and unleashed a more brutal side.

Sara even gets to do some deduction using her skills of observation (like Sherlock Holmes) at the Brumberg Bank.

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The characters in the show seem to be taking turns to visit their younger versions. Last time, it was Dr Martin Stein. Now, it is Captain Cold's turn. This is getting a bit repetitive. Hopefully, the writers will stop using this plot device (or) at least resist using it for the rest of the season.

Finally, we come to the villain. Casper Crump is suitably macabre and egotistic as the immortal Vandal Savage. His brutal ritual involving drinking of the blood of the dead Carter Hall/Hawkman was captured quite effectively.

A notable guest appearance was made by Nikolai Witschl as Caleb, one of Vandal's cult members. Readers might remember him as Ansel Barbour from the FX Vampire series: The Strain.

Trivia

1. The song “Fight the Power” by The Isley Brothers can be heard as Rip and Sara do their slomo walk to the Brumberg Bank.

2. The song “I Got the Fire” by Montrose is played as Sara fights the assassins disguised as employees of the Brumberg Bank.

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Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, Bonanza Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network (The CW)

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DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Pilot Part 2 - Recap and Review

After the great first part, we get the concluding section that is wonderful in parts, but a bit lethargic in certain aspects.

As things stood at the end of the previous episode, the team had met Dr. Aldus Boardman (Peter Francis James), the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in their previous incarnations. Dr Boardman was killed but not all was lost. The rag-tag group came together as a team.

As this episode opens, the team determines that Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) must be somewhere near an impending auction for illegal arms and ammunition. Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz), Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Mick Rory/Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell) are sent to infiltrate the event as potential buyers.

The savvy Vandal senses the presence of Hawkman and Hawkgirl and deduces that there is trouble afoot.

This results in a well executed action sequence with our heroes. While our heroes do manage to make it out, there is an unintentional outcome: Ray Palmer/Atom (Brandon Routh) loses a minor part of his suit in the melee.

Vandal sets his scientists to reverse engineer the advanced machinery. When Rip realizes the potential impact of Vandal utilizing the Atom's technology, it is time for yet another mission. This time, Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) offers to visit his younger self, who is an expert on Alpha Particles. The plan is to use these particles to track the suit.

The younger version of Dr Martin Stein (played by Graeme McComb) is a ladies man. He starts hitting on Sara, the moment he lays eyes on her. Dr Stein is concerned that his tampering with the timeline might prevent his own encounter with his future wife, Clarissa (played by Isabella Hofmann on The Flash).

Ray Palmer, Leonard Snart and Mick Rory have their own task to complete: retrieve the dagger that was used by Vandal Savage to murder Hawkman and Hawkgirl in their very first lifetime.

The owner of the house turns out to be none other the immortal Vandal Savage himself. His presence brings the whole team for the climactic fight sequence. Hawkman tries to kill him using “The Aman Dagger”.

This proves to be a fatal mistake as it is only Hawkgirl who has the ability to use the dagger to finish Savage once and for all. This knowledge comes too late, as Vandal ends up stabbing Carter Hall with the dagger, resulting in his death. A distraught Kendra repents at not expressing her love for Carter.

Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) repays Dr Stein's efforts to retrieve the broken part of Atom's suit, by ensuring that his younger self meets with his Clarissa.

Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell continue to be the best parts of the show. And Victor Garber's Dr Stein. These three nicely counterbalance the serious characters (Ray, Rip, Carter and Kendra).

The scenes featuring the trio of Wentworth, Dominic and Routh as they attempt to steal the dagger was hilarious. Ray's naivety was the perfect counterpoint to the career criminals. Things are also starting to heat up as Ray/Atom and Leonard/Captain Cold exchanged blows.

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The other enjoyable parts of this episode were the ones pitting the elderly Dr Stein against his much younger version. He realizes that despite his advanced age, he still retains the same arrogance as he did in his earlier years.

Even though Carter Hall/Hawkman dies, we know quite well that nobody ever stays dead for long in the comic books. And considering the fact that time travel is also involved, it is only a matter of time, before Carter Hall is up and flying along with Kendra Saunders (who has had a change of heart).

A surprise guest in this episode was Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) from Arrow. This was a nice touch to show the inter-connected nature of the universe that the show is building on.

Trivia

1. The song “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps Fire can be heard as Kendra, Carter, Rip and Dr Stein are walking in the University campus to see Dr Boardman.

Highly Recommended watch to fans of DC Comics/Comic Book fans.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, Bonanza Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network (The CW)

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DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Pilot Part 1 - Recap and Review

In a post-Avengers world, every Hollywood studio is working overtime to churn out their own version of an interconnected movie universe.

