Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Movie Review

Batman V Superman

So I'm posting my review proper of the movie a day after I posted my response to critics for their bad reviews. Check out the entry here.

Clark, Lex, and Bruce meets for the first time

 Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens with the murder of Batman's parents. Critics lambasted Zack Snyder's choice of retelling the story for the Nth time because this has been already told again and again in the big screen via the 1989 Micheal Keaton Batman movie and the more recent Batman movie starred by Christian Bale. But comic book fans who could remember their The Dark Knight Returns comic book pages jumped in glee upon seeing Snyder's decision to bring a page from the comic book to the big screen. This scene was the gun wrapped by Martha Wayne's pearl necklace as the robber shot Martha in the head. This was only one of a dozen or so scenes in this movie that were lifted from the comic books. The source of some critics of Snyder's works is that Snyder is so fond of bringing comic book pages to the big screen, that they accuse him of lacking in creativity when shooting his movies. This can be traced back to his 300 movie and Watchmen. But in an interview as the movie was released, Snyder defended his work stating that he has always shot his movies as a comic book fan and made these for the comic book fans. So critics' actual bias criticisms of Snyder's is borne from their bias opinions of Snyder. What follows that scene is a build up of different attempts at character development as we are refreshed to the events of the climactic battle between Superman and Zod from the Man of Steel movie through the eyes of Bruce Wayne. This sets the tone for Bruce Wayne/Batman's motivations as to why he needs to stop Superman. We are then ushered to 18 months later where we are treated to Superman and Lois Lane's story as to what was the current status quo of Superman in the present. Superman saving Lois in some african country from terrorists sets the tone of Luthor's attempt to frame up Superman for the deaths of some african bystanders. The following scenes segues to Luthor's story, and how he tries to manipulate the U.S. government (and Batman) in making Superman accountable for the threat that he poses to the world if left unchecked.

Batman's nightmare and vision of things to come?

This was basically the premise of the first half of the movie to which some critics deemed as too dragging or too confusing. I personally understood what Snyder and team is trying to build as the movie progresses, but critics found it too confusing. I do agree however that there were a lot of going ons that Snyder and team could have trimmed down further. But then again what I don't understand from critics is that some are saying that the attempt at character development was too dragging or confusing, while some critics are saying that there was no character development. I think it was a giveaway that the movie is a prequel for the Justice League movie as the subtitle Dawn of Justice suggests, so Wonder Woman's appearance as well cameos by Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg were included in the movie. But then again maybe since this is the first time on the big screen that we are going to see Superman and Batman together and in it for a mighty slugfest that critics might already have been too excited to see and could no longer wait for it that they eventually felt that the movie was too dragging (or failed to understand the build up). Believe me, I too had that sense of feeling because as the title suggests, this is Batman V Superman! So let's get it on already! So yes, the first half was spent on the build up to the Batman and Superman fight and was peppered with some Justice League cameos and even nightmares that Batman had of perhaps a portent of things to come? I personally love the nightmare stuff because we are treated to the existence of the Parademons, the evil Darkseid's army, which probably sets the possibility that Darkseid will play a part in the DC Cinematic Universe. The be all and end all of Universal comic book crossovers, DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths is even given a nod when Flash appeared in Batman's dream within a dream, warning him of a grim future and what's their best chance from preventing it from happening. To the casual moviegoers, these are stuffs that are not important in the movie, but to longtime DC fanboys, these are the moments where we excitedly look forward for the upcoming DC Cinematic Universe to come to its full fruition.

Fight Night!

I will no longer argue the merits of the opening half of the film, critics can have their feast on them, but the second half down to the climactic scenes, woah! This is the Superhero movie that we all have been waiting for. Snyder crafts an amazing cinematography and action packed scenes where we literally see our comic book pages come alive on the big screen. The Batman/Superman fight is a sight to behold as two superheroes who are responsible to perhaps one of comicdoms greatest debate (Who wins in a fight, Batman or Superman?) come alive. The intense showdown will literally put you in the edge of your seat as Batman and Superman pounds each other. I personally liked Superman's statement to Batman "If I want you dead, you'd be dead already" because as a Superman fan, it holds true to end the debate of all debates. But of course some Superman fans were turned off by Superman's arrogance in this scene. But let's get real, in character or not, that statement holds true. And Superman still did not kill Batman despite that stern warning. In fact Batman had Superman under his heel as he was about to stab Superman with a self made Kryptonite Spear. Only to be stopped in his tracks when Superman asks Batman to save Martha (the shared name of Superman and Batman's mother). To some critics, they found it silly, I on the other hand found it amusing that I only realized it now. The movie however does not end there, as we are treated to further catastrophic damages when Doomsday (or should I say DoomZod) appeared. Earlier in the movie, Lex Luthor manages to acquire the corpse of General Zod and accesses the abandoned Kryptonian scout ship that was under the possession of the U.S. government. He takes control of the scout ship, gathering information from it as he creates a monstrous figure using the corpse of Zod and his blood.

Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman on screen for the first time

Of course this new threat brings in Wonder Woman to the fray, as DC's beloved trinity is finally seen together on screen for the first time. Another round of slam bang action ensues as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman team up to stop the world threatening threat of Doomsday. And with the heroes in a losing battle, it took a sacrifice from Superman at the expense of his life to finally end Doomsday's threat. Superman thrusts the Kryptonite Spear right through Doomsday's chest as Doomsday punches a hole right through Superman's chest too. This seemingly kills Superman and the final moments of the film would dwell on Superman's funeral and Batman's realization (under Luthor's unsolicited lip service) that an evil threat is coming, as he must gather metahumans like Superman and Wonder Woman to form a league. And right before the film closes, we are given some strong hints that Superman might not be really dead after all.    

DC's vaunted Trinity

You have to give credit to Snyder and team as they were given the task to bring DC's mythical and legendary heroes onscreen. Let me tell you something, the weight of bringing these heroes together on the big screen totally outweighs whatever Marvel has done in their own cinematic universe. You want to know why? Because none of Marvel heroes are as mythical, legendary, historical, and pop culturally as huge as DC's trinity. So understandably, I can get where the critics are coming from. The expectations were too heavy for Snyder to match. I mean Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and whichever Avengers member can fail in their cinematic debut and not a lot of criticisms would go Marvel's way. Because these critics don't see those characters in the same breath as Superman, Batman, nor Wonder Woman. Because let's be real, DC Comics brought about the birth of the Golden Age of Comic Book Superheroes, they were the first. I don't want to argue with Marvel fans with this statement but they can check their facts that Marvel came alive during the Silver Age, brought about by the emergence of Stan Lee. So DC and Warner has a lot of pressure to make things work, all eyes were on them as they build their own cinematic universe. It also did not help that Warner/DC has always been vocal with the direction of their Cinematic Universe, that they want to distinguish it from Marvel by grounding their movies in realism and thought provoking storylines. So yeah the pressure was on them, and critics expected too much from their movies.  

The Best Comic book Batman on screen!

The casts did well in trying to give us a satisfying movie. Ben Affleck soared well as the definitive comic book Batman on screen, beating Michael Keaton (who was more of a cinematic gothic Batman) and Christian Bale (who was more of a realistic/political Batman that you could easily substitute with a police or detective character and the movie would still work) on that front. Henry Cavill on the other hand, I have began to accept that his version of Superman is still on the rough edges and not as fully formed as the Superman that we all know. Because let's be real, his Superman has existed for around 2 years only, so he's still in the process of building the right heroic characteristics as the experiences will show him along the way. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman did well in her fight scenes, but I will have to judge her further in her own Wonder Woman movie. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is polarizing to fans as they clamor for a more composed and mature Luthor, but one thing I've learned in dealing with live action movies and comic books is that to separate both, because you can never appreciate the beauty of art if you constrain them to one incarnation or another. We can always go back to our comic books if the movie universe fails us. So Lex is still a character in development. Eisenberg did brilliant work with the assigned character that he was given by Snyder and team, so why blame him. I'm partial with Amy Adams as Lois. The blonde never really worked for me, and her beauty is not the Lois that is on my mind. Teri Hatcher is still my favorite Lois, but Adams is beginning to grow on me. I just find her soft voice distracting. The other casts did ok for me. Kevin Costner's ghostly appearance was a surprise though.

Batman V Superman weighted by critics expectations and it's rich legendary history

Overall Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is not really a bad film as critics suggests. I still stand by my opinion that the movie was just weighted down by it's own legendary expectations. And we all could not wait for the big fight to happen, so screw the build up and let's just get it on, and hanger ons like Wonder Woman and Doomsday are not welcome as critics suggests. Is the film perfect? Not really. Could it have been better? Probably. Is it worth the price of admission? Most definitely! The fight scenes and breathtaking cinematography alone is worth seeing. The movie draws heavily from the comic book storyline of the Dark Knight Returns and the Death of Superman. After you've done watching the movie, I suggest you go get these two books which are now collected in graphic novel format. Believe me, it will open your eyes to the possibilities of how great the DC Cinematic Universe will be. I'm giving the movie a solid 8/10.

