Retrospection Radio - An Audio Drama Podcast

Injustice (2021) Review | It's an Injustice this isn't a Series

5/10

By Noah Martin

  Overview

Injustice is a comic series by DC Comics written by Tom Taylor and Brian Buccellato. It follows Superman after the death of his family at the hands of the Joker. It went on for multiple volumes, and even got spinoff video games which are in a "Mortal Kombat-esc" vibe.

The stories, games, and themes through the series are amazing and heartfelt. It was only natural that HBO and Warner Bros. would want to make a movie out of it. Directed by Matt Peters, the plot of Injustice (2021) follows similar key moments from the comics and games, it just does them to a mediocre effect.

  Cinema - 2

This movie had a few shots going for it. It realized it's identity, and the previous genres before it. It was a great homage seeing how the director used the Ultimates from the games (specifically Superman in the final scene) in the story. I found myself giddy, excited to see it animated for the movie. That doesn't mean that everything about the movie was great, though. The shots were okay. There were some shots that stood out, like Jimmy Olsen looking at the Joker through his camera lens until he is shot through the eye. Or Wonder Woman pushing through the Amazo eye blast as we slowly watch the shield melt away. Or, finally, the scene where we see Batman punching a dummy with blood everywhere. However, I wasn't impressed by most shots. Especially in the fight scenes, it felt lackluster. These powerful, amazing heroes just simply punched one another until the other stopped. Battles could've been directed with much more "oomf" to every hit.

  Plot - 1

This is where things get less interesting. They tried to fit multiple games and multiple seasons of comics into an hour and 18 minutes. Injustice starts off strong by introducing Superman and Lois Lane. Batman is hunting down the Joker in Gotham, and we slowly discover he's killed multiple villains. The Joker tries to escape in a submarine, and is stopped by Superman. Superman inhales some fear gas, and thinks he's fighting Doomsday. He brings Doomsday into space only to learn that he was beating the snot out of Lois and his unborn child. Eventually, with the Joker's evil plan and the deaths that happen. It continues to go strong for a bit longer until you reach the 3/4 mark where they realized they were only doing one movie and proceeded to rush.

Characters died that didn't originally and had amazing arcs (Flash, Cyborg). Then, you had characters whose deaths hit hard in the comics, but didn't have a purpose in the film (Green Arrow). Let's actually talk about Green Arrow for just a moment. Green Arrow and Black Canary were huge in the first issues of the comics. Canary was pregnant, and Ollie was going to be a dad, the one thing he wanted to do in life. However, he also realized Superman's tyranny, and thought it an Injustice to the people. He joined Batman despite Canary's pleas, and eventually she joined too. Ollie is killed right in front of Canary, and the only reason Canary isn't killed is because of her unborn child. It stops Superman dead in his tracks, and makes him think what he's just done (practically the reverse of his own story). It's an amazing character moment for multiple characters. In the movie, Ollie fires an arrow at Superman who deflects it into his dad, accidentally. Superman immediately kills Ollie before running to his dad's side and holding him in his arms. Ollie's arc is completely erased, and instead the moment going to Clark. It strengthens his character, but at the cost of others. There are multiple moments like these where interesting characters lose strong plot moments to Superman. Even Wonder Woman feels boring.

I think the fact that it was a singular movie and not a TV show, or multiple movies, hurts this story. There's so many amazing moments that just don't happen. That causes the ending to be rushed. The original stories had a lot to do with the multiverse, but only after Batman exhausted every single resources at his disposal. This story shoehorns it in for a mediocre ending where Superman shows up and fights Superman. After such a great start, I am so disappointed by the end.

I will say, though, they got Batman *right* in this film. The way he acts, and how he turns Damian (Robin) away after killing Dick (Nightwing) is very heartfelt. When we eventually see Bruce cry, it's extremely powerful.

  Characters - 1

I'm going to admit my bias. DC Comics characters are my favorite. Especially Nightwing, who gets a great character arc and death. It's hard for me to be disappointed in characters, though I will point out that because of the directors removing other characters from the story, it makes some character arcs feel flat, along with their deaths. I've explained it in the previous paragraph, so I won't take off too many points on this particular category. Characters could've been much better, but the character moments we got to see where great and well-built.

  Lighting/Imagery

Nothing stood out to me as particularly impressive. Thinking back on the movie now, there wasn't a place where I felt like, "Wow! I want this scene on my desktop wallpaper!" Instead, most scenes, though directed decently, played out as you would expect.

Cliches - 0.5

The cliches in the film are used to progress the plot. Moments that feel like "normal" superhero moments are often followed by something that breaks the cliche. I wish I could give these points to the director for these moments, but most of these great moments where directly from the comics. There is one scene where Plastic Man wraps around Amazo, which is reminiscent of when Martain Manhunter wrapped around Superman in the comics. The movie is full of homages to better moments in the franchise history. Ultimately, this movie does a great job of breaking tropes, even if they were taken directly from the comics.

  Moments - 0.5

Finally, the moments done right in the film! I've already spoken about a few moments, including Dick's death, Superman v. Superman, and the first 20 minutes. They've already gotten their points for those moments, so they won't be added again here. At the end of the day, I feel like I can't add any more points. Some of my favorite moments from the games/comics either didn't translate well, or didn't happen (Martian Manhunter getting set on fire by Superman's laserbeams? Yes please). The one moment that I think was done well was Dick Grayson's transformation into Deadwing. Deadman was entirely removed in this story, and it was simplified just enough for Deadwing to still feel relevant, and make enough sense. Deadman was originally a huge part of that transformation, but the movie gets rid of a good portion of other characters. Deadman is a fine casualty to have to make Dick's story more sound.

Synopsis

Injustice (2021) could've been a much, much better film if it were either a television series or a series of films. There are simply too many volumes, and too many character to justifiably fit into an hour and 18 minutes. People were going to be cut that had great arcs, and ultimately the ending had to be simplified down because there was no way Batman's Insurgency could've taken on Superman in won (at least in this version).