Universal Studios is trying to build one based on their collection of movie monsters (Dracula, Wolf Man, Frankenstein), first of which is the 2014 movie: Dracula Untold. Fox tried unsuccessfully to connect their popular X-Men movies with the Fantastic Four universe. The critical and commercial failure of the 2015 movie (Fantastic Four) does not bode well for the studio's plans.

Warner Bros. and DC Comics have now responded in two different ways: A movie franchise collectively titled “DC Extended Universe” and “DC's Legends of Tomorrow” on the small screen.

The CW show has an ensemble cast, drawn from both the Arrow and The Flash: Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Jefferson 'Jax' Jackson (Franz Drameh), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée) and Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel). There are supervillains too: Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell).

Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) is the main baddie here. He is an immortal, who thrives by inciting trouble on a grand scale. Wars are his preferred modus operandi.

Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is a Time Master who has lost his wife and son to Vandal's activities. He tries to get support from the Council of Time Masters to stop Savage. When his requests are denied, Rip takes matter into his own hands and steals the Waverider (a flying contraption fitted with all necessary tech) to assemble a rag-tag group of individuals.

One by one (and sometimes two at a time), he kidnaps our group of characters. Rip entices them to participate in his campaign by lying that they will become legends in the future. In reality, he recruited individuals who have minimal impact on the timeline.

Except for one reluctant individual (Jefferson 'Jax' Jackson), the rest are happy to join the mission. Dr. Martin Stein takes care of this issue by drugging Jax.

Rip and the team time travel back to 1975. The plan is to meet Dr. Aldus Boardman (Peter Francis James). Aldus has done extensive research on Vandal and willingly shares his information. He also happens to be the son of Joe and Edith Boardman, the most recent incarnations of Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders.

But trouble is not far behind. Chronos, a temporal bounty hunter has been sent by the Council of Time Masters to stop Rip and retrieve the Waverider. Our heroes work together to stop the villain. They manage to escape and Jax is inspired to become part of the team.

This looks to be the most fun adaptation based on DC Comics. Yes, even more so than Supergirl and The Flash.

The reason is simple: As good as these two shows are, they still suffer from very minor drawbacks. Supergirl has the insufferable Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen. The Flash on the other hand often gets a bit melodramatic for a show featuring a superhero who can run really fast.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow (from what we have seen so far) seems determined to be a fun ride for fans. The # 1 reason is the presence of  Victor Garber as Dr. Martin Stein. Victor is a blast as the quick-witted and brilliant scientist. He has arguably the best one-liners in the episode and Victor pulls them off with effortless ease.

Victor's presence has been a great value addition to The Flash and the episodes featuring his Dr Stein tend to be my favorites. I had wished often that Dr Martin would be a more regular feature and thankfully, this show seems to have rectified that anomaly.

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Giving good competition to Victor is Franz Drameh as Jefferson Jackson. The interchange between these two are probably the funniest.

Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell are the other pair that manage to hold our attention. The scene at the pub where they get into a fight, along with Sara Lance was executed well.

Falk Hentschel and Ciara Renée are adequate as Hawkman and Hawkgirl respectively. They have the serious characters to play and accordingly do not indulge in much of levity. Caity Lotz is good as Caity Lotz, though she does seem to be packing some attitude as the assassin.

Brandon Routh is a bit bland as Ray Palmer/Atom. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that his turn as the Man of Steel in Superman Returns (2006) did not set the box office on fire (or) capture the public imagination as the studio would have wanted.

However, the one to make the least impact is Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter. Arthur seems to be just going through the motions. His IMDB page informs us that he has played Rory Williams, a companion for Matt Smith's Doctor Who. If this was the basis for casting him, then this is a disastrous one. Arthur seems to be having absolutely zero interest in the role or the show. Hope either the character gets recast (or) Arthur develops some passion for the project. At least, we can wish that there will be more scenes of Rip get slapped around by team members, like we had in this one (thanks to Sara Lance).

There were a couple of Star Wars references: Chronos is referred to as both Darth Vader and Boba Fett at different points in the episode.

Trivia

1. The song “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire can be heard as Kendra, Carter, Rip and Dr Stein are walking in the University campus to see Dr Boardman.

2. The song “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille is played in the fight scene at the pub.

In the recent past, there has been constant criticism about DC being too dark and serious. Well, here is your answer - a lively and colorful comic book adaptation that wholeheartedly embraces the nature of its source material.

Highly Recommended watch to fans of DC Comics/Comic Book fans.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

 

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, Bonanza Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network (The CW)

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Suicide Squad Trailer - Reaction/Review

The first official trailer for the upcoming DC Comics movie Suicide Squad has been released.

