It's okay

This seems to be a movie most people either love or hate; I'm in the middle. I'm not at all against Golden/Silver Age 'silliness' in comics, which this obviously pays tribute to. I'm not adverse to the art style (based on Darwyn Cooke's original comic). And I can see the thematic similarities to Watchmen without a need to bellow 'Rip-off!' (it isn't) from the rooftops. My problem is simply that after a promising start it didn't grab me.

Cooke's six-part story (which I haven't read) won many awards. It deals with complex social and political issues, and this film tries to do the same. Unfortunately, because of its 75 minute runtime, it isn't able to go into any depth and much of it feels like 'lip service'. Racial tension, check. Abuse of women, check. Political witch-hunting, check. These things get a mention and we're told they're bad, but we don't really get a chance to see they're bad.

Also because of the short runtime a lot of characterisation has gone by the wayside; so we get a lot of cameo appearances with no explanation of who they are. Supergirl? Not a problem, everybody knows her. But 'guy in red, with a helmet, ray-gun, and a freakin' jetpack'? Adam Strange is not that well-known to non comics readers!

The voice work is variable. David Boreanaz's Green Lantern and Neil Patrick Harris's Flash are excellent. Kyle MacLachlan's Superman, Miguel Ferrer's Martian Manhunter, and Lucy Lawless's Wonder Woman are pretty good. Jeremy Sisto's Batman is poor - although he does have some great lines.

The best I can say is that this has at least given me a desire to check out the original comic. 6/10