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Batman: Soul of the Dragon
162 Plays3 years ago
What do you get when you put the Dark Knight in a 70s-themed, kung fu setting? You get Batman: Soul of the Dragon, complete with stand-ins for Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly! Stacy Dooks of the Fanboy Power Hour podcast is back to discuss one of the latest and most-interesting of DC's animated offerings.
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Transcript
Introduction & Audible Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, fellow superhero cenophiles. Did you know that almost 30% of adults say they haven't read a book in the past year? Primary reason why is a lack of time. Well, Audible's here to help with the gift of found time. Thanks to Audible, you can listen to audiobooks like Marvel Comics, The Untold Story, or Slugfest inside the epic 50-year battle between Marvel and DC.
00:00:19
Speaker
Read up on the history of superheroes in comics and movies with Grant Morrison's Supergods. You can also check out Vanguard, my original superhero novel series, or try The Vrilagenda or The Adventures of Fortune McCall, both of which were written by our duly departed host emeritus, Derek Ferguson.
00:00:35
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All you have to do is go to audibletrial.com slash SuperCinemapod and with your free trial you get one free audiobook and two free Audible Originals. In fact, you get to keep those titles even if you cancel before the trial is over. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to audibletrial.com slash SuperCinemapod and start your free trial today.
Guest Introduction & Episode Focus
00:01:37
Speaker
So, uh, what was that back there? They've obviously been sent to stop you from interfering. Not that. The mask. The costume? Well? It's a way to keep my lives separate. Safe. It's more than that, Bruce. Those guys were scared shit. Let's concentrate on the task at hand. We need to get to the sword before anyone else does.
00:02:03
Speaker
So we need Shiva. We need Shiva. Welcome to the Superhero Cinephiles podcast. I'm your host, Perry Constantine, welcoming back another returning guest, and that is Stacey Duke.
'Batman: Soul of the Dragon' Discussion Begins
00:02:22
Speaker
Stacey, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. Glad to be back.
00:02:26
Speaker
Good to have you back. I had a lot of fun when you were on last time, we talked about Red Sun. So, and then off the air when we were talking, you suggested that you wanted to come back on for today's pick, Batman, Soul of the Dragon, which at that point was not on HBO Max. I still don't think it is yet. Yeah. Hmm.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, because I remember this was announced I think shortly before Derek passed away and both me and him, we talked about it briefly because we talked about the trailer and Derek was a huge fan of all that kind of stuff. So we're really looking forward to that.
00:03:07
Speaker
And then it came out and I was checking HBO Max, I'm like, it's not here, what's going on? But when I was back in the States, one of the things I like to do when I go back to the States is hit up the DVD recycle stores, because they discount them so much now because everybody's streaming everything now.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. You support physical media kids. Yeah, yeah. It's great. Like I do the streaming too, but I love the I love having the the discs. I rip them onto my on my hard drive playing for my Plex app. And it's it's it's so it's so good, so much easier to have everything organized like that. But but I was at the store and they had a bunch of different movies like, you know, you're talking like steep prices that are so good. You you you feel like an idiot if you don't buy them.
00:03:54
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. And so one of them was I found Soul of the Dragon on Blu-ray for like four or five hours. So just like, oh, we've got to pick that up.
00:04:03
Speaker
And in a perfect universe, this would be like on a VHS with like either the clamshell like box and like the sticker would be faded and it would like have that like that red R sticker on it or something like that. Because this is just, it's such of a piece of its time and it sticks the landing for me in so many ways. So I can't wait to talk about it.
00:04:29
Speaker
Not so much of its time, but of the time it's trying to represent. It's representing. Before we jump into that, why don't you remind people a little bit about yourself.
Stacey Duke's Work & Podcasting Journey
00:04:39
Speaker
Oh yeah, well I am a writer. I've done some contributions to some various anthologies and whatnot. I've wrote some nonfiction for a little while for looper.com before an amicable parting of the ways. And I am also a podcaster. I am my brother Ryan. Every Wednesday we do the fanboy power hour where we talk about various little bits of nerd culture from comics to movies to TV.
00:05:03
Speaker
And so we're gonna have a lot to talk about this week because of, you know, a certain show on Disney Plus right now that is Buckwild. So that'll be interesting to talk about. Yeah, I've got to catch up. I've only watched the first episode so far. Boy, oh boy. Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. After this week, because I got a, we're doing, for Black History Month, Kellan Conley's coming back on so we can do a two-parter on Falcon and Winter Soldier. So I got to rewatch that this week. And then after all that's done, then I'm gonna go sit down and finally watch Book of Boba Fett.
00:05:32
Speaker
I mean, between Yumi and the lamppost, you could probably skip to chapter five and just go from there, but that's just, that's just, that's just some friendly advice, you know. Okay.