My thoughts on the critics of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

The long wait is finally over! After 3 long years, the movie that DC FANS (with an emphasis on DC FANS) has finally hit the screens, and boy oh boy, it's getting mixed reviews and being clobbered by film critics. My take? somewhere in the middle, but leaning towards on the positive end. How did I arrived with that judgement? There are two train of thoughts here. One can review it as a casual movie fan who is accustomed to superhero movies done by Marvel because Marvel seemed to be the trendsetter for superhero movies because as of now, they get the head start in terms of the volume of superhero movies produced. Secondly, one can review it as a longtime DC fan who is well knowledgeable about the DC Universe. As much as I am a DC Fan first, I will try to review it somewhere in between those two train of thoughts. And that's why I'm giving it a mixed review. But it doesn't mean that YOU should not watch it, because there are a lot more good reasons for you to watch it if you wanna get introduced to DC's cinematic universe's way of telling their story.

But let me get this off my chest first. I absolutely hate the bias that critics are giving the movie. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (BVS for short) does not deserve the negative ratings that the critics are giving it. Mixed would be acceptable, but Negative? No! it is wrong. I'm numerating the most common criticisms in the movie below.
 
1.) It's joyless/humorless
2.) Too Dark
3.) Dragging
4.) Too many plot threads happening all at once
5.) It's done by Zack Snyder! (and the bias kicks in for all Snyder movies)

Smile Superman please?

If you look at number one, it can only mean that critics has preconceived biases that superhero movies should be light, humorous, and fun. They have already put superhero movies in a box in the same way Western movies should be about cowboys, horses, indians and shootouts. Or terrifying horror movies should have a traditional ghost in the mold of Sadako (of The Ring Fame). They have already put Marvel as the gold standard for Superhero movies, which is really unfair. Because in the world of comic books, Marvel and DC is never the same. To be fair, let us commend Disney/Marvel for their attempts to connect their superhero movie to kids, because this brings in the dollars in terms of merchandising, and what nots that widens their products reach and not limited to a few. In fact if you compare Marvel's animated series/movies to DC's animated series/movies, Marvel's always are lighthearted. But the problem is, it doesn't get too much legs as they have to compete with other kiddie shows. DC on the other hand is serious in tone, and it owes to the success of Batman: the animated series, which spawned the so called Timmiverse (named after producer/director Bruce Timm), extending their animated series to multiple titles like Superman, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, which lasted at a minimum 3 seasons each. BVS cannot win the critics over because they have already prejudged and shoehorned the Superhero movies, and that started with how they blasted Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, the precursor to BVS.

Batman is the Dark Knight, get it? So why should he be sunny?

Number two works almost in similar with number one, but to be fair, Critics let Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy pass and get rave reviews. Wanna know why? Because Batman works for them! If the word "The Dark" is no giveaway, Nolan's epic trilogy is grounded on crime drama and sets it's feet in a world where Batman can be real. And it works for the critics. But when Man of Steel hits the theaters, it was bombarded by negative reviews. You can read my reactions about that movie here. The criticisms of BVS being too dark can be solely trace back to Man of Steel. Most often critics still hasn't gotten over with the thought that Superman should not be dark. They still have a hangover with the Christopher Reeve Superman. As a fan, I can understand that, because I too never gave the DC New 52 Superman comic books a chance, because I was too hangover with the idea that my Superman is the Post-crisis Superman that John Byrne started. Batman works well being Dark as evidenced by the Nolan trilogy, it's just that they could never accept Snyder's Dark Superman. So how can a movie that has Batman in it too Dark?

Superman dragging a ship, like BVS opening moments?

Number three in some way I will accept. I agree the first half of the movie tends to be too dragging. But maybe it's because we want Batman and Superman to fight already? Snyder and his writers (Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer) valiantly tried to set up reasons why Batman and Superman should fight. To some the reasons worked, to others it don't. So let me recall the reasons, Luthor set up Batman and Superman to fight each other by playing their emotions. And I personally love the fact that Luthor used Superman's mother Martha Kent as his bait for Superman to fight Batman. While Batman's reasons smartly interconnects with the Man of Steel climactic battle was a brilliant move. In the comic books, Batman has this paranoia that Superman might turn evil when left unchecked. So yes their interpretation of the fight remains faithful to the source materials. Snyder and team could have shorten the groundwork for that to happen though.

