Creature Commandos

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has received intel that Circe - a sorceress from Wonder Woman's home island of Themyscira - has traveled to Pokolistan to assassinate Princess Ilana.  Waller decided to dispatch General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) with a band of 'creatures' to protect the princess.  Why creatures?  Congress has shutdown the Suicide Squad program, forbidding Waller from sending humans on such high casualty missions.  The creatures - none of whom are quite human - are a work around.  There are 5 creatures:

The Bride (Indira Varma) is the Bride of Frankenstein.  She has 'lived' for 200 years and spent much of her time fleeing the monster, Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour).  She is strong, tough, and anti-social.  She is also the leader of the creatures when Flag is absent.

G. I. Robot (Sean Gunn) is, as the name states, a robot.  He was deployed during World War II where he killed Nazis.  He is obsessed with killing Nazis.  His arms conceal machineguns with which he kills those his teammates identify as Nazis.

Weasel (Sean Gunn) is a human-sized weasel-like creature.  He's basically an animal.

Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk) is a walking radioactive man whose skeleton is always visible through his translucent body.  He can burn through anything with his touch, often graphically killing opponents by melting their faces.  Yikes.

Nina (Zoe Chao) is a female creature from the black lagoon.  She had a rare lung defect that her scientist father 'fixed' by screwing with her DNA.  Now she's aquatic with green skin and gills.

Most episodes have the story of the present as well as an origin story for one of the creatures.  Though all of them are in prison and thus available for Waller to dispatch, some of the origin stories indicate that they were wrongly incarcerated.

The dull-witted and lovestruck Frankenstein was frequently funny, but often quite dark.  He was only too happy to murder anyone in his way.  There is a montage of the Bride and Frankenstein encountering each other throughout the years, her always running and him always chasing.  The guy won't take a hint after 2 centuries.

Overall, it is entertaining.  Not exactly superhero stuff and quite similar to the Suicide Squads and Peacemaker.

Superman (2025)

On a frozen landscape, Superman (David Corenswet) plummeted from the sky and crashed into the hard-packed snow.  He was bloody and beaten, having suffered his first defeat in battle.  He summoned Krypto, his dog, with a whistle.  The dog dragged him to the Fortress of Solitude.  Oddly, the fortress was inhabited by numbered robots - Four (Alan Tyduk) is the lead robot - who immediately tended to Superman's wounds.  Though far from fully healed, he left to resume his battle with the Hammer of Boravia.  The Hammer offered only a skirmish before withdrawing.  Recently, Superman had prevented a war between Boravia and Jarhanpur, thus the payback by the Hammer.  Superman's independent tinkering in foreign policy didn't please the Pentagon either and provided an excuse for Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to move against Superman.  As the government knew they could not contain Superman, it outsourced the task to Luthorcorp.

This is a very different Superman movie than usual.  The immediate appearance of Krypto the superdog was a first.  The Justice League - here tentatively called the Justice Gang - is up and running.  In fact, it predates Superman, who has only been on scene as a hero for 3 years.  The Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) is the leader of the gang, which also has Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi).  The staff at the Daily Planet is larger than expected (i.e., lots of characters with speaking roles) and included Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Cat Grant, Steven Lombard, and at least one other guy.  Lois already knows that Clark and Superman are the same person; they are currently dating.  Lex also has an extensive band of minions, most of them are human and computer jockeys.  However, there is also girlfriend Eve Teschmacher, and a couple of supervillains: Ultraman & the Engineer.  Then there are the add-on characters like Metamorpho, Jonathan & Martha Kent, Malik Ali the random citizen and Superman supporter, and President Vasil Ghurkos of Boravia.  So many characters.

DC has done this before.  Marvel has such a huge headstart in the cinematic universes that DC keeps trying to make a phase 2 or phase 3 movie when they haven't made the foundational movies.  Worse, it doesn't link with the existing movies.  Where are the crossover characters from Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and so on?  There is a cameo of Peacemaker (John Cena), but that's all I noticed.

How does Metropolis still exist?  During this film, the city is attacked by the Hammer of Boravia, suffers an attack from a Kaiju (think Godzilla), sees some giant jellyfish battling the Justice Gang, is ground zero for Superman's fight against Ultraman and the Engineer, and finally gets ripped in half by an expanding tear in the fabric of space.  No chance I would live here.

Considering the level of destruction, the portrayal of Superman saving people, dogs, and even squirrels was goofy.  Nonetheless, I like that David Corenswet is a return to the generally well-adjusted and cheerful Boy Scout rather than the grim and depressed Henry Cavill.

Too busy.  Too much background noise.  However, it was fun to watch.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

The story opens with Kraglin (Sean Gunn) explaining how Yondu (Michael Rooker) had ruined Christmas for a homesick young Peter Quill (Chris Pratt).  As it is currently the Christmas season on Earth, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) wants to treat Peter to a great Christmas.  She enlists Drax in her plan.  What gift could they get Peter?  Well, Peter has often spoken of a hero back on Earth.  Yes, they will bring Kevin Bacon as a Christmas present!  Thus decided, Drax and Mantis travel to Earth where they have a hilarious adventure as they hunt for Kevin Bacon.  Also joining the fun are Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and an alien band with a Christmas song that misunderstands everything about the yuletide season.

Highly recommended.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is bringing the band back together for a new mission.  The first recruit is Savant (Michael Rooker), a man with supernatural spatial awareness.  He can bounce a ball off a wall and ricochet it on three more walls before it hits an unsuspecting bird.  In exchange for 10 years off his 15 year sentence, Savant accepts a suicide mission to Corto Maltese.  Other members of the team are Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Mongal, Javelin, TDK, Blackguard, and the Weasel.  No sooner have they landed on the beach than all hell breaks loose.  The landing is compromised!  Meanwhile, on a different beach, another suicide squad has landed.  Bloodsport (Idris Elba) leads this team, which has benefited from the distraction of the first suicide squad.  Among his forces are Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, and King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone!).

The movie is hilarious, a massive improvement over its predecessor.  Bloodsport plays the straight man with his team, being the only relatable person.  Everyone else is odder than the next.  Ratcatcher 2 is basically the Pied Piper, capable of summoning rats to do her bidding.  She has a pet rat named Sebastian.  She is always tired but has a good heart.  Peacemaker is so keen on peace that he will kill as many men, women, and children as it takes to get it.  The constant one-upmanship between Bloodsport and Peacemaker is great fun.  He delivers ridiculous lines with the utmost seriousness.  I had been impressed by John Cena's comic abilities in Trainwreck and that was no fluke.  He's terrific and I am now eager to watch the spinoff series, Peacemaker.  The Polka-Dot Man, who looked like he might be some cringy villain, is absolutely stellar.  Though arguably the most powerful member, he is clearly not leader material. Despite being depressed and infected with a potentially lethal multidimensional virus, he is a constant source of laughs.  Oh, to see through his eyes!  His mom is epic!   As great as all these characters are, King Shark is nonstop fun.  Silvester Stallone does his best dumb Rocky voice, making the constantly hungry shark-man a source of immense humor.  He is both childlike and monstrous.  He's nigh indestructible, insanely strong, and a lovable dunce.  His primary attack is to eat you!  And he eats a lot in this movie!  Num num.

James Gunn had taken the low tier material of Guardians of the Galaxy and turned it into gold.  Here, he has done it again.  More of this and the DC-verse could become an equal competitor to the MCU, especially since Marvel has been sagging since Avengers: Endgame.

Highly recommended.  Great popcorn fun.