Julien Neaves, Editor
Plot: After the events of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Amanda Waller assembles a black ops team of monsters led by General Rick Flag Sr to protect an heiress.
Review: The new James Gunn-led DCU is off to a strong start with Gunn’s Creature Commandos on Max. And those familiar with the work of the writer/director will notice that his signature style and tone is plastered all over the adult animated series’ seven episodes. Motley crew of heroes including some obscure characters? Check. Eclectic musical choices? Double Check. Deft mix of violence, wacky humour and loads of heart? Check, check and check! But instead of coming off derivative, Creature Commandos feels fresh and fun. With a monstrous SPOILER ALERT let’s dive in.
Gunn is one of the best filmmakers for managing stories with multiple characters, and he does great work here again with this odd, colourful crew. Gun-toting, sultry reanimated corpse the Bride (Indira Varma) is the epitome of cool. Radioactive scientist turned crime boss Doctor Phosphorous (Alan Tudyk) is a powerful, darkly humourous narcissist. Aquatic mutant Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao) is super sweet and likeable. Nazi-killing obsessed G.I. Robot (Sean Gunn) is hilarious. And The Suicide Squad joke character Weasel (also Season Gunn) is deftly transformed into a tragic figure. There is a level of tragedy with all the “monsters” leading to a surprising number of heartfelt and heartbreaking moments. And Stranger Things’ David Harbour continues to expand his comic book resume with the goofy but powerful Eric Frankenstein who has been stalking the Bride for more than centuries.
Moving away from the creatures, the always dependable Frank Grillo is great as Rick Flag Sr. (father of the Rick Flag who appeared in The Suicide Squad) while Viola Davis and Steve Agee reprise their roles as ruthless A.R.G.U.S. director Amanda Waller and awkward A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos respectively. The voice cast is stacked and nobody phones it in.
The animation is vivid and deceptively bright and colourful with the dark content. Gunn’s love for gore, over-the-top action is on full display here, and while entertaining at times it did feel indulgent and overboard. And watching the children die in the episode “Chasing Squirrels” and seeing the brutalised corpses of Doctor Phosphorous’ family in Priyatel Skelet was a bit much. But I will give Gunn points for delivering emotional gut punches with Weasel’s back story (#justiceforweasel), G.I. Robot getting destroyed and Nina’s death in the finale. And the killing of the lovely aquatic lady was especially effective as the backstories in the previous episodes made the audience blind to her backstory foreshadowing her death. Well played Gunn. Well played.
In terms of referencing the wider DCU, we do have the flashes of Circe’s apocalyptic vision, the appearance of shapeshifting Batman villain Clafyface (who is getting his own movie for some reason) and the Caped Crusader himself via silhouette. But unlike Tom Cruise’s ill-fated The Mummy, Creature Commandos is more focused on its own weird story and less concerned with setting up a new shared universe. It is a straightforward story with just a couple of big twists to keep things interesting. And with its tight length the series does not overstay its welcome or feel bloated.
The show has been renewed for a second season and the final scene gives us the return of G.I. Robot (in a massive new robot body), hints at some new members, including The Suicide Squad fan favourite King Shark, and shows that Frankenstein survived to stalk the Bride another day. And I am definitely down for more of Creature Commandos.
Editor Jules’ Score: 8.5 out of 10
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Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “13 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.