Dawn of Justice right? Of course this is a Prequel for the Justice League movie

But then number four can be tied directly to number three. Because Snyder and co. were also setting up Justice League as the title Dawn of Justice suggests, there were plot threads that were incorporated in the movie that eventually made the movie dragging. I personally have no problem with that. Because I understand that this movie is also a setup for Justice League, in the same way that Iron Man 2 was a set up for the Avengers movie. The only fault DC had is that they only have one movie prior to BVS to set up their Justice League. So understandably it gets crammed up in one movie. Contrast that to Marvel where they had 5 movies to set up their Avengers movie. But again we shouldn't compare DC to Marvel because both are not the same in the first place. But yes I do agree that there were too many plot threads going on. Let me count the ways, there's Batman's story, Superman's story, Lex Luthor's story, Wonder Woman's mini-story, factor in Lois Lane and the Daily Planet, so yes there were too many going ons.

Zack Snyder movies anyone?

Lastly number five, Zack Snyder! Critics had already killed the movie the moment Zack Snyder is mentioned as the director. It is ostensibly the same way when Michael Bay is mentioned. Transformers is being killed by critics and fans but it didn't stop Michael Bay from creating more Transformers movies. When it comes to Snyder, I thoroughly enjoyed his 300 movie (though I haven't seen the sequel yet). Watchmen is also a movie of his that I thoroughly enjoyed, although critics lambasted it. Watchmen is almost a complete page by page adaptation of the graphic novel (except for a revised plot thread), which angered critics because Snyder never made any effort to differentiate his movie from the source material. But really, there was no other way to do Watchmen but to try to faithfully adapt the source material because for me that is the only way of telling the Watchmen story on screen. BVS combines elements from perhaps two of the best Batman and Superman comic books, The Dark Knight Returns for Batman and The Death of Superman for Superman. And like Watchmen, I saw some scenes that faithfully appeared in the comic books. Simply put, it's like the scenes jumped right out of the comic books! As a comic book fan, these were the best moments of the film. Critics won't appreciate it because for sure they couldn't view the film from the eyes of a comic book fan. Take my advice, read those books, it will help a lot in appreciating this movie. Zack Snyder is a great visual director. And I'm all for him for the DC cinematic universe moving forward. Maybe to tightening up their story telling, DC should consider to hire brilliant writers moving forward. Chris Terrio is a step in the right direction. For this movie, he just came in too late as basically the premise is already set, and Terrio had to do rewrites under the given premise.  

See it in IMAX. All your money's worth!

In closing, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is far from being a perfect movie. Could I say that so far this is the best Superhero movie to date? Probably. If we take out the dragging setup and just watch the movie starting from the Batman vs Superman fight down to the last frame of the movie, then hell yeah! This is the best Superhero movie ever! What we saw from those action scenes and climactic battles is worth the price of admission (not to mention the breathtaking cinematography). And I'm telling you, you should not miss this movie. Screw the critics! There was never a perfect movie anyway. Each has their flaws, it's just that critics were dead set on killing this movie before it was already released yet because of the critic's baggage of the Man of Steel movie. My feelings as a whole is mixed If I'm not going to be biased because of the flaws of the storytelling, but like I said earlier, it's mixed leaning towards the positive because the fight scenes and the cinematography eventually will totally outweigh the negatives of the movies. Take my advice, do not miss this movie!

Superman III and the Neca Christopher Reeve Superman review

Neca Christopher Reeve Superman

So my NECA Christopher Reeve Superman finally arrived. I lucked out on this action figure via the Warner Brothers online store and what could I say? It's just like a mini Hot Toys Christopher Reeve Superman action figure. The figure's likeness is just plain awesome. But before we tackle on the action figure, let us look back at the third Superman movie as I continue my series of Superman movie reviews. Was the movie really a failure as many pundits had labeled it to be? Or was there a chance that the movie could have been made better? Read on...