00:05:42
Speaker
All right. Um, weren't you also doing stuff for CBR as well? Um, doing some writing for CBR, but that's kind of, uh, teetered out a little bit. I'm trying to get back into it, but we'll see how it goes. So, you know, it's like everything, you know, you want to make a plan. I want to make God laugh, have a plan. So. Yeah. Yeah. We just had another CBR writer, um, on recently to talk about Shang-Chi. So. Oh yeah. Yeah. Shang-Chi. Very good.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was a lot of fun, really fun conversation about that.
Exploring the 70s Theme & Experimentation
00:06:11
Speaker
So anyway, as we've mentioned, we're talking about Soul of the Dragon, and I kind of talked about how Derek and I were looking forward to covering this, and unfortunately it didn't happen. And you kind of refreshed my memory about it when you read, so I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, I remember wanting to see that. So let's talk a little bit about how you came to this movie.
00:06:34
Speaker
Well, I mean, I'd seen the trailers for it and whatnot. And, you know, 70s era, you know, as my brother Ryan says, one of the most perfect decades in comics for the competition of DC, which is Marvel, was the 1970s, where they were throwing everything at the wall, like trying to do supernatural comics, trying to do martial arts comics, trying to do, you know, trying to do everything. This was a very experimental time for the big two.
00:07:00
Speaker
And it's also one of my favorite eras because this is the era of Steve Engelhardt and Marshall Rogers, which was one of the power duos of Batman comics. I mean, if you haven't read any of their stuff, you really, really should because it's gangbusters. So I was very intrigued by the idea of watching a 70s themed Batman movie because for the most part,
00:07:26
Speaker
they've been playing it, not necessarily safe, but they've been doing a lot of like the Elseworld stuff, like Red Sun, which we've enjoyed and Gotham by Gaslight and the New Frontier, that sort of thing. And that's fun, but sometimes you just want to see them play with the settings a little bit and try some different things. And this definitely felt like they were trying something different. And then when I actually watched the movie and realized what they were actually doing, I was like, oh,
00:07:54
Speaker
Oh, this movie and I are very simpatico right now. Sam, Lou and I are mind melding right now and it's good. And the script by, I think it's Jeremy Adams as the writer, really, really good too. Evokes the period and like from the opening sequence, which is a flat out James Bond riff, you know what you're in for. Like when he introduces himself as dragon, Richard dragon. And like, and they have the like,
00:08:22
Speaker
Not necessarily Sean Connery or George Lays in BS guy at the beginning where you're like, oh, oh, now I see what you're doing. Oh yeah, you clever, you clever buggers. Yeah. Yeah, it was, one of the first things I noticed that was interesting is, and I'm not, I don't really know much about him in the comics. I just, I know he exists and Richard Dragon and I had first,
00:08:49
Speaker
been made aware of his presence, like, you know, maybe 10 years ago or something. I'm like, who's that guy? Yeah. He's one of those martial arts characters that debuted for a hot minute, I think within like the pages of Showcase or one of the anthology books. And he kind of became a background character after a while. He became a supporting character to like, I think he was in Denny O'Neill's question series. Okay. Because he had largely been retired, but he helped train up
00:09:15
Speaker
um, Vic Sage a little bit. Okay. And, you know, of course in the comics, he is very, very white. Like he's a, he's a white dude with a shock of red hair. And he's part of that, you know, underground 1970s martial artists scene. He doesn't really have any powers or anything per se. He's just one of those martial artists. He's a contemporary of characters like, I don't know necessarily, I think Lady Shiva debuted in the pages of his, his stories back in the day. Um, but I think that
00:09:45
Speaker
They were very wise in this, and they were just like, you know what
Casting & Character Analysis
00:09:48
Speaker
we're gonna do? We're doing this, not necessarily. It says Batman on the cover, but this isn't really a Batman story. Batman is the sidekick of the real protagonist, which is Richard Dragon as played by Bruce Lee. Because he's flat out Bruce Lee. The minute you see him, it's like, oh, it's Bruce Lee. And he's played by Mark Dacascos, who's done some great stuff.
