When the movie begins with a young Clark Kent crying because his friend found an alien in a movie scary, you know how badly it's going to handle its themes. I'm not going to bother focusing much on the technical aspects, because they're the only good elements of the film. The animation is surprisingly good and smooth. I don't love the style, but it's expressive, looks good, and works. It's definitely above average for DC animated films. Voice acting is serviceable, nothing special. I don't usually mention the sound design, because good sound design should immerse you in the world and not distract you, but I particularly noticed how quiet this movie is. There's barely any ambience noise, it all sounds so off in some scenes, but it's serviceable overall. The music is literally unnoticeable. I don't remember any music from the movie, there is a lack of it in many scenes, and in the scenes where it's there I didn't notice. There isn't much else to mention, so let's jump into the story, which is what makes this one of the worst Superman movies of all time...
After we began with that silly scene in the beginning, we go back to the present. Lex Luthor is doing a rocket launch. He allows Lois Lane to ask him a question, and she exposes him. The rocket launch fails, he gets arrested and Superman saves everyone from the rocket falling into a city. After a scene in the Daily Planet, out of nowhere, Lobo just comes so we can have some action. Lobo says there's a bounty on the last Kryptonian. Now this brings up a few questions. How do they know he's a Kryptonian, why did they come for him now, who put the bounty on him, and why? None of these are answered. I should probably mention that the action is pretty solid, until it starts making no sense. Lobo doesn't know why Superman is so strong, but he conveniently has a Kryptonite ring. Then he has a bomb that turns a random guy into the next villain, Parasite. When Superman is about to get beat by the Kryptonite ring, Martian Manhunter comes out of nowhere, and buys time for Clark to heal and stop Lobo.
Most of the non action scenes in this movie are just about "Xenophobia bad." This isn't necessarily a bad thing, except it's handled so poorly. it's actually really dumb. Martian Manhunter comes to talk to Superman, but instead of just revealing himself and saying "Hey, I want to talk." He comes in all ominous, with red eyes, and then mind controls Pa Kent for a second for literally no reason other than fake tension. Anyways they have another talk about "Xenophobia bad," with the subtlety of one of Superman's punches. He also gets his Superman costume in this scene. I kinda like how he gets a cape because he sees Batman has one, but I feel like all the references to other characters feel forced. There's a scene where Parasite's family is sad that he's in the hospital, and other scenes later on, which are a waste of time to humanize the character. He just Absorbs the life energy of some doctors, leaving them as shriveled up corpses, and leaves.
Lois is trying to expose the aliens, so she interviews Lobo. Parasite comes with perfect timing, and frees Lobo accidentally. Superman comes with perfect timing, and then so does Martian Manhunter. Parasite absorbs Superman's powers, some of his knowledge, and now he is weakened. Same thing happens to Martian Manhunter, except then Parasite BURNS HIM ALIVE WITH HEAT VISION, LEAVING ASHES. As a Martian Manhunter fan I was pretty pissed, but these are the least of this movie's problems. Now he leaves Superman alive because...? Anyways, there's another scene with Lois, but she's honestly just annoying, and it gives Clark the idea to go to Lex Luthor for help... So because Superman needs help, Lex Luthor is freed to help him. What? This makes no sense, but okay. Lex Luthor discovers that Parasite absorbs weaknesses too, and then Lobo comes to tell him the weakness after he was tracked down. Now I'm questioning why does Lobo care? He wants to kill Superman, so just kill him now since he's weakened, but nope, he's going to help apparently. Superman is working with an alien bounty hunter and a killer. He trusts them and they know his weaknesses. What could go wrong? Apparently Parasite also stole is intelligence, if he's this dumb.