Superman III

Superman II replacement director Richard Lester finally had the opportunity to direct a Superman movie to his liking. However, key actors from the previous two Superman movies decided to boycott this film due to the harsh treatment of Richard Donner (Original Superman 1 and 2 director) by Superman producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind. Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor) and Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) led the charge with Hackman entirely skipping the film while Kidder was forced to just have a cameo role for the film as punishment for her criticizing the Salkinds. Starting from scratch with no prior screenplay to work on (as Warner Bros. rejected the Salkind's plan to use Mr. Mxyzptlk, Brainiac, and Supergirl for this film), Lester decided to make use of his strengths as a director by deciding to go camp in this third Superman movie. Known for movies that have slapstick humors, comedy, and campiness, Lester concocted a story that had Richard Pryor (Gus Gorman) serve as the central character who would deliver the campiness that the movie would require of. The absence of Lois Lane would also give rise to the opportunity to bring Clark Kent/Superman's high school sweetheart Lana Lang (played by Annette O' Toole) to the big screen. The main villain of the movie however were characters specially made for the movie but were actually a pastiche of billionaire businessman turned into mad scientist Lex Luthor as Hackman refused to take part in this movie as his form of protest. There was already a screenplay in place that would have utilized Mr. Mxyzptlk as the comedic character who would drive this movie into campiness, with Brainiac serving as the main villain and Supergirl playing a support role but Warner Bros. rejected the screenplay treatment written by Ilya Salkind. This however did not deter the Salkinds from changing the direction of the movie as they made adjustments to still utilize a Supercomputer as Superman's villain in the movie in lieu of Brainiac.    

Clark Kent v.s. Superman?

The movie opens in camp style as Superman rescues a person who was about to be drowned inside his car when water from a fire hydrant poured into it. The campy scene would simultaneously be seen as the opening credits rolled in, departing from the famous opening credits of the previous two Superman movies where the setting was in space. Gus Gorman is a down on his luck unemployed loser who accidentally discovers that he has a talent for computers. He is hired by Webscoe, a company owned by Ross Webster (played by Robert Vaughn), as a computer programmer. Webster, upon noticing Gorman's computer wizardry, orders him to hack into a weather satellite and create a tornado to destroy a Columbian company's coffee crop for refusing to do business with him. But Superman arrives to save the day which infuriates Webster. Webster orders Gorman to create a Kryptonite so that they could destroy Superman. Meanwhile, Clark Kent manages to convince Perry White to send him to Smallville as he plans to attend his high school reunion. There he meets Lana Lang again, his former high school sweetheart. But their romance could no longer be rekindled as Lana reveals to Clark that she is already married and has a son. She however convinces Clark to let Superman attend her son's birthday party as her son is a huge Superman fan. Gus Gorman on the other hand failed to recreate an exact Kryptonite rock replica as there was one compound missing, substituting it with Tar instead.    

Superman v.s. the Supercomputer

The Smallville community got wind of Superman attending a birthday party decides to hold a homecoming for him. This development reaches Webster and he orders the delivery of the Kryptonite rock. The Kryptonite rock however did not weaken Superman but instead causes him to have adverse effects on his mental state. Superman turns into an aggressive and sadistic individual who uses his powers to create mischief. Under the manipulation of Webster, Superman wreaks havoc on various edifice and goes on a drinking spree which eventually caused him to have a nervous breakdown. Superman crashes on a junkyard and splits into two individuals. One, the immoral and sadistic Superman, and the second one the moral and uptight Clark Kent. The two individuals battles each other out, ending with a triumphant Clark Kent. Kent changes into his Superman costume and heads on to Webster's secret hideout where he finds Webster and Gorman controlling a huge supercomputer. Superman battles the menace of the supercomputer and was about to lose the battle when Gorman decides to help him after Gorman became guilt ridden of the possibility that he would be labeled as the man who has destroyed Superman. Superman destroys the supercomputer and drops Gorman in a coal mine factory as he flew into the sunset, looking forward for more Superman adventures.

Superdrunkard

Superman III is much criticized by the general public and Superman fans as a failure because of the campy direction that it took. It however in my opinion showed a lot of promise. One of the few saving graces of the movie was Christopher Reeve's portrayal of the evil Superman. Reeve was well loved for his portrayal of Superman but many were surprised with his performance of a character that ran exactly the opposite of Superman. Reeve's acting versatility was clearly highlighted when he effortlessly switched between roles of a good Superman and an Evil Superman. The Supercomputer bit also could have been more appreciated by Superman fans if Warner Bros. allowed the use of Brainiac. I mean we were haphazardly given a Cyborg baddie, I'm sure the movie could have gotten a big boost with Brainiac being the main villain. The movie also could have toned down the campiness of that Gus Gorman character. The character totally changed the whole tone of the movie and instead made the movie focus on Gorman more instead of Superman. The only good thing that came out from this movie was that this was the last time Richard Lester was given a chance to direct a Superman movie. However, Richard Donner was not coming back. And we still have Superman IV to look forward to.    

