DC Showcase: Green Arrow

It has been said many times and it will be said again, director Joaquim Dos Santos is a brilliant animation director and having less than 12 minutes to tell a story is totally limiting what he can do. As usual with other DC showcase short films, this here Green Arrow short does a great giving both newcomers and long time fans an insight into the titular character.

Though not an origin story, at least this one is a pivotal event in Green Arrow's life unlike the previous "Jonah Hex" animated short which was pretty much a "just another day on the job" kind of thing. The story starts with Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, at the airport waiting to pick up his girlfriend Dinah. While figuring out how he is going to propose to her, Oliver spies his old nemesis, the assassin Merlyn, at the airport. Coincidentally a young and very important foreign princess is arriving and Oliver does not take long to put two and two together.

What follows is almost like Die Hard 2 with a twist. Hero in the right place at the wrong time saving someone at an airport. What could have been a standard superficial actioner gains more depth through its portrayal of Green Arrow as a very "human" superhero. He is just a guy who can shoot a bow and arrow real well;no "peak of human physical perfection" and not trained in every form of martial arts. Basically, he is not Batman and does fight a retreating battle to protect the princess, getting his butt handed to him a couple of times in the process. Bring in an explosive showdown with Merlyn on the runway, a frantic fist fight on conveyor belts and the dreaded Count Vertigo too, what could have been a romantic little night with Dinah just became the fight of Oliver Queen's life.

"Dc Showcase: Green Arrow" would have been the most awesome Dc showcase ever if its animation were as stylish as the previous two. Alas, it is pretty good looking movie standard fare, but standard nonetheless. It did not have a unique feel like The spectre's grindhouse film noir visuals or Jonah hex's stylish sun drenched colors. The animation was very fluid except in one particular running scene which looked weird and a little stiff in the way the characters' hands move as they ran. But that is a tiny nitpick that only appears once. The rest of the animation is highly professional and easily gives some of the best Japanese anime a run for their money.

Nonetheless, this animated short that accompanies the "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" OVA movie is sure to entertain. One can also pick up the "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam" DVD or blu-ray to watch a extended version with added footage (or so they claim).

Honestly, I don't read Green Arrow comics very often, but this was still very entertaining and a good introduction of the character.

The plot was short but has a lot of room to expand into a full movie if they wanted to; the animation was good (nothing great, but it worked); the choreographer was great and maybe the best thing about the sort; I loved how it showed Olive's use of trick arrows and how he could also fight in close combat; and the writing and banter were great. You could really hear the chemistry with Olive and Dinah.

I also really liked how this seems to be in the same universe with Perdia and Count Vertigo referencing this short.

Green Arrow (2010) is the third of four DC Showcase films on a DVD titled Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. The storyline surrounds Green Arrow when a prince is scheduled to land in his hometown of Emerald City. A renowned assassin threatens the life of the prince so he will need to try and stop him.

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (known for Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse), the movie boasts the voices of Neal McDonough (Minority Report), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Grey Griffin (The Book of Life) and John DiMaggio (The Super Mario Brothers Movie).

The animation is polished, reminiscent of a traditional Justice League cartoon. The storyline is clear-cut, with straightforward dialogue and predictable outcomes. The action sequences are engaging, and the conclusion aligns with genre expectations. Overall, I would give this a 6/10 and recommend it to fans of the superhero genre.

It may only be 11 minutes long, but it manages to capture the essence of Green Arrow in no time at all. At to that a plot with is simple but very effective. Green Arrow must protect a princess from assassins at an airport. DC may be screwing up their live action films, but at least this shows that not all hope is lost. The animation is fairly standard, but the action scenes are fluid and easy to follow. There's a lot of tension for only 11 minutes, and I kind of wish this had been a climax to a live action blockbuster. Could be a super-hero Die Hard movie. But then again, Green Arrow has too many similarities with other superheroes, unless he is directly compared to them by being in their same universe.

DC Showcase shorts are a great idea, though I would argue that perhaps Green Arrow is well known enough not to need one.

In this little over 10 minute effort we see our hero attempting to foil an assassination attempt and we see the likes of Vertigo, Merlyn and Black Canary join him for the ride.

Hardly original and feels more like a Saturday morning cartoon, but could have been considerably worse.

Another decent enough little short, if Green Arrow isn't going to be getting a feature movie anytime soon then this will have to suffice.

The Good:

Well written

The Bad:

Paint by numbers stuff

Things I Learnt From This Short:

Finally someone has acknowledged he's a Robin Hood ripoff