Parasite becomes giant, and they fight, but conveniently he losses Superman's powers, and Superman gains them again. Then Lobo suicide bombs him... What the hell? Also considering he now has Martian Manhunter's powers, why can't Superman laser him just like Parasite did to Martian Manhunter? And why did the explosion (which contains heat and fire) not hurt him either? I don't know, and clearly the writers don't care. Parasite is literally Godzilla now, and shoots beams from his mouth. The Parasite only has to absorb the power plant to become "too powerful to stop," but of course he goes for Superman. Wow, what a surprise! Lex Luthor betrays Superman and stops both the Parasite and Superman. Plot twist! Martian Manhunter is alive because he tricked Parasite, even though Parasite is shown to absorb knowledge too... Superman still apparently has powers even though Parasite just absorbed his powers. Lex Luthor runs away with the Kryptonite and leaves Parasite to go to a group of people, when Parasite can just absorb the power plant... So then Superman gives a stupid speech to Parasite that he's still human, and then he gives a speech about Xenophobia to the group of people, while Parasite just stands there. Now Parasite absorbs Superman's powers again. I still don't know why Parasite doesn't just kill him, but okay. Why doesn't Martian Manhunter use the Kryptonite weapons? I don't know. The power plant is exploding and Parasite absorbs the energy and dies. How convenient. It's shown as a sad moment even though this man brutally murdered multiple people. At least xenophobia is eradicated because Superman gave an epic speech!
That's it. The movie ends with Martian Manhunter and Superman letting Lobo (who survived his suicide bombing) go, even though he's an alien bounty hunter who created parasite, plus wanted to kill both Superman and Martian Manhunter. It was funny though how Lobo mentions that they're all the last survivors of their planets because Lobo killed all of his race. He plays it off as a joke, but comic readers will know this is true. He reveals that there are more Martians, so Martian Manhunter leaves to find them, and that's basically it. Superman is stupid. Lois is annoying. Parasite is an evil monster, but he has a family, so sad. Lobo is a bounty hunter who's trying to kill Superman, but he forgets about it and leaves. At least he was fun. Martian Manhunter is just there I guess, he was fine. This movie barely has a plot or any character development. It's literally mostly just pointless nonsensical fights. I mean the fights aren't bad visually, but it's just boring when the plot and character are so underdeveloped. Oh, don't forget Xenophobia bad! I was really looking forward to this film because it seemed like it was gonna be a bright new direction for DC Animation, after what I found to be an overall pretty bland and lackluster DCAMU (apart from a handful of films), but if this is the direction they're taking, PLEASE COME BACK DCAMU!
3/10
After we began with that silly scene in the beginning, we go back to the present. Lex Luthor is doing a rocket launch. He allows Lois Lane to ask him a question, and she exposes him. The rocket launch fails, he gets arrested and Superman saves everyone from the rocket falling into a city. After a scene in the Daily Planet, out of nowhere, Lobo just comes so we can have some action. Lobo says there's a bounty on the last Kryptonian. Now this brings up a few questions. How do they know he's a Kryptonian, why did they come for him now, who put the bounty on him, and why? None of these are answered. I should probably mention that the action is pretty solid, until it starts making no sense. Lobo doesn't know why Superman is so strong, but he conveniently has a Kryptonite ring. Then he has a bomb that turns a random guy into the next villain, Parasite. When Superman is about to get beat by the Kryptonite ring, Martian Manhunter comes out of nowhere, and buys time for Clark to heal and stop Lobo.
Most of the non action scenes in this movie are just about "Xenophobia bad." This isn't necessarily a bad thing, except it's handled so poorly. it's actually really dumb. Martian Manhunter comes to talk to Superman, but instead of just revealing himself and saying "Hey, I want to talk." He comes in all ominous, with red eyes, and then mind controls Pa Kent for a second for literally no reason other than fake tension. Anyways they have another talk about "Xenophobia bad," with the subtlety of one of Superman's punches. He also gets his Superman costume in this scene. I kinda like how he gets a cape because he sees Batman has one, but I feel like all the references to other characters feel forced. There's a scene where Parasite's family is sad that he's in the hospital, and other scenes later on, which are a waste of time to humanize the character. He just Absorbs the life energy of some doctors, leaving them as shriveled up corpses, and leaves.
