Chosen the world’s protector against the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man pride, envy, greed, hatred, selfishness, laziness and injustice young Billy Batson accepts his destiny as Captain Marvel. We fight for those you cant fight for themselves. Review: The Nice House On The Lake 8 April 19, 2022.
Review: Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl 2 April 19, 2022. Review: Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl 2. AKA: Superman shazam the return of the black adam. My earliest exposure was to Batman and Superman comics, Batman (Adam West) reruns, and watching the Super-Friends every Saturday morning.
What he did to the guilty was downright brutal, and while not quite gory, it certainly didn't pull any punches with the death and violence, with a very creepy sequence of a man trapped in a movie studio full of monster props that catch and eat him, and a beautiful but heartless debutante who had her own father assassinated for his money being blendered alive by a whirlwind of the ill gotten dollar bills as sharp as razors! I love the classic horror movie references, the brilliant homage to John Carpenter's Christine is pretty unmistakable, but I also spied little nods to The Exorcist and a quick music theme near the end that sounded very similar to that Italian band that were in a lot of giallo horror movies Goblin! So while you may require a pentient for the macabre to really love this, I found it to be a great thrilling and atmospheric short that made me want to see more of this ghostly guardian of dire justice who truly brings new meaning to the word Wrath! Excellent and well worth seeing. Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam subtitles. He really kicked ass, when he wasn't masquerading as the hard boiled fifties gumshoe detective that he was in life, the Spectre was like a dispassionate judge who delivered frightening ethereal doom down upon those that the harsh form of cold cosmic justice that he embodied, deemed guilty! I think his particular style of merciless punishment prevents him from being considered a true hero, definitely more of an anti-hero.
I'm not saying that my personal knowledge goes for everyone, but compared to Superman you'd be hard pressed to find the average person in the street who knew who the Spectre was, and that's a shame because there's some pretty great potential there, I could watch a whole series or an animated movie based around this guy if it were as well made and gripping as this short. He was so awesomely mysterious and his abilities were so otherworldly, I was surprised to find out that he's actually one of the oldest comic book characters, having decades on creations like Ghost Rider and Spawn, whom he immediately made me think of. I enjoy the brief murder mystery plot of it, for such a short.short they do a good job of giving it an effective setup, middle and payoff, but I really loved it because of the title character, a dark avenger I'd never even heard of before watching this.
(Shout out to Neil McDonough who voiced Green Arrow / Oliver Queen in this short, and also played his nemesis Damien Darhk in the live action TV series, Arrow.) All of these shorts were good, but if I were to rank them, it would be in the following order.This short was such a cool little surprise and I ended up liking it a whole lot more than the movie it came with! It had a lot of edgy noir-esc pizazz and a very appealing retro visual look with seventies type grain and a soft glow to the picture, and I was quite hooked by that style almost right away, it gave the short a terrific tone, as well as making the superb animation stand out more.
(That doesn't mean you should watch the bad live-action version watching a few episodes of Legends of Tomorrow where he features should suffice.) The Green Arrow and Catwoman shorts weren't bad, but not as good compared to the other three. Both of these crossed my expectations in ways I never imagined, although you might need some info on Jonah Hex beforehand as no background is provided for him. Surprisingly, my favorite among them as The Spectre, a character I was totally unknown to, with Jonah Hex coming a close second. Because of the first one, I lingered on to watch the remaining movies as well. I only wish they made this into a feature-length animated movie. A proper origin with satisfactory story, starring Black Adam as the villain and Superman as a supporting character, Superman/Shazam! Return of Black Adam short was worth the watch.
So I headed over to watching the first short of this showcase, and no doubt it was good. DCEU brings out their first live-action Shazam! movie next year, and having watched a couple of animated movies on the said character, I wanted to know more.