00:10:11
Speaker
He was the crow on the live action crow scenes. He is in Brotherhood of the Wolf, which is a jaw-droppingly good martial art. He was the antagonist and a recurring villain in the new Hawaii Five-O as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's real good. He's one of those actors where you're like, hey, it's that guy. And you're like, I like that guy. I like seeing that guy get work. And so, yeah. And he does a really great job playing the protagonist. We've got, you know,
00:10:41
Speaker
We've got some folks here. You know, we got Michael J. White playing Ben Turner, the bronze dragon. We're reprising his role because he also played it in the Arrowverse. Yeah, yeah, he's done that too. And he's great in it. We got James Hong, Mainstay of this kind, like awesome cinema, like playing O sensei, you got, you know,
00:11:04
Speaker
Kelly, who is Lady Shiva? Oh, my God. Lady Shiva in this movie playing another lady. First, you knew where is Lady Deathstrike? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, when when you need someone to play that badass, you call Kelly Hugh. Yeah. Jamie Chung is Jade Naglian, aka Cheshire. That was fun. And we get Chris Cox's Rip Jagger, which I thought was pretty funny.
00:11:26
Speaker
You know, what's interesting is I miss, I miss heard when, when, um, Oh, sensei introduced him. I thought he said Rick and his appearance and everything. And I thought it was Rick flag. And I'm like, is that Rick flag? And then I, she was making some noise. So I had to turn on the subtitles and then it said, Oh, okay. Yeah. He's judo master, which is funny. Cause now they've got judo master over on peacemaker. I see. Okay. Oh yeah. That's pretty, that's pretty fun. Very different in peacemaker.
00:11:53
Speaker
Oh, very different. But Peacemaker is one of those shows where it's just like, Oh, I see you've gone insane. But that's all right. I respect you for going insane. Yeah, I think I'm up to
00:12:04
Speaker
I've watched the first four episode of that and just like every time the opening comes on and it's like the little skip intro button comes on like, nope, I'm skipping that. Yeah, nope, nope. That intro is glorious. And the fact that they made Batmite Cannon in the Zack Snyder verse just makes- And Matter Eater Lad as well as- Matter Eater Lad, of all the polls, that is buck wild that they would do Matter Eater Lad. Outrageous, I dig it. Yeah, it's so much fun.
00:12:35
Speaker
Oh no. She doesn't know if she wants to be up or down. Oh, it's all good. All good. We are all indecisive in that way. You said something that I wanted to touch on too. And that's the fact that it's not really a Batman movie. Because I was- No, no. You're watching the movie and it's like, you see Batman briefly in that first fight. And then I'm looking at the, I'm watching this movie and I'm having fun. I'm looking at my watch like, man, Batman hasn't turned up in a long time.
00:13:04
Speaker
He doesn't show up again until basically the end. So he's only in the movie for like maybe 15, 20 minutes tops. If that, yeah. Like he's very much a supporting player in the movie. It's really more Bruce's story, if you think about it. Like he'll break out the costume, which is a great costume. Like it looks so Jim Apparo, Marshall Rogers, it's nuts. Like the first time I saw it,
00:13:28
Speaker
I audibly just went, yeah, yeah, all right. And so, but he breaks it out and Richard notices that when he's in the costume, he fights better. Like he fights harder than he would as Bruce. And it's really interesting. And of course we had the great references like Silver Saint Cloud is in the world. Like that was the first time I was like, oh, they get it.
00:13:53
Speaker
Also, like the Penthouse thing. That was from Denny O'Neill's show. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't quite the Wayne Tower with like that huge tree in the middle with like the abandoned subway station back in, but it was pretty close and I'm like very evocative of the mood and I'm like,
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and the computers with the big reels of tape. I'm like, yes, yes. And the bell bottoms too. Bell bottoms. And seeing like 70s hair, 70s hair, Bruce Wayne is just great with the pop collar.
00:14:27
Speaker
I nailed it. I was just marinating it. One of the things I liked about it is the fact that they told you what the time period was without coming out and telling you. Yeah, without actually doing like a year, like Gotham City, blah, blah, 1970X. They just let you make your own conclusions and just
00:14:48
Speaker
put it in your own mental time. Right. Right from the beginning, as soon as you see like the hairstyles and the fashion, you're like, okay, I know what they're doing. I get it. Yeah. And a huge shout out to Joaquin Horsley who does the soundtrack, who does the score because he gets, he's breaking out those waka waka waka sounds and like all this kind of stuff. Like, and the opening sequence where like Richard makes his James Bond escape and gets the like parachute going and like the trombones are just
00:15:14
Speaker
Like I'm just like, yes, yes. You understood the assignments. Yeah. Yes. And the opening credits too. Like, you know, the bond ask opening credits. Everybody like the poses, the silhouettes and stuff. Like very, very cool. Very cool. Like the Bruce Timm style of animation lends itself very well.
00:15:33
Speaker
to that kind of opening montage, which I appreciated. And they did actual opening credits like those movies would back in the day where they led with starring this person. And I appreciated that very much.