Lois is trying to expose the aliens, so she interviews Lobo. Parasite comes with perfect timing, and frees Lobo accidentally. Superman comes with perfect timing, and then so does Martian Manhunter. Parasite absorbs Superman's powers, some of his knowledge, and now he is weakened. Same thing happens to Martian Manhunter, except then Parasite BURNS HIM ALIVE WITH HEAT VISION, LEAVING ASHES. As a Martian Manhunter fan I was pretty pissed, but these are the least of this movie's problems. Now he leaves Superman alive because...? Anyways, there's another scene with Lois, but she's honestly just annoying, and it gives Clark the idea to go to Lex Luthor for help... So because Superman needs help, Lex Luthor is freed to help him. What? This makes no sense, but okay. Lex Luthor discovers that Parasite absorbs weaknesses too, and then Lobo comes to tell him the weakness after he was tracked down. Now I'm questioning why does Lobo care? He wants to kill Superman, so just kill him now since he's weakened, but nope, he's going to help apparently. Superman is working with an alien bounty hunter and a killer. He trusts them and they know his weaknesses. What could go wrong? Apparently Parasite also stole is intelligence, if he's this dumb.
Parasite becomes giant, and they fight, but conveniently he losses Superman's powers, and Superman gains them again. Then Lobo suicide bombs him... What the hell? Also considering he now has Martian Manhunter's powers, why can't Superman laser him just like Parasite did to Martian Manhunter? And why did the explosion (which contains heat and fire) not hurt him either? I don't know, and clearly the writers don't care. Parasite is literally Godzilla now, and shoots beams from his mouth. The Parasite only has to absorb the power plant to become "too powerful to stop," but of course he goes for Superman. Wow, what a surprise! Lex Luthor betrays Superman and stops both the Parasite and Superman. Plot twist! Martian Manhunter is alive because he tricked Parasite, even though Parasite is shown to absorb knowledge too... Superman still apparently has powers even though Parasite just absorbed his powers. Lex Luthor runs away with the Kryptonite and leaves Parasite to go to a group of people, when Parasite can just absorb the power plant... So then Superman gives a stupid speech to Parasite that he's still human, and then he gives a speech about Xenophobia to the group of people, while Parasite just stands there. Now Parasite absorbs Superman's powers again. I still don't know why Parasite doesn't just kill him, but okay. Why doesn't Martian Manhunter use the Kryptonite weapons? I don't know. The power plant is exploding and Parasite absorbs the energy and dies. How convenient. It's shown as a sad moment even though this man brutally murdered multiple people. At least xenophobia is eradicated because Superman gave an epic speech!
That's it. The movie ends with Martian Manhunter and Superman letting Lobo (who survived his suicide bombing) go, even though he's an alien bounty hunter who created parasite, plus wanted to kill both Superman and Martian Manhunter. It was funny though how Lobo mentions that they're all the last survivors of their planets because Lobo killed all of his race. He plays it off as a joke, but comic readers will know this is true. He reveals that there are more Martians, so Martian Manhunter leaves to find them, and that's basically it. Superman is stupid. Lois is annoying. Parasite is an evil monster, but he has a family, so sad. Lobo is a bounty hunter who's trying to kill Superman, but he forgets about it and leaves. At least he was fun. Martian Manhunter is just there I guess, he was fine. This movie barely has a plot or any character development. It's literally mostly just pointless nonsensical fights. I mean the fights aren't bad visually, but it's just boring when the plot and character are so underdeveloped. Oh, don't forget Xenophobia bad! I was really looking forward to this film because it seemed like it was gonna be a bright new direction for DC Animation, after what I found to be an overall pretty bland and lackluster DCAMU (apart from a handful of films), but if this is the direction they're taking, PLEASE COME BACK DCAMU!
3/10