Film Review: Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons – The Movie (2020)

Release Date: August 4th, 2020
Directed by: Sung Jin Ahn
Written by: J.M. DeMatteis
Based on: Deathstroke by Marv Wolfman, George Perez
Music by: Kevin Riepl
Cast: Michael Chiklis, Chris Jai Alex, Sasha Alexander

Berlanti Productions, Blue Ribbon Content, DC Entertainment, 87 Minutes

Review:

I was a bit stoked when I saw that there was an animated Deathstroke film on HBO Max. It came out a year ago and I’m assuming it was initially on DC Universe before that got swallowed up and absorbed by the newly launched HBO Max, which is sort of a central hub of all the content Warner Bros. associated streaming services hosted before converging into one thing.

Anyway, I was pretty underwhelmed by this. That’s not surprising, as DC animated features are a mixed bag. Some are really meh but some are very, very good. Most of them meet somewhere in the middle but this one does fall closer to the meh side of that pendulum.

While I liked that Michael Chiklis voiced Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke, the film was kind of a bore. It featured a couple C-list villains for Deathstroke to tie-up with but it also leaned into his personal life and his family, which I feel like has been explored to death in comics and other mediums already.

Frankly, I just kind of wanted Deathstroke in his anti-hero role, going up against impossible odds to take down a serious baddie. I wanted some dark, black-ops shit. While I guess this does send him on shadow missions of some degree, it just never really grabbed me.

There’s a television series of Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons, so I’m not sure if this is a sequel to it or a prequel. Maybe this is just a condensed version of a larger story. Either way, it’s kind of sloppy and boring. 

Rating: 5.25/10

Comic Review: Nightwing, Vol. 3: False Starts

Published: January 5th, 2016
Written by: Chuck Dixon, Devin Grayson
Art by: Scott McDaniel, Karl Story

DC Comics, 290 Pages

Review:

This collection of Nightwing issues from Chuck Dixon’s legendary run started off with a bang, as it started with the Nightwing and Huntress miniseries that saw the two vigilante heroes work together on a more intimate level.

Additionally, this picks up the stories that have been stretching over Dixon’s entire run and it keeps the momentum going with gusto.

I liked the stuff that involved the Huntress, a lot. The miniseries was actually written by Devin Grayson but it ties directly to Dixon’s run and lines up with the solo Nightwing stories, here.

This also features appearances by Deathstroke and Lady Shiva and that section of this beefy collection was probably my favorite, overall, following the Huntress miniseries.

Additionally, we get more of Blockbuster, as his large arc continues on, seeing him as the kingpin of Blüdhaven.

This is my favorite volume, so far, in Dixon’s Nightwing era. It’s just a badass series with great art and it keeps things flowing in a great direction.

Rating: 8/10
Pairs well with: other ’90s Nightwing and Batman comics.

Comic Review: Deathstroke, Vol. 1: Gods of War

Published: June 23rd, 2015
Written by: Tony Salvador Daniel
Art by: Tony Salvador Daniel

DC Comics, 125 Pages

Review:

I enjoyed Christopher Priest’s fifty-issue run on Deathstroke, which just ended a few months back. I recently went back and read The New 52 era stuff at its beginning because I wanted to delve into more of the character in recent history.

That series was pretty shitty and a letdown, especially since I was interested in seeing Rob Liefeld’s take on the character due to his most famous character, Deadpool, being a parody of Deathstroke.

Where this series takes place is wedged between The New 52 and Priest’s era, which makes it the most recent run on the Deathstroke character before Priest took over.

Overall, this was a badass read and I really liked this story and how it sets everything up for the three other volumes that follow. It’ll also be interesting seeing how it sets the stage for Priest’s lengthy stretch.

This series is written and drawn by Tony Daniel, a guy who is pretty good at both. Honestly, I’ve always dug the guy’s work and out of everything I’ve read and looked at over the years, this is in his upper echelon.

The story focuses on Deathstroke’s family, which is a major plot point that carries over into the Priest run. In addition to his kids, however, this arc features his father and delves into Deathstroke’s backstory, filling in some blanks and letting you know the type of man he was created by.

Deathstroke’s father is the primary villain of this story but there are other characters who all seem to be on their own side and ready for a double cross at any moment. It’ll be interesting to see how some of these threads resolve themselves over the later chapters.

In the end, this was a really enjoyable and invigorating start to this Deathstroke run. I put off reading it because The New 52 run bored me to tears. But I’m glad to see that the Deathstroke title seems to be in good hands for this specific series.

Rating: 8/10
Pairs well with: the rest of the 2014-2016 Deathstroke run, as well as the Christopher Priest era that followed.

Film Review: Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018)

Release Date: March 23rd, 2018 (Anaheim premiere)
Directed by: Sam Liu
Written by: Alan Burnett
Based on: Suicide Squad by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, John Ostrander
Music by: Robert J. Kral
Cast: Christian Slater, Billy Brown, Liam McIntyre, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Gideon Emery, Tara Strong, Vanessa Williams, C. Thomas Howell, Greg Grunberg

DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, DR Movie, 86 Minutes

Review:

“I know I’m going to Heaven – anyone who can put up with Mr. J deserves a break.” – Harley Quinn

It seems as if these DC Comics animated movies are getting better and better. Pretty much most of the stuff that Sam Liu produces and directs is top notch. Also, I love that these are for an adult audience.

While I pretty much hated the live action Suicide Squad movie, I’ve been a fan of the comics for some time. This animated feature does a pretty good job of capturing that magic in a way that the live action film completely missed.

The voice cast in this was really good too and I especially enjoyed Christian Slater as Deadshot. I hope he plays the character more in the future and if this spawned its own series, I’d watch the followups.

This movie is violent but it works, as this film is presented in a grindhouse style. Now the look of it is crisp and clean like other DC animated films but it has that modern grindhouse edge to it in it’s credits sequences, editing style and musical score. While the modern grindhouse thing really peaked with Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse movie over ten years ago, it’s interesting seeing that style in this format.

The story is also good and it sets up a situation where these characters have a sort of loophole to work around the protocols the government has in order to control these villains forced to do good. There is a lot of back stabbing, twists and turns.

This also features a ton of villains whether they are members of the Suicide Squad or not. And while a lot of characters are crammed into this 86 minute picture, everything flows well.

This is solid. It’s one of the better DC Comics animated features to come out.

Rating: 8.5/10
Pairs well with: other recent DC animated features for adult audiences.