Directed by David Ayer (Fury, Sabotage, Street Kings), the movie stars Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen F. Quinzel/Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones/Killer Croc and Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

For the uninitiated: Suicide Squad (a.k.a “Task Force X”) is a group of villains who are (forcefully) recruited by Amanda Waller to complete deadly missions. For obvious reasons, the trailer does not reveal the exact mission for which they have been assembled in this movie.

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I was not a big fan of the Comic Con trailer. But this trailer looks promising. Set to the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by the British rock band Queen, this one manages to differentiate the movie from the unnecessarily serious trailers we have seen for the other DC Extended Universe movie - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Jared Leto seems to be a great casting choice as The Joker. Margot Robbie and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje also look to be having fun with Harley Quinn and Killer Croc respectively.

The major drawback is Will Smith as Deadshot. He is way too serious. His casting is understandable: The Studio wanted a big name actor to ensure a decent opening for the movie. But Will probably wanted a bigger role for himself. This is pretty obvious considering that Deadshot is on an equal footing with Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), the squad leader. At least, Rick manages to land a line in the trailer.

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As readers might know, Tom Hardy was first cast as Rick Flagg. But supposedly, his scheduling conflicts due to the then ongoing Leo DiCaprio movie, The Revenant made him skip Suicide Squad. We can only speculate.....

Even the usually dull as dishwater, Jai Courtney seems to be enjoying himself as Captain Boomerang.

Looks like David Ayer has finally managed to make an enjoyable DC Comics movie since Christopher Nolan left the DC Universe.

If this movie is even half as much fan as the animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham, we are in for a major treat.

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Image Sources: Atlas Entertainment, DC Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Lin Pictures, Warner Bros.

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Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015) - Review

Spoilers ahead. Readers who wish to avoid spoilers are recommended to skip the post.

I was not impressed with the companion web series (Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles) that was released last month and was not sure about this movie.

This movie proved to be a pleasant surprise. Featuring alternate versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the movie has an excellent script, screenplay, direction and astounding action choreography (as most DC Animated Movies do).

Superman is not the son of Zor-El, but of General Zod and is raised by Mexican immigrants.

Batman is Kirk Langstrom and not Bruce Wayne. In the Batman Canon, Kirk Langstrom is Man-Bat. In this universe, he becomes a pseudo-vampire in his attempts to cure his cancer. He feeds on the blood of the bad guys.

Wonder Woman is not the Princess Diana of Themyscira, but is Bekka. Bekka is a New God of New Genesis, the daughter of Himon and the wife of Orion.

A pre-credit sequence is set in Krypton. (DC fans can rest easy. The similarities with Man of Steel ends right here). Jor-El (Yuri Lowenthal) is about to imprint his DNA on his wife Lara Lor-Van's (Lauren Tom) using a machine to send their soon-to-be born son to Earth. General Zod (Bruce Thomas) intervenes and forcefully puts his own DNA instead.

The baby is adopted by migrant Mexican parents. Named Hernan Guerras, this version of Superman is a bit arrogant because of the difficulties he endures in his upbringing, 

Cut to the present. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are based at the Tower of Justice. Unlike the regular versions, these characters are ruthless when it comes to punishing bad guys.

The government, headed by President Amanda Waller (Penny Johnson Jerald) is not willing to take any steps to challenge the Justice Leaguers.

Trouble starts for our characters, when leading scientists are killed off one by one by unidentified assassins with the specific purpose of framing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The victims include Dr Victor Fries (Mr Freeze), Ray Palmer (Atom) and Silas Stone.

The public's hatred of the Justice League increases, thanks to the media campaign run by reporter Lois Lane (Paget Brewster). President Waller is forced to execute “Project FairPlay”, which is a brainchild of Lex Luthor (Jason Isaacs). Lex has always been wary of Superman and has put plans in place to neutralize him and his colleagues, should they go rogue.

Are the heroes able to prove their innocence? Who is out to frame them? What happens when Waller initiates FairPlay?

I would recommend the readers to check out the movie for the answers.

The story is credited to Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, both of whom have worked on some of the best DC Animated projects including Superman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Animated Series.

Like these classic shows, the movie also delves deep into the lead characters. Each of the DC Trinity characters get an extensive back story.

Considering that this is an animated superhero movie, the script manages to hold our attention for the most part, until the mystery is resolved. Kudos to Bruce and Alan for the excellent story and screenplay. 

The animation is done in Bruce Timm style which is refreshing after all the anime and other styles that have dominated animation in the recent past.

The action sequences are executed very well, especially the last one between Supes and the bad guys which is exceptional. The last 20 minutes has non-stop action and successfully combines great character moments and action beats.

This is classic DC Comics and a must watch for fans of Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman.

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Image Sources: DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Premiere 

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