Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie Review

Clash of the titans.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 23, 2015

There comes a time when even gods must die.

Based on the comic book series "The Death of Superman," Superman: Doomsday follows the saga of the Man of Steel's most daunting double-challenge yet: a battle with the ferocious alien beast "Doomsday," an enemy every bit Superman's equal in terms of brute strength, and a second villain, working in cahoots with Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor, who is also more than a match for Kal-El. The movie loosely follows the comic, weaving in basic details but at the same time taking its own direction with the material, yielding a fairly compact -- and disappointingly so -- straightforward saga of good versus evil on an epic scale that boils down to one single theme: brute strength alone does not make Superman, and the world's heroes need more than large pecs, generous biceps, and a cape to protect the innocent. Unfortunately, it's explored in a very base, relatable, uncomplicated black-versus-white style rather than the shades of gray where the strongest drama lives.

In action...for now.

While Lois Lane (voiced by Anne Heche) works to expose Lex Luthor (voiced by James Marsters) as a criminal rather than a philanthropist, her co-worker Clark Kent (voiced by Adam Baldwin) travels to Afghanistan to cover the war. Meanwhile, some of Lex Luthor's henchmen unearth an alien spacecraft that carries the ferocious Doomsday. The creature heads straight for Metropolis and only Superman (also voiced by Adam Baldwin) can stop him. Their battle ends Doomsday's hostilities but it also leaves the city -- and the world -- without its hero. Now, an old enemy finds an opening to make his move and take control, unleashing a new breed of superhero on the city that could tarnish Superman's legacy forever and, more importantly, leave the city more vulnerable than ever before.

Superman: Doomsday proves more purely entertaining than it does dynamically dramatic. While the movie's short runtime sees it progress through plenty of arcs that run the gamut of highs and lows, it feels rather straightforward in delivery, if not even purpose. Rarely, even when the film slows down to contemplate some of the big events, does it feel all that grounded, playing instead like its darker and most intensely dramatic moments are obstacles in the way of the next action scene rather than heartfelt and meaningful pauses in a larger story. Indeed, the movie feels more defined by its action scenes -- which are themselves nothing at all spectacular against the rather large canon of Superhero movie battles that, for the most part, invariably play out the same -- rather than the story arcs and themes that drive the action. In fact, the title "Doomsday" character lacks any sort of definition at all, appearing only to push the narrative to its next level and true purpose rather than play a larger part in the more complex story to follow, a story that all too quickly gives way to genre trope.

The movie is, at least, a solid baseline technical accomplishment. It looks good (though it doesn't sound great; more on that below) and finds a nice rhythm to its action, even if the raw content is rather unspectacular. The film's best technical asset comes via its voice acting, employing a name cast to man the biggest parts -- Superman, etc., Luthor, and Lane -- that uniformly does a good job of bringing the characters to life. Their main drawback is a script that's somewhat flat, one that doesn't necessarily fail at stretching the characters but instead at challenging them along the way. The voice acting, then, sits largely in a middle ground where it neither sounds lazy or forced nor does it come across as purposeful or representative of character growth or thematic direction. Like most of the rest of the movie, the voice performances meet expectations but rarely, if ever, stretch further beyond to make Superman: Doomsday more than a mediocre-to-slightly-better animated Superhero movie that, despite some fantastic ideas and a forward-looking direction, hasn't amounted to all that much by the time the credits start to roll.

Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Superman: Doomsday's 1080p, VC-1 encoded transfer generally holds up very well on Blu-ray. Lines are mostly clean and straight with only a few scattered examples that show an unsightly jaggedness rather than the typical smoothness. Image clarity is strong, and details are generally robust, allowing the artwork's intricate little bits -- largely around backgrounds -- to appear with the exactness of the original depictions. Colors are lively and cheerful with a good, natural balance, particularly evident across brighter shades of red, blue, and green. Black levels are adequately deep and natural with commendable shadow detail. Light banding is present but, fortunately, not much of an issue. On the whole, this is a nice, attractive, and consistent image from Warner Brothers.

Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Superman: Doomsday's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack lacks flavor. It's baseline adequate but fails to find much in the way of weight, immersion, or urgency. Music largely ignores the back speakers, evident early on over the opening titles. Front side spacing suffices, but listeners will surely be disappointed with a lack of even a cursory back end support, not to mention the relatively low volume apparent even at reference levels. Likewise, crashes, explosions, gunshots, and other big, action-type effects fail to command the stage, plopping out of the speakers rather than crashing. Decent little bits of ambience help define places like the Smallville countryside and the Daily Planet offices, but the listener will never feel fully immersed in the locations. Dialogue is, fortunately, balanced and clean with a center-based focus. Ultimately, the track disappoints; what could have been a tremendous listen instead falls flat at every turn.

Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Superman: Doomsday features a comprehensive supplemental support system that explores the story from several angles and includes some minor bits such as trailers and sneak peeks to round it into customer-friendly form.

• Requiem and Rebirth: Superman Lives! (480i, 43:15): The minds behind the comics examine the "Death of Superman" angle in tremendous detail, including concept, execution, fan reaction, and returning Superman to the page.
• Behind the Voice (480i, 5:18): Several voice performers, including Ray Wise, Adam Wylie, Swoosie Kurtz, Anne Heche, and Adam Baldwin, discuss their voice work.
• When Heroes Die: The Making of Superman: Doomsday (480i, 29:16): The creative team behind the movie discusses this, the first in the more adult-oriented line of animated DC films. They cover choosing and shaping the story, characters, story details and themes, holding an audience that knows how the story resolves in the source comics, the mature themes and details included, and more.
• The Clash of the Juggernauts (480i, 13:09): The film's creative team again covers the story behind Superman's death in the comic series, inclusions and omissions from the comic to the film, characters, building the film with three different directors, visual design, and more.
• Audio Commentary: Directors Bruce Timm, Lauren Montgomery, and Brandon Vietti; Writer Duane Capizzi; Voice Caster Andrea Romano; and SVP Creative Affairs for DC Comics Gregory Noveck offer a wide array of comments, including the film's new look, the new line of DC Universe movies, voice casting and performances, the source comics, building the story, core and specific details, story and film structure, and more. The participants share a good chemistry. Much of the broader information repeats from other supplements, but hardcore fans will get enough new out of this to make it worth a listen.
• Justice League: New Frontier (480i, 10:45): A long-format preview for the film.
• Bruce Timm's Top Picks from Superman -- The Animated Series (480i): A selection of four episodes from the animated program. Included are Mxyzpixilated (20:57), Brave New Metropolis (21:15), Apokolips...Now! Part 1 (21:16), and Apokolips...Now! Part 2 (21:20).
• Trailers (480i): Batman Gotham Knight and Appleseed Ex Machina.
• Wonder Woman Sneak Peek (480i, 10:29).

Superman: Doomsday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Superman: Doomsday is a decent Superhero film, one of many in a now-crowded line of animated adventures from DC. It's built on a solid concept formed from the sound foundation of the series on which it is based, but the film largely limps along with little concern for much of anything beyond its action, which itself proves rather stale, albeit technically proficient and exciting on a base level. Voice acting meets requirements, hindered more by a somewhat dull script than a lack of enthusiasm. Still, this is solid enough entertainment; just don't expect to be challenged in any way, even through the film's darker themes and harder edge which are more superficial than they are meaningful. Warner Brothers' Blu-ray release of Superman: Doomsday features strong video, limp audio, and a nice array of bonus features. Worth a rental.