00:15:48
Speaker
Something else, and about the whole thing about Batman being a sidekick, at first I was kind of disappointed with him. I got to the end of the movie. I'm like, why did they really call this a Batman movie? But then I realized it later, because they did the same thing and entered the dragon, right? Because John Saxon was really like top billing. He was like the top star, but really it was a Bruce Lee vehicle. Bruce Lee was the star of that movie.
00:16:13
Speaker
and John Saxon was really the sidekick and it's they kind of do a similar thing here where Batman's the top billing and then you get that you watch it and like oh no no no it's actually Richard Dragon's movie. Yes absolutely I mean they they play that very very well like they understand that you know Batman has to be on the label because that's the cheap draw for a lot of people because you know Batman is the de facto flagship character of the entire company there was another guy uh superb
00:16:42
Speaker
It'll come to me. I don't think he's that important. You can't remember him. I mean, I can't remember. He's some guy, seemed well, wore a lot of red. But yeah, he's kind of become the de facto character. So I understand why they, you know, they put him on the title. But he's, they make judicious use of that thing. Yeah. They play with him and just have him like, there's that great bit where they like meet Shiva and he's just like,
00:17:08
Speaker
And Richard Dragon looks at Bruce and is just like, you didn't put on your Halloween mask and try to stop her. And he's like, I was working up to it. I love that. The fact that even Batman scared of ladies. Even Batman was like, look, I'm the intercontinental champion. She's the world champion. I got to eat my Wheaties for a few more years before I'm ready for.
00:17:26
Speaker
for Shiva. Yeah. And Kelly Hugh just plays her magnificently. It's just like she's so past it. Like nothing really phases her. It's great. And she's, she's reprising it because she also played Shiva in Arkham Origins too, the video game.
Character Dynamics & Philosophical Insights
00:17:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. She's played the character before and really made it her own and kind of, yeah. And especially with the
00:17:47
Speaker
the way that she's billed as O'Sensei's top student. And like, yeah, she's just, she's a force of nature. Like Lady Sheeva doesn't sleep, she holds back. That's what she does. Oh, and something else interesting here is that Jade is actually Cheshire. I didn't put those together. And Kelly, who was Cheshire in Young Justice? Absolutely, yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
play a role in New Teen Titans, especially if you know you're lower with Speedy and their relationship, and then they had their daughter together. So that's pretty wild, yeah.
00:18:24
Speaker
So seeing her there. Yeah. And Kelly was also in China, was also China White, too, an arrow. So another first alum, but also another arrow of her connections. David, I think I'm pronouncing his name incorrectly, but Gwin Tolle, he's the voice of Batman, but he's married to Lois Elizabeth Tullock in real life. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And he's been in like brim and stuff like that. So he's no stranger to genre, a TV.
00:18:51
Speaker
And he does a really good job with Batman. I find that he's got that nice mix of like, he's not quite like, what's the name of the gentleman who plays, he's got that quality. He's got the quality of the Batman actor in Under the Red Hood.
00:19:05
Speaker
Um, Bruce Greenwood. Yeah. He's got a blue, he's got a little bit of that gravitas to him, but it mixed your mixed with kind of like the, cause he's playing Bruce Wayne is kind of this young playboy and like, you know, talking to Richard, like, I don't really do that stuff anymore, which was like, Oh yeah. And then takes the ice pick and just throws it at him. Um, so he's got that nice kind of like.
00:19:25
Speaker
just a little bit like reserve kind of guard. It's still trying to play the playboy role, but when he breaks out Batman, it's all business. Like, it's great. So I like this stuff. Yeah, we'll see more.
00:19:39
Speaker
And it's so evocative of the 70s. And one of the things this movie does is something Derek always talked about. And I had Derek front of mind the entire time I'm watching this. Oh, definitely. He would have eaten this up with a spoon and gone back for seconds. But one of the things I remember him saying is that you can do anything with Batman. And Batman is such a versatile character in that way.
00:20:03
Speaker
And that's what I really love about this is the fact they just swung for the fences and like, yeah, we're going to put Batman in a seventies spy slash Kung Fu thriller and, and you're going to love it. And he works. Yes. And it works. It works. Absolutely. He's one of the most malleable characters there. That's why else worlds with that. RIP to the, uh, the late great Brian Augustine who gave us the first and greatest else worlds.
00:20:27
Speaker
Batman Gotham by Gaslight and its sequel, Master of the Future. And yeah, so it's one of those things where you can make them a green lantern. You can make them Superman. You can make them most anything. As long as you stay true to the core tenet of Batman, the through line is just his sheer cussiveness. And they bring that up like,
00:20:47
Speaker
throughout the movie like Bruce is not necessarily O sensei's most gifted student but he is the most determined student like the test with the stone right everybody else gives up Bruce is still there trying to break that rock even after O sensei tells him that's you kind of misunderstood it it's I told you just to try and then Bruce still keeps going at it
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah. And what I love about it is it's a gigantic rebuttal F slash F you to those who are like try to deconstruct Batman. Cause O sensei says like, look, you're never going to defeat your, you swore a vow to like war on crime. Crime is something that you can't beat. Even if you like shatter it, there will be pebbles. If you break the pebbles, there will be sand. Evil will still be there. You can't win. And like Bruce just takes that all in when O sensei leaves starts hitting the rocket.
