“Truth, Justice and the American Way''. Those words have been bound to Superman since his radio show in the 1940’s. They perfectly describe the goals of the Clark Kent everyone has come to know over the years. The man who’s spaceship crash landed on a farm in Kansas, was raised by Ma and Pa Kent and grew up to be a reporter for the Daily Planet while doubling as The Man of Steel, saving Lois Lane and his pal Jimmy Olsen for the evil plans of Lex Luthor. But what if you took the American farm boy origin away and had his ship land in the Soivet Union during the Cold War? In DC’s Elseworld animated film Superman: Red Son, Superman serves the Soviet Union as Stalin's strong arm and propaganda star.
Like other Elseworld stories, the change to Superman's origin has a ripple effect that expands to all corners of the world and creates alternative versions of many DC’s heroes and villains, including Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman, and Batman. Exploring these changes throughout the film causes some pacing issues. One major issue is how the film deals with time. In spots, it gives the audience the year to establish where in history of the world the events are taking place. Other times, the film jumps several years and makes the viewer wait for context clues in dialogue to know that it has been years since the previous scene. Many of these time-jumps feel like the start of a new chapter and would benefit from the visual establishment of the current time period.
Superman: Red Son's strength comes from Superman's conflicts with the world around him and the many different ideologies that control it. The film integrates different themes from modern world politics and presents them in the Cold War era in a way that makes no single idea seem better than the others. In doing so, the film almost appears to blur the line between hero and villain.
While visually faithful to the comic arc’s style, much of the animation is very stoic and still. Jason Isaacs, who has made a career of playing the villain, gives a vocal performance as Superman that conveys much more emotion and conflict than is shown in the animation. Isaacs makes the audience cheer for and against Superman throughout the film.
Fans of the Red Son comic by Mark Millar will find that there are some changes to the story for the film adaptation that may not be favorable, but help streamline the story for the film. Casual Superman fans will find that even with the character stripped of his classic origin, setting, and costume, deep down the Superman they’ve come to know is still there, trying to do what he thinks is best to save the world.
RORSCHACH RATING:
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Victims and Villains is written and produced by Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey. Music by Yuriy Bespalov & Beggars. Superman: Red Son is property of DC Comics. We do not own nor claim any rights.
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