*Blog post started on November 3, 2020.
It was the start of a new month at the bank yesterday, so I had my hands full with monthly tasks. Catching up on all the news websites did not occur, but there really is not much news, so at least I am not too far behind. The holding pattern and perhaps this unlikely democracy ends tonight, so at least I do not need to worry about having the time to fill with new content.
A negative result to the election would be a Catch 22 for this creative sole. If we fall into a dictatorship, cutting myself off from media means more writing. Of course, I can only talk about so many movies and so much wrestling.
I guess I am just in an existential conundrum. It is a chaotic time and I start to think about all the consequences this election will have. This leads me to worry about the worst and what should be done to resolve it. There are hopes that someone wiser takes this decision away from us Americans.
That was suppose to be a transition to my review of the theatrical adaptation of "Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons", but it looks like I am just being Anakin Skywalker emo in the fields of Naboo, calling on someone wise to rule. The depression must be real.
To my credit, I am just asking for someone to end the corruption, not necessarily rule. At least this "Deathstroke" feature has a protagonist wise enough to know he cannot take power when he shakes up a government. Too bad I am left with more dread from the "Teen Titans Go!" interpretation of this character.
"Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie"
Slade Wilson is a loving family man. He has been happily married to his wife Adeline and they have a son Joseph who is fascinated by the world of legend from the books his father reads to him. Joseph sees his father as a knight saving the world from the evils that exist. This perception could not be further from the truth.
Wilson is also the mercenary Deathstroke. He is the product of an army medical testing to create a means to make their soldiers heal faster. The military along with his wife thought these experiments failed, so this allows Wilson and his former MI6 handler, Wintergreen, sell this one man army's services to the highest bidder. Whoever wins the auction best be aware though, Deathstroke will provide them only if you are worthy enough.
The Hive, a collective of amoral assassins, know they are not worthy of Wilson's services, but they still want the best on their team. Led by the Jackal, they decide that surely Wilson will trade his independence for his sons life. They soon find out not to underestimate his abilities as he leaves only one of his son's captors alive. Ironically, this ordeal exposes his double life, so Adeline leaves him and decides to send Joseph, now mute, to Swiss boarding school to protect him.
10 years later, Wilson receive a communication from the Hive Queen. It turns out that the organization has rebuilt itself and has ambitions of world domination. These ambitions again involve his son, whom they have discovered has telekinetic and telepathic powers. The Queen claims, if Deathstroke is a handgun, the newly christened Jericho is a nuclear bomb. Both Wilsons will have to come together to not only save their son, but the world.
"Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons: The Movie" has some fun moments, but as a fan of DC media, accepting a heroic take on "The Terminator" is difficult. This feature is the final product of what was to be a 12-episode digital series, and the inconsistency of the production make that more than evident. It is not necessarily bad, but it is an unquestionable misfire.
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| IMDb -Deathstroke Knights & Dragons: The Movie (2020) |
Titmouse, the studio I know best for "Metalocalypse" and "Superjail!" (Yes, "The Venture Bros." too, but the "chirp" logo does not stand out as much as it does with their 11-minute productions of pure insanity.) was behind this production. It appears they were trying to capture a middle ground visually between the more hand-drawn look of "The Venture Bros" and the flash-based look of their more experimental shorts. It just does not end up fitting well together. Like the the story.
This project was originally intended to 12 30-minute episodes leads to a lot of edits that result in pacing that goes from slow to panicked in a breath. As a result, the plot becomes overly ambitious for the runtime. You can either have an origin tale, or the end of the world. You cannot have both.
Nothing outside the script and animation is overly impressive. I like the casting of go to black Englishman Colin Salmon as Wintergreen/Black Alfred, but none of the actors really stand out. "The Shield" is a show I might need to watch to appreciate Michael Chiklis as the lead. Until then, his "Robot Chicken" appearances have landed better with me.
And I could not get over this heroic light they place on Deathstroke. It is inconsistent with everything I have seen. Granted, his origin tale is foreign to me, but when you lose an eye to Damian Wayne in "Son of Batman", it is difficult to be sold on you as noble. They try to balance this hero persona with the graphic means of dispatching henchmen, but when that is only 20-minutes of content, the rest of his actions make him seem dull and incapable of harassing the Teen Titans.
Deathstroke may deserve his own product, but like the Joker, he does not deserve a redemption tale. Because of this, I wonder how "Deathstroke: Knights & Demons" made it out of the development stages. If the production was solid, it could have saved this feature from being weak, but it does not change the fact that it was a bad idea to begin with.
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