00:21:38
Speaker
Because he's not going to stop because he's Batman. And when Ben Turner beats the ever loving Jesus out of him, he will still not give up even though he is mostly just mulch at that point. He like still gets up and is just like, let's go. I didn't hear a bell. Like that's the thing about Batman. Batman absolutely, positively will not give up. He will keep doing this until he is dead.
00:22:07
Speaker
funnily enough, might tie into the ending, but we'll stick a pin in that and get back to it. But also, and the demon makes reference to that too, when he said, he talks about the fact that, you know, he's like your child pressing up in a mask and all this kind of stuff. And Batman's just like, I don't give a shit, would you?
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, the mask is my face. Like he's just like, I do not matter to me. I'm still going to do it. You can't stop me. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I love about Batman. He just raises a gigantic middle finger to nihilists everywhere. Like, yeah, I know I can't beat crime, but I'm not out there for that. People, everybody misunderstands it. Like as much as I love Kevin Conroy and Batman, the animated series, you know, I am vengeance. I am the night Batman's about vengeance.
00:22:54
Speaker
It is about protecting. He's about trying to be the hero who sweeps in and saves the family who is in danger. Like that's Bruce's fantasy. He walked out of the mask of Zorro. His parents got murdered in front of him. And he was like, well, where's, where was Zorro? Where was the hero? And he's like, well, I'll be that guy. And I will do that. Like, like Batman's story begins in an alley. It ends in an alley because Batman will die trying to save someone. That'll be his, that's his epitaph. Like he'll, he'll do it. Like,
00:23:23
Speaker
Like, cause he's just that guy. He's all about protecting people. Batman is out there to make sure that nobody dies. It's like everybody talking about what a brooding loner he is. He's got 50 kids. Like he's the biggest softy in the DC universe. And everybody's just like, oh, he's so brooding and intense. It's like, no, he's the biggest, he's the biggest softy in the world. He just can't, he can't say the words because if he says the words, if he says those three words, he feels that he will doom people to the fate of his parents. That's why he always keeps it under a bushel.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah. But that's who he is. He is a justice engine. He will never stop. I loved Michael J. White's performance in here. He's just like the design of Bronze Tiger in this and just like everything. It was just, it's total evocation of Jim Kelly. I loved it.
00:24:20
Speaker
Absolutely, it's very Jim Kelly, it's very Luke Cage in the design as well. Yeah, even with the shirt, the yellow shirt, I was like, is he doing a Luke Cage rift now? I see what you're doing, design team, and I'm not saying no, I'm not saying no.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I love the character progression that he gives to Michael J. White, gives to the character, Ben Turner, because when we meet him in the flashbacks, he's very angry and like he's still working on his anger. Oh, since I even mentioned that when he destroys the training dummy, he's still working on his anger.
00:24:50
Speaker
And so we see him in the present and he's talking to the kid and giving them the pep talk and the speech. That was really sweet and touching like, hell yeah, you're ready. Go in there, tiger. Go into there and get him champ. And the kid just runs in there. Like he's got like, yeah, man. And so he's great. And when these other guys show up, he's like, yes, you're not here to enroll, huh? So, but we also find out that he had to do some pretty heavy stuff back in the day. Like when he's tracking down the, um, the leaders of the Cobra cult and he realizes, Oh, dip.
00:25:20
Speaker
I have to kill this kid. And that's the line that he can't cross. He knows the objective thing would be to take this kid out, but he can't bring himself to do it because he's not that guy. He's a hard man, but he's not a mean one.