NECA Superman

The Action Figure: And now, for the best part of this blog entry, the NECA Christopher Reeve Superman action figure review. And I just have to get this out, this definitely is one action figure that every Superman fan should get their hands on. This NECA Christopher Reeve Superman is one great figure to own as it gives us the only Superman movie rendition in 6 or 7 inch scale. Forget about Hot Toys, or NECA's huge 1/4 scale Christopher Reeve Superman. Those two mentioned had it easy when we talk about the sculpted likeness of Christopher Reeve. But at this small scale, you just have to be amazed at how awesome NECA managed to come up with a great sculpted likeness of Christopher Reeve at this size. Neither Mattel nor DC Collectibles was able to give us the definite Christopher Reeve Superman. Mattel failed in their 4 inch experiment of a Christopher Reeve Superman. DC Collectible on the other hand came close by utilizing a Gary Frank Superman art for their Commander El action figure. Gary Frank was a Superman artist who drew his Superman using the likeness of Christopher Reeve. Unfortunately, DC Collectibles never made a figure utilizing the head sculpt of the Commander El figure in a Superman body. I don't know what led them to abandon plans of releasing a complete figure of a Gary Frank Superman. But this however led many toy collectors to customize their own Gary Frank Superman. I was one of those and I decided to customize my own Gary Frank/Christopher Reeve Superman by doing a very simple head swap. But I have since then returned the original head of the History of the DC Universe Superman to its body and utilized instead the body of a spare DC Direct highly articulated Superman. That figure will be shown below.

NECA Superman's cloth cape

The NECA Superman action figure comes free of purchase from a specially packaged Man of Steel DVD. The reasoning behind this move is for NECA to stay clear of exclusive rights toy licensing issues as Mattel and DC Collectibles holds the exclusive rights to outright Superman action figure releases. This is similar to how NECA released their Michael Keaton Batman in the previous year. The NECA Superman comes with a cloth cape which hangs nicely in his back. It even includes the yellow S shield that is printed nicely on its cape. The figure comes with 24 points of articulation namely, a ball jointed head, ball-hinged shoulders, swivel-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, swivel waist, ball-hinged swivel hips, swivel-hinged knees, and rocker ankle swivel-hinged ankles. The figure also comes with extra open palm hands that you could replaced the closed fists with. I however refrained from using the open palm hands in the figure because this NECA Superman figure is notorious for its brittle joints as many collectors found their figure with broken joints either from out of the box, or through constant movement of the joints overtime. There were no clear explanations for this as some collectors found their figure in sturdy shape but I was unfortunately one of those who ended up with a broken joint. But my brother managed to fix the figure's broken right knee. No worries there as the figure now is in tip top shape and the fixed joints are even sturdier than before. Regardless, this figure is so hard to find and is fetching at a very expensive price in the secondary market that we even could no longer find a replacement figure for this. But I'm not shedding any tears with this because the figure looks and functions brand new to me. I'm just thankful and lucky to own one!

This is how it broke

Extra hands

Christopher Reeve!

The paint applications of this figure also remains faithful to the onscreen color. The figure is painted with the right hue of blue, red, and yellow. Even the cape's red color is faithful to the onscreen cape color. Thus making this figure look like it literally jumped out of our T.V. sets. And did I just say how awesome the likeness of this figure to Christopher Reeve's face is? The photo on the right clearly shows a human like quality to its face and it is truly faithful to Christopher Reeve's likeness. I think of all the action figures that I've seen in 6 inch scale, this figure has the most faithful rendition from its source material. I could be wrong but NECA seems to have blown the competition away. NECA's movie licensed action figures have even been making huge improvement over McFarlane's much lauded ultra realistic sculpts. And their carefully crafted points of articulation could give Mattel and Hasbro a run for their money. The body down to its waist and crotch by the way is made of rubbery plastic. I'm not sure what NECA was thinking in coming with this type of material but I surely hope that these rubbery plastics don't break in the long run. I've had some unsavory experiences with rubbery plastics as it tends to break overtime maybe due to humidity or for some other reason. Overall this is a great figure to have but I'm not sure if playability is high for this figure. Broken joints due to stuck paints and brittle joints are highly probable. It's like DC Direct all over again. I don't know why beautifully sculpted figures like NECA and DC Direct always have problems with sturdy joint articulations.  But if all else fails however, this figure is such a great looking display piece that it could easily stand on the shelf like forever and not worry about broken joints and the likes. More photos below.

