He's not dead. He's up there fixing the sun.

I finally got around to watching All Star Superman. I've had the blu-ray combo pack since sometime right around when it was released. I loved the comics, I love Grant Morrison (gee, really? derp.), and I love animation, especially when it's about superheroes, so it was kind of a no-brainer purchase, even given my financial plight.

PREMISE AND PLOT

The story is complex without being incomprehensible. Almost from the word go, it becomes obvious that this is a Superman who lives in a heroically exaggerated Silver Age (or somewhat early Bronze Age, though that's a slippery one) universe (anyway, it's a mix of pre- and post-Crisis sensibilities any way you slice it), wherein anything and everything is possible, science is magic (lowercase m, not the uppercase variety that gives Kal such trouble), and larger than life hardly begins to describe the super-heroics on display.

The short version is that Superman gets a sort of super-cancer from tremendous over-exposure to yellow sunlight, when he rescues the first manned mission to the sun. With time running out, he must do all he can to get his affairs in order before his inevitable death. There are some vague parallels to the 12 Labors of Hercules, which might actually be more precise than I realize at the moment, given how long it's been since I read about the original 12. Suffice to say, this is a great big, huge story that would have been impossible to fit in the time span of this animated movie. I'm glad they didn't try to cram too much in, and they hit a good number of the high notes, even while some exceptionally cool scenes from the comics were lost in the adaptation.

PRODUCTION

The animation is strong. While the characters resemble something more like Peter Chung than Frank Quitely's original designs, the animators can hardly be faulted in not capturing Quitely's unique, and not entirely animation-friendly, style. Little touches in facial expressions and the way the characters move really set this above the standard, which has so far been par for the course in DC's growing library of animation titles. One key example is the way in which, much like in Frank Quitely's designs, Clark Kent is differentiated from Superman in both posture and gait, as well as things like Kent's clumsiness. It really becomes a little easier to fool oneself into believing that the two are separate people.

The voice work is superb, but that's expected in any DC animation. Ed Asner is perfect for Perry White. Christina Hendricks does a good job with Lois Lane, although I'm unfamiliar with any previous voice work she may have done. All I really know her for is jaw-dropping necklines and the bubbly goodness they just barely contain, but I digress.

The soundtrack is similarly well executed. While I couldn't hum any particular melody from the score, I never once thought that any music was inappropriate or that a cue seemed to be out of sync with the action.

LOST IN ADAPTATION


In adapting any work, there are necessary sacrifices, whether for time, clarity, or in the interest of a clean and focused narrative that marries both concerns to a satisfying end. That said, I was really disappointed with some of the scenes left out of this one. Anyone who has read the comics could probably tell you about the touching scene in which Superman comforts a would-be suicide jumper on the precipice of a skyscraper. Similarly, although it was an entire issue rather than a single page, the alternate supermen from various times and dimensions are not at all included. Of course, that story was a lot of fun for total nerd-out comic geeks, it would be a strange diversion for anyone not steeped in the kind of comic book sensibilities that really enhance this sort of Silver Age homage. I say that without any intention of pretension, although the sentiment is probably inevitable. They also left out the whole story with the Bizarros, but I know I'm in the minority that missed it.

FINAL THOUGHTS


I'm really impressed with the animated films DC have been putting out since Superman-Doomsday. I didn't particularly like that one specifically, but I like what's followed. This is exactly what should have been going on for some time now. There's already a whole universe of cool stories to adapt, so why bother trying to re-invent the wheel like so many comic-based movies have been. Give a bit of background for people who've never heard of the Green Lantern Corps, sure (although they seem to be a vanishing lot, and it's not just because of the impending movie), but let's also leave lots of room for something cool like New Frontier. This format works much better for self-contained stories like that one and All Star Superman than it would for something intrinsically connected with an ongoing title, but there's lots of those to pick from, or to adapt from at any rate.

TECHNO-RAGE!

I am a little annoyed at this blu-ray version, though. Let me say first that the fault does not lie with the disc itself. Now, I'll explain. I only bought the blu-ray because it has extra features that the DVD doesn't, like: a commentary with Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison, at least two features on Grant Morrison talking about the book and about Superman in general, bonus cartoons, a preview of the Green Lantern animated anthology Emerald Knights, and some other stuff. Luckily, my copy also came with a DVD, although it's nothing but the movie and a menu for spoken and sub-titled languages.

Now, my only means of playing blu-rays is the PS3 connected to the big TV out in the living room (with composite cables, blech. I bought some component ones, I swear, I just can't find them now, damn it). When I tried to play the disc, the system told me that I needed to update the firmware. What the hell kind of ridiculous technological witchcraft is this? I can't watch movies on my movie player without an internet connection to tell the machine how to do it's job first? Is there anything I can do without one anymore? The only connection I have when I'm in my apartment is the one I can sometimes sneak into, which the PS3 doesn't even recognize. This same thing happened when I bought StarCraft II.

I understand that many people have an internet connection available to them at all times, but there are also many who do not. I understand that updates are sometimes necessary for a machine's firmware, but what the hell does this disc do that an off-the-shelf PS3 can't handle, is my (RHETORICAL) question. The increasing pervasiveness of internet dependencies for non-internet-centric devices, or things that shouldn't (that's shouldn't, not can't) need one in order to carry out their basic purpose. The PS3 is a sophisticated blu-ray player, but at the end of the day, that's what it is: a blu-ray player, a machine that reads a disc with a blue laser, and puts pictures and sound in my TV. The only time I should need to go out to the internet from my PS3 is to download something entirely new, not to teach the thing how to do it's fucking job.

I like the way that X-Box 360 titles that need to update the firmware always seem to come packaged with the update right on the disc. Similarly, don't lots of PC titles come with the latest version of Direct X? What a novel concept: data on a disc. With all the space on a blu-ray, is there really not enough left over to include a patch to make sure my device can play what's on the rest of the disc?

Am I blowing this whole thing out of proportion? Perhaps, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I am stating my objection to this sort of thing, and I feel that my outrage is perfectly reasonable, although exaggerated for effect. I'm also not interested in hearing a lot of 'derp derp caveman want make box do thing, but box no do thing for caveman, so caveman bang rocks and yell, and no understand how new shiny box work'. What I'm saying is not that it's stupid that I would ever need an update, but that it's retarded that I would need to update for this sort of thing in this way and that I can only do so in this way. Put the shit on the disc. End of story.