00:25:37
Speaker
And he can't
Bronze Tiger's Development
00:25:38
Speaker
bring himself to do it. And that's why Bronze Tiger is awesome. The stuff like this, it makes me wish that Michael Jai White got more prominent work because he's a lot better than he gets credit for. He's so good and he's such a fan of the material. His love of the material like springs off the board. Like he's clearly in love, especially, you know,
00:26:00
Speaker
Not just with, you know, superheroes and comics, but he's clearly a fan of the era. Like, if you've seen Black Dynamite, yes. Good God. Either in the movie series, movie version of the animated series. Like, he has so much fun with it. It's clear his affection for it. He wears his love of it on his sleeve. And it's just a shame that, you know,
00:26:20
Speaker
He deserves that shot. Like, don't get me wrong. I did like Idris Elba in the Suicide Squad, but I'm like, man, if only we could have gotten like Michael J. White as Bronze Tiger in live action, that shit would be on the big screen. I mean, I know he's been Bronze Tiger on the small screen and I'm not denigrating his work on Arrow, but man, could you imagine? Like, just to bring him in and have him just be the bad-ass. Well, I mean, for years, my,
00:26:49
Speaker
dream casting would have been him as Luke Cage. Yes. Yeah. In a, in a, in another universe, like I'm not, I'm not denigrating the- Oh no, Mike Colter is like, not like now that we've gotten Mike Colter, like you gotta bring back Mike Colter. But if we were to do like into the cage verse, like, holy moly, like if you had modern cage and then 70s cage played by Michael JY, that would be ridiculous. That would be amazing. Cause they are, they, they both, they would both bring it.
00:27:18
Speaker
So yeah, and Michael Cole is amazing. I love Cage. Back in the day, I described it as my ideal comic book adaptation would be, you know, Heroes for Hire, set in the 70s, you got Michael Jai White as Luke Cage, and you got, oh God, Ray Park as Iron Fist. And you have it directed by Quentin Tarantino. Ooh.
00:27:45
Speaker
That would have been my dream project back in like 2000s. Yeah, that'd be great. If we had all that, if we had all that FU money and could just make a project, if we could pitch a project like, look, look, Disney, I know you're, you're not, you're not going to want this, but you're, you're looking at it with your head, not your heart. Please understand. This will make a lot of money. This will make a lot of money. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
00:28:06
Speaker
Trust me, that would be amazing. But in this movie, it's pretty great too. We haven't talked about Richard Dragon that much, but Richard Dragon's story in this movie is really good. They set him up as like, he's the secret agent, he's working for the government by that same token. When he realizes that the Cobra cult is after the gate, he's like,
00:28:28
Speaker
Look, my employers, when we try to militarize this, you're the only person I trust, Bruce. So we got to work together and try and stop this from happening. We owe it to O sensei. So, yeah. So when the whole thing is like, it's basically, you know, it's basically, you know, if Bruce Lee's character from Enter the Dragon had a franchise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was its own like little universe. Yeah.
00:28:53
Speaker
And in that universe, there's a Batman. That's incredible, yeah. And wouldn't be all that out of place now that I think of it. No, I mean, given Enter the Dragon, it would only make sense that there'd be a dude dressed as a bat showing up in there somewhere, and I wouldn't bat an eye. I'd be like, yep, that's obviously, yeah, that fits.
00:29:11
Speaker
Which is because it's funny when I think about this. And when I was watching the trailer, I was like, wow, that looks interesting. I'm like, I'm not sure how they're going to make that work. But it did. They did make it work. And it worked together far better than I expected it to. Yeah, because they decided like they made the very smart choice of like, OK, of all the incarnations of Batman that we can go with, let's go with the Denny O'Neill globetrotting adventurer James Bond.
00:29:37
Speaker
Denny O'Neill and a Neil Adams version. There's Morrison calls her the hairy chested love God. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like, like, like John Pertwee doctor who has come to Rod Stewart. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So absolutely. Yeah. And the, and the, and it all works together really well. And it's ultimately also a story of family. Cause like when O sensei sacrifices himself to close the gate and stop, you know, snake Cthulhu from taking over the world.
00:30:00
Speaker
He's like, remember that the four of you are stronger together than apart. And so like, it's essentially this estranged family of misfits getting back together, which I appreciated. Because again, Bruce is a big softy and loves his family, whatever family that happens to be. And I can't help but feel in my head, Canada, that one of the reasons he didn't go after Siva was because, you know, she's like his sister, you know, he won't fight her. Yeah, plus he knows he'll lose because she's Siva.
00:30:28
Speaker
For God's sake, yeah. So it's great. And the dynamic of the four
Richard Dragon's Emotional Journey
00:30:32
Speaker
characters is great. And when Richard has his confrontation with O sensei, in quotation marks, who's actually the demon, it's pretty cool because he gets to like, he goes like full super saiyan and gets like his dragon avatar. It's very big trouble in little China, which again, I appreciate it. And we even got some other characters that I didn't expect to see like from the Tim Drake Robin miniseries. We got King Snake.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah. Where I was like, holy shit, King Snake. Like, I didn't expect to see him in here. Like, he's a great character. And he just kind of like, he fell along the wayside somewhere because, you know, he didn't make it out of the first Robin series, I don't think. Oh, yeah, he got out of it. But that was that was that's some deep cuts and ones that I very much appreciate. Oh, yeah. I mean, the Cobra cult and all that. That's very, yeah. Yeah. Although I didn't see Destro or the Baroness. So I was like, I'm confused.
