The DCEU Flavor Profile - Part II
Streaming on Netfllix
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bombs: Booster Pack
Last week’s flavor profile of the DCEU ended with Joker (2019): a bitter pill. Divisive as the film is, it signaled a turning point for Warner Bros. The latter half of the DCEU leans into its lack of a unifying vision, producing bolder flavors (for better or worse).
ICYMI:
The DCEU Flavor Profile - Part I
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bombs Superhero fatigue has incubated amongst American moviegoers for at least half a decade. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has pumped out consistently palatable content for fifteen years. If the MCU were a box of chocolates, it would be a suitably tasty treat. There would be variety: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, caram…
Birds of Prey (2020) - Cocaine Candyfloss
Birds of Prey (and the Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is, by far, my favorite DC movie. Harley Quinn and The Joker have broken up. No longer under the “Clown Prince of Crime’s,” protection, all of the enemies Harley has made over the year come calling.
The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, structurally it resembles Deadpool. However, Cathy Yang’s female-driven antihero extravaganza is a giddy rebuke of Suicide Squad’s (2016) abysmal rendering of Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie owns the role, resulting in one of the greatest characters in the DC’s pantheon.
WW84 (2020) - Cheap Perfume
Following the success of Wonder Woman (2017), director Patty Jenkins was given creative control over Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84). The Cold War is an interesting temporal setting for a Wonder Woman film. Alas, Patty Jenkins appears to have gotten lost in the sauce. It so desperately wants to be a crowd-pleaser, but it hits the pallet like a swig of cheap perfume. The final film is an unsubtle rebuke of devious, power-hungry men who physically resemble Donald Trump.
The film’s opening action sequence is a high point, but it’s all downhill from there. The synthetic taste lingers on the tongue, its fragrance suffocating. The film insists on placing Diana’s romantic relationships at the film’s center, and the results are disastrous and, frankly, regressive and strange. Weird questions of consent, strange geopolitics, and a caddy portrayal of female jealousy abound in this lazy rehash of the “monkey paw” premise.
WW84 sucks in ways that I find extremely uninteresting, which is deeply unfortunate.
The Suicide Squad (2021) - Funfetti Pot Brownie
The Suicide Squad (note the definitive article) is not quite a sequel, not quite a reboot, nor is it a remake. Guided by James Gunn’s profane proclivities, The Suicide Squad is a hyper-violent romp, built upon a genuine interest in its characters. Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, but the rest of the squad are new characters played by A-List stars including Idris Elba and John Cena.
Press play, sink into the couch, and enjoy The Suicide Squad.
The Batman (2022) - Black Licorice
Matt Reeves’ The Batman, featuring Robert Pattison under the cowl, quickly tilts into dark territory, especially considering the film maintained a PG-13 rating. By no means is this the first Batman film with the potential to emotionally scar children— Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992) and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) blazed that trail.
Reeve’s three-hour epic of crime and corruption reintroduces gothic aesthetics, amps up the angst, and takes no prisoners. The villain is violent, the stakes are high, and it's an exciting direction for the character. It’s Batman by way of S7ven and Saw. I’m a big fan of the film but, like black licorice, it has the potential to raise your blood pressure and may not be for everyone.
Black Adam (2022) - Diet American Imperialism
I know I’ve seen Black Adam relatively recently. I mean, it only came out last year. However, I regret to report that I don’t remember the movie very well. What I do remember is the political incoherence of the film’s subtext. Rock “The Dwayne” Johnson is Black Adam, an anti-hero and protector of Kahndaq, a fictional Middle Eastern country under military occupation by Intergang, a stateless occupying force that definitely isn’t the United States military. No, no, no. Amanda Waller, an agent of the American government, regards Black Adam as a national security threat and dispatches the Justice Society as peacekeepers protecting international interests that coincidentally seem to align with the US interests. It’s unfortunate that the film doesn’t have the gumption to make a political statement about the real world.
If you’re one of those people who complain about politics in your entertainment, relax. Black Adam is toothless.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) - Axe Body Spray x Bath & Body Works
If the smells of a middle school hallway were a flavor, it would be Shazam! Fury of the Gods. I don’t have much more to say. I mean, it’s a sequel to Shazam!, so it’s essentially a non-entity.
[NOTE: The Flash (2023) & Blue Beetle (2023) are *not* streaming on Netflix. They are currently streaming on Max.]
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Until next week, film freaks.