Genre Grandeur – Superman/Batman Public Enemies (2009) – Encore Review – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Animated Comic Book/Strip Movies, here’s a review of Superman/Batman Public Enemies (2009) by Me

Thanks again to Bubbawheat of Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Getter of Mettel Ray and we will be reviewing our favorite LGBTQ+ Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Mar by sending them to LGBTQ@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Getter!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Lex Luthor’s attempt to win the presidency the old-fashioned way… by buying it, seems to be picking up steam. New poles show that 22% of Americans now support his third party bid. In a completely unrelated story, 22% of Americans now indicate a preference for getting [beep] in the [beep] with a red hot poker!” – Newscaster

Number of Times Seen – Twice (24 May 2016 and 26 Feb 2020)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – After Lex Luthor is elected President, he bans superheros and makes Superman and Batman wanted criminals.

My Take on it – This is among my all time favorite animated superhero films because it is done so well throughout.

This is a movie that finds a way to take superheroes that we know and love and force them to make a decision based on having to weigh their duty to their country and its leaders against their allegiance to the people which is such a profound idea.

This film’s premise is quite similar to the one done in marvel dealing with Civil War yet they still are able to find their own voice here and not feel as if they are just duplicating that idea.

The way that this film portrays the various battles between the different superheroes is done really well and allows us to constantly see the internal conflicts that these heroes are all experiencing as they must fight against their friends with whom they have strong histories and personal connections with.

Their own feelings about their patriotic loyalties help try and guide them through these difficult decisions.

This is such a captivating and engaging story line that actually seems even more realistic today than it probably did when it originally came out slightly over a decade ago.

Bottom Line – Great premise that works so well. The film is able to take superheroes to a juncture where they must decide to choose between their duty to society and their allegiance to the government. This has a similar premise to Marvel’s Civil War but they do things quite differently which helps give this story its own voice. The fights between the various heroes is enhanced by the fact that we can see that they have no real interest in fighting one another due to their personal connections and histories but their internal conflicts relating to their patriotic loyalties force them to do so. Such a captivating storyline that is even more relevant today than it probably was when it came out a decade ago. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Uncommonly enough for a film (especially an animated one) the newspaper article regarding the election of Lex Luthor as president, though only visible for a few seconds, is a full, comprehensive story from start to finish. This includes the details of the campaign, the states where Luthor won, the name of the opponent (Mr. Diaz), Luthor’s running mate (Max Yezpitlek) and his aide (Amanda Waller), the reaction of the vice-president and the number of Luthor’s administration (46th). The article even closes with a praise to the American electoral system. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (no change from original review)