00:31:24
Speaker
Every time they bring up Cobra in DC, I'm always like, really? Like, really? It's spelled with a K. It's spelled completely different. Legally different. Hasbro, please don't sue. This is our own thing. And they have used it previously to good effect, especially in Batman Beyond. They had a fun arc with Cobra in Batman Beyond. And that was pretty cool. So seeing them is always fun because they're delightfully creepy. And the guy who plays a
00:31:54
Speaker
plays the head of the Cobra cult. You know, Cobra himself is delightful. He is a praying mantis of a human being. It's in this thing where it's like, dad's for me. And I'm like, ooh, you're creepy. I don't like you. I want someone to hit you right now. So yeah. And it turns out he's the kid that Ben Turner couldn't bring himself to kill. So it's just like, oh boy. Yeah. Josh Keaton did the voice of that. He was from a spectacular Spider-Man.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, Josh is real good at playing creepy. He also plays electro in the Spider-Man game. So if you've ever played Spider-Man for PS4, it's literally Spider-Man squaring off against Spider-Man. So that's pretty fun. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's interesting. Oh, I didn't know. He also did a voice of Steve in What If, Captain America. Yeah, yeah. He did a really good impression of Chris Epps. Yeah. Like it was spooky. Like when he was talking, I was like, did they get
00:32:50
Speaker
Did they get him? And then I had to check the credits and be like, oh no, but good, good, good homework, Josh Keaton. Good catch. Yeah. Like if they ever need like him to voice cap and like an animated thing, like, all right, we know we got, we can get Josh Keaton on speed dial. Yeah. And I want to talk some more about Mark Dacascos because talking about the guys who don't get in there do, like he's definitely one. Really? Without a doubt. I got a, you know, the crows TV show, Stairway to Heaven.
00:33:20
Speaker
Not a great show. It's solid. It's solid. You know what the problem is? It had a very rocky first half. If you can make it through like the first half of the season, the second half of the season is really solid. Once they find out what they're doing and decide to try to stand on their own rather than cleaving too closely to the movie, because you know, the shadow of Brandon Lee
00:33:48
Speaker
hangs heavy over that franchise. You know, once they found their footing and started doing their own thing, they really kind of started to move forward and get some momentum going. Yeah. And it got cut off right when it was getting really interesting. Yeah, it was one of those shows that, yeah, just didn't get its due. Yeah. I mean, that was Bryce Abel. He had that happen a lot because Dark Skies was another one. It was this really underrated, like,
00:34:14
Speaker
you know, X-Files esque show, but it was set in the sixties and, and he had this whole like five year plan for like each season will be set in like a different decade. Yeah. Yeah. I think I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, it was one of those like, well, we've got the X-Files. So why didn't you, unfortunately, it was like that one show that I quite, quite liked about the website.
00:34:37
Speaker
the paranormal website with the brother who went missing, the founding brother went missing and the other guy was a little more glitz and sleaze came on to take over. Freaky links, it was called.
00:34:47
Speaker
Okay. I think I've heard of that, but I don't think I ever saw that. And, and it was interesting. It was interesting where they tried to play with the website. Like they had an actual website online that you could visit and watch like video archive footage to try to piece together the mystery of what happened to the missing brother. So that was kind of cool. It was one of those things where it was like a, almost like a modern day successor to like the old captain power show where like there was an interactive element to it, which I quite appreciated. But yeah, yeah, it was one of those shows where it's just like, it's an interesting idea, but
00:35:16
Speaker
we weren't ready for it yet. We weren't quite ready for it. Especially with the Crow, because it actually had the solid ratings to get a new season, but then they had like a change in ownership or something like that and they- Something went down. Yeah. And especially because he was,
00:35:35
Speaker
He was, he outclassed pretty much everybody on that show, acting wise, except for Mark Gomes, the guy who played Albrecht. He was the only one who was like, they were both like on a different level from everybody else in the show. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They were definitely up there, yeah.
00:35:53
Speaker
And yeah, I, you know, followed him here and there. Like he was a, he plays great villains, right? He does like in, was it cradle to the grave with that awesome fight scene with him and Jet Li in a ring of fire. And yeah, yeah. Which was unfortunately edited together in a crappy way. Cause he spliced in all the fights with the other people. It's like, no, no, just everybody just came for this fight. That's it. We just want to see this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:20
Speaker
I don't want anything else. Just give me the thing that I want. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But yeah, yeah. And he's great. Even in this through an animated format as a leading man, he's fantastic because he's got this dry, sardonic sense of humor. And when he's playing the younger Richard Dragon, he's much more earnest. Yeah. And very clearly admires and loves Osensei as a father figure. Like when Osensei goes through the door, he's like, we've got to get him back. And Bruce is like,
00:36:49
Speaker
No, he's gone, man. We got to let him go. Whatever's on the other side of that door, got him. Which is why it's so heartbreaking when the door opens and he has to fight this corrupted avatar of his mentor. And it's clear that it's, you know, it's tearing him up inside, but he still has to do it. Like, that's a great moment. Batman is nowhere to be seen. Yeah.
