Superman contre l'élite

The world is falling apart and Superman is overwhelmed. Atomic Skull turns people to dust. Superman considers ending him, but brings him in instead. A new group of superheroes arrives on the scene and befriends Superman although they don't play by his rules. They call themselves The Elite and the public seems to like their harsher attitude.

Superman's idealism has always been material for a morality tug-of-war. This is doing it right up front. I like these characters. Superman may have won the battle, but I don't think he won the argument. The ending is also a bit messy. I would start with that inter-dimensional spaceship first. Nevertheless, it's a good big-idea superhero story.

"Superman vs. the Elite" isn't entirely successful in its discussions on politics and the price of power, but it's a decent superhero story. The story concerns a new group of superhero vigilantes that call themselves "The Elite". Manchester Black (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), Coldcast (voiced by Catero Colbert), Menagerie (voiced by Melissa Disney) deal with supervillains their way: by killing them. The world seems to embrace these new heroes and shun Superman (voiced by George Newbern) as "old fashioned" and "cheesy". The conflicting ideals of these heroes pit them against each other.

The quality of the animation varies from excellent to just OK and while most of the story seems grounded in semi-reality, with the fantasy and "comic-bookiness" being reduced to create parallels to our world, a scene with giant mutant insect tanks is really glaring and doesn't fit the tone of the story. What works is the chemistry between Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane (voiced by Pauley Perrette), the themes and ideas brought up by the conflicts and the discussions between our characters spread throughout the film. Adults that are familiar with the debate, which essentially is that of whether or not the death penalty should be a form of punishment, will find that they don't last long enough but it's refreshing to see the film take a stand on an issue it really believes in and stick with it. For younger audiences that haven't seen this material before, this is a good starting point and a way to generate some great conversation. Superman believes that killing is wrong under any circumstances, but he's also nearly invulnerable so does he really grasp the danger these villains he goes up against regularly really pose? To what extent is it OK to interfere with another country's politics and disagreements when you have the power to do so? If it is OK to take the life of another person, who judges how much is enough? When accompanied with the special features and commentary the film is a more complete experience and a lot more satisfying than just the feature by itself so it's preferable to set a generous amount of time aside and enjoying the special features immediately after to complement the faults of the film. The film is only OK by itself, mostly because it doesn't really have as much bite as you wish it would considering the themes, but it's worth your while. (On Blu-ray, September 29, 2012)

Superman vs The Elite is one of the darker animations of it's kind, and I liked that.

Superman comes into contact with a new superpowered group calling themselves The Elite, but they have a different way of doing things and that brings them all into conflict.

The Elite believe in killing the bad guys, and I sided with them throughout. Superman captures bad guys, they escape, countless people die, rinse wash repeat. I firmly believe that eradicating the threat makes more sense, and such a fear would also lower crime as well.

Because of that I found myself disliking the hero and that's simply bad writing, he came across self righteous and this all built to a damaging finale.

You see I was enjoying the film, it was one of the better DC outings I'd seen in a while so thats why the final 10 minutes were such a shame.

Superman vs The Elite will be a fantastic watch for folks who believe in Supermans message, but if you're like me this was radiate disappointment.

The Good:

The Atomic Skull & Menagerie were great

Well scored

The Bad:

Superman looks goofy, like Solomon Grundys slow half brother

This movie actually made me dislike Superman

Not keen on the ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I firmly agree with The Elite over Superman

4 vs 1 is a "Fair fight"

Somehow I knew this movie was going to be ALL THAT when the opening credits kept showing images of the Superman cartoon of my youth from the late 60's series. I loved that touch. Also let me say from the start that like a previous reviewer, I enjoyed this so much better than Superman All Star even though the artwork was a let down. Throw in George Newbern's voice again as Supes & Abby (Pauley Perrette) from NCIS as the voice of Lois Lane & you've got a winner for sure. BTW, I think she did a great job as Lois showing her as the feisty, modern, take-no- prisoners, lady reporter that we all should be familiar with by now. Her love for Clark/Superman is real & unwavering as well. I thought the exploration of current 21st century geo-political themes of waring nations and/or terrorism coupled with Superman eventually going dark as his rep goes way down hill via the new younger Elite as they rise up to try & take over was portrayed very well indeed. The action sequences and/or fight scenes kept the pace flowing while being fairly realistic, cartoon-wise anyway. Definitely PG rated for the violence & mature themes. In closing, I highly recommend this movie!

This movie raises an interesting dilemma. How should criminals be dealt with? Especially those who pose a major threat to the safety of the public over and over again. Superman and the superhuman group known as The Elite butt heads over this predicament. Superman is obviously the good guy, but it's understandable why people have problems with how easy he is on villains. People die because his solutions can be, and often are, temporary. The Elite prefer to eliminate the villains completely preventing any further threat from them. But they go way overboard and enjoy their work way too much and end up becoming a problem themselves. Is there a balance somewhere between Superman's way and The Elite's way of dealing with the monsters of humanity and beyond? The action sequences in this movie are decent. The Elite are interesting with their abilities which are a bit out there. The central plot is really the social and moral dilemma mentioned above. It makes you ask yourself some tough questions. That alone makes this an interesting movie to watch.