Superman as seen on the big screen and T.V. sets

Superman III

Flight!

Face-Off

Superman v.s. Superman

Has the Evil Superman won?

Superman in danger

The Return

Superman strikes back

Superman triumphant

The world is safer with a real Superman

Christopher Reeve is...

Superman!

The many faces of the modern age Superman

Gary Frank Superman

And like I've mentioned earlier, I've also included in this entry my new Custom Christopher Reeve Superman or should I say my Gary Frank Superman. I utilized the body of the History of the DC Universe Superman in my old custom figure but lately I managed to find a Class A Knock Off DC Direct Superman. I think it is prudent that I should keep the History of the DC Universe Superman figure intact as It is one of the more rarer Superman figures in the market. This bootleg figure shares the same body with this Superman figure. So it features quite a number of points of articulation and I'm happy with how the figure looks like after the simple head swap. I could say this Knock Off figure is very much sturdier than the original one as I've seen the plastic joints utilize sturdier plastics than the clear plastic ones of the original ones that DC Direct is notorious of. The color scheme of the costume also runs faithful to the Gary Frank art or the Superman movies of the 80's. I think for those who failed to get the NECA Superman figure, this custom figure would make be a good substitute as many collectors used to utilize this body when they were customizing a Christopher Reeve Superman. The only downside for this custom figure however is that the DC Direct Commander El figure is hard to find because many collectors snatched multiple items of this figure due to the Christopher Reeve likeness and its custom potential. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see if NECA decides to re-release their Christopher Reeve Superman figure. Or better yet, release a version of the Evil Superman from Superman III. Simple re-paint would do. I mean NECA did initially release a recolored Michael Keaton Batman that was based on the 8 bit Batman Nintendo game.

Christopher Reeve likeness, yes or no?

Ready to fight

Flight

Superman

Up Up and Away

Scale Comparison

Brandon Routh, Christopher Reeve, Tom Welling, and Henry Cavill

Well this wraps up my entry. So we've got one more Christopher Reeve Superman to go and what better way to end up my Christopher Reeve Superman review series by posting my review of the Hot Toys Christopher Reeve Superman. See you in my next entry!

The curious case of the Deadpool Knock-Offs

Head hunting is fun

With the Deadpool movie hitting (pun intended) the cinemas, the hype for Deadpool action figures is now reaching its feverish pitch. I remember last December, while I was toy hunting in my favorite shopping mall (Greenhills Shopping Center), I came across a kid probably aged 9 or 10 years old, looking for Deadpool action figures. He was accompanied by his big sister who was trying to convince him to take Captain America instead to no avail. I remember telling him to just wait for the movie to come out, for sure Deadpool action figures would flood toy stores. Lo and behold, January came and a fresh batch of Deadpool action figures started flooding the toy stores in Greenhills Shopping Center and over at Ebay. But wait, Deadpool action figures have become a rare find nowadays so why the sudden abundance? Upon closer inspection, these aren't your Hasbro Marvel Legends Deadpools. These are actually Knock-Offs! As in fake, unlicensed replicas of the original Hasbro Marvel Legends Deadpool action figures. And the Hasbro Marvel Legends aren't the only victims, Hasbro Marvel Universe and Diamond Marvel Select Deadpools also had their own share of Knock-Offs. I didn't purchase the Marvel Universe and Marvel Select ones, so I'm reviewing instead the Marvel Legends one as I managed to snag one of the better made qualities of this Knock-Off figure when it was first released last year.

Hasbro Marvel Legends Deadpool Knock-Off

My earlier close encounter with this Deadpool Knock Off was sometime March of last year when it initially hit the market. I managed to purchase the last remaining Deadpool Knock-Off in my favorite thrift shop but couldn't hold on to it longer when someone offered to trade it for his Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Legends Stryfe. Of course I bit the bullet. At that time I was thinking that Stryfe might be rarer than this Deadpool figure. I mean, it wouldn't hurt this time around as I used to own the original Hasbro Marvel Legends Red Deadpool/Warpath two-pack but sold it at a very good price at that time. Besides, at the back of my mind, I'm guessing that these Knock-Offs will eventually come in large volumes once the hype machine finally starts rolling when the movie starts hitting theaters. True enough they did. But the problem was, a lot of the figures have defective joints or stucked waist. Still, it did not dissuade me from purchasing one. I got my second Deadpool Knock-Off around April last year. Prices were much higher this time around as the demand began to spike up. But as the movie started to draw near, droves and droves of these figures started to sprout like mushrooms all over the place. By January of this year, the prices of these figures started to drop due to the law of supply and demand. The quality of these recent Deadpools are also awful as most of these have stucked wrists and ankles that if you force to bend them, they would eventually break. I also came across in some toy shops Deadpool Knock-Offs that are better in quality. With the quality of the plastic almost the same as the original ones. These are limited in quantity, and I could no longer find him in my favorite thrift shop. I'm not biting the price range of these better Knock-Offs though.

Slice and Dice

The Action Figure: The Deadpool Knock-Offs retains all of the original Deadpool's points of articulation. It also comes with a complete set of weapons. Two katanas with sheathes, rifle, and a pistol hand gun. The katanas are easily bendable, sometimes distorting its natural form. The sheathes are also easily removed, to the point of being too annoying as it easily falls off from the figure. The plastic used in this figure is that of hard plastic that is very brittle in which if you forcefully bend the joints, you'll end up with a broken figure. The plastic also has this toxic plastic smell that is similar to those bootleg toys from China. Though not as strong smelling as the really ugly bootleg toys. The figure is actually a good stand in for the original if you are only using the figure for display. But too much playing with the figure will leave you with loose hip ball joints. These type of Knock-Offs also comes in two colors. The original Red Deadpool and the Grey colored X-Force Deadpool that is a Knock-Off of the Return of Marvel Legends Wave 3 Deadpool. I also managed to have a close inspection of the other better quality Knock-Off and by leaps and bounds those figures really are closest to the original ones. One can identify the better quality Knock-Off by locating a Deadpool mask insignia on the rifle. The quality of the red color body suit is also much clearer than the Knock-Off that I have. This particular Knock-Off comes in three colors, Red, Grey, and Blue which is a Knock-Off of the Variant Deadpool/Warpath two-pack.      

Striking my sexy pose!

Knock-Off Red Deadpool and Original Blue Deadpool

Here on the left is a photo of a scale comparison with my original Blue Deadpool from the Deadpool/Warpath two-pack. I think the Knock-Off one is noticeably taller than the original one. I don't know if this holds true when you compare it with the original Red Deadpools. Let me share to you a little back story of my original Blue Deadpool. I don't know if I made the right decision but I used to own original versions of the Hasbro Red Deadpool and the X-Force Grey Deadpool. I had two Red Deadpool/Warpath two-pack which I sold one to my cousin and the other one to a toy collector completist. I also managed to own a Grey X-Force Deadpool but I foolishly traded it for a Marvel Legends U.S. Agent action figure. I don't know if I made the right decision but I decided to retain the Blue Deadpool because I think this figure would be rarer as time passes. This version of Deadpool I think only appeared in one issue in the Cable/Deadpool comic book. If I remembered it right, the X-Men had hired Deadpool to capture Cable for them thus making Deadpool suit up in X-Men costume colors. Since I'm a huge X-Men fan and I needed to dispose my extra Deadpools back then, I decided to retain this particular X-Men Deadpool. He actually looks nice when displayed with the X-Men Strike Force Uniforms (the Blue and Yellow costume that was famously worn by Forge, Banshee, and Wolverine). I think he is not as hyped as the Red Deadpool but I guess I'll have to live with it. Besides the Red and Grey ones are the easier to find Knock-Offs than the Blue ones.

Red v.s. Blue, K.O. versus Authentic

Cable and Deadpool

Hyped figures!

Like Deadpool, the so called Toybiz Todd McFarlane (J. Scott Campbell to Spider-Man fans) Spider-Man is also one of the most hyped action figures to collectors. And like Deadpool, there was a time that this particular Spider-Man was in abundance due to the sudden outbreak of Knock-Off figures. But that is another story for another time. (Deadpool is now apparently pointing a gun on my head forcing me to reveal that he is not the only much hyped Marvel Legends action figure that had a Knock-Off version.)

Watch our movie, in Cinemas now!

In closing, the dearth of Knock-Off action figures is a bane to toy-collectors who had prided themselves in being able to own a rare action figure. But for those who just wanted to have a Deadpool action figure (like that little kid I mentioned earlier), these figures are of great help in terms of filling in the holes of their Marvel Legends collection. But still, nothing beats the original. Especially if you could find one at collector friendly price. (I sold mine twice the price of retail but 1/4 of the current market value).