00:37:12
Speaker
And that's like, and you, at that point you don't care. Cause you're so invested in the Richard dragon story where I'm like, Oh my God, what's he going to do? And like the demon wants to take Richard and make him his avatar and like, Holy shit. Like at that point, you're like that who like what's going on? Yeah.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah. And he does some, he does a great job with voice work. Cause people think about the Costco's and they just think, oh, well, you know, he's just a guy who, who's a really good, you know, he looks really good fighting on screen, but no, he does pretty good job at the voice work too. First time I experienced that was he did the, he did the audio book for Battle Royale and he did a really good job with that. So it's nice to see him doing some more voice work like this.
00:37:56
Speaker
Yeah, he's great. I mean, he's, you know, he's been in a bunch of stuff. I mean, you know, he's like from like Brotherhood of the Wolf to John Wick 3. Like he's a guy that, you know, he put him in anything that's like- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? He was in Mortal Kombat Legacy. He played Kung Lao. Yeah. And he's one of those actors when I see him, I'm like,
00:38:22
Speaker
Okay, I know, I know, I know I'm, I know I'm in good hands. It's the same way as when I see like Michael Bean crops up on the Mandalorian. I'm like, there we go. I know, I know he's going to give me exactly what I need for this episode because he were in good hands. He'll know the assignment and he'll stick to it. And he's one of those actors I always like see getting work. And it looks like he's going to be in the sequel to 47 Ronan, the Seattle region one. Yeah. Oh, wow.
00:38:50
Speaker
It's getting a sequel. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be like a, it's going to be a, it's going to be kind of it's, it's going to be set in the future. Oh, well. So it's going to be like a cyberpunk sequel to it. So, I mean, look, um, sure. I'm glad you're, I'm glad you're having fun with it, but you know, like, I mean, that Stan Sakai 47 Ronin is just right there waiting to be adapted into an animated movie. And I'm just like,
00:39:20
Speaker
Come on. Like, this is good. Could be great, though. Yeah, but we've also got so many different adaptations of 47 and Ronin.
Mark Dacascos' Performance
00:39:30
Speaker
So when I read it. It's tough. Yeah. And I did. I watched the fantasy version that Keanu Reeves did. And I'm like, this is a lot better than people give it credit for. All right. All right. I never watched it. But I think a lot of people unfairly judged it.
00:39:44
Speaker
I, yeah, I, maybe I should be, you know, I, in Keanu, I trust like, I, I, I will give it a fair hearing. So I'll add it. Yeah. It was a fun watch. And when I saw that, I'm like, Oh, the sequel to 47. Okay. Cause everybody dies at the end, but, um, and then they're like, Oh, and it's going to be a cyberpunk sequel set in the future. Okay. I'm in now. I'm in. Okay. Okay. I mean, you know, not saying no. I mean, there's always an interesting way of
00:40:12
Speaker
turning things around and let's be honest. I mean, new movies with a, maybe a fresh take on some old material might not necessarily be a bad thing. I love superhero movies as much as the next guy, but you know, it'd be nice to see some different things out there, you know, besides these 10 poles. I mean, don't get me wrong. Love me, love me as Spider-Man, no way home, but you know, there was a time when these movies were a little more spaced out. Thankfully they're getting, they're getting that way again, thankfully, but
00:40:41
Speaker
There was a time when it was just like, oh, it's just Marvel and.
00:40:46
Speaker
It's just Marvel movies and Star Wars movies. As far as the eye can see. I mean, you know what? I'm not complaining. As a kid, I wanted this and now I'm getting it. So I'm totally on board for it all. Oh, like, don't get me wrong. Like, please don't throw me, you know, into this prior patch. But it's like, it's crazy that, you know, it's just everything's a tentpole now. Like, we don't find those quirky hidden gem movies like an inner space or a three amigos anymore.
00:41:15
Speaker
They're harder to come by. They're mostly just confined to streaming. That's a whole other thing. That's one of the good things about streaming is that we have all these options now for- I mean, that's true. That's true. I mean, it's just kind of a, it's like die cast metal construction. Good kind of indie movie you find in the theater as a bit of a lost art. Yeah. Kind of like this movie where we get a fun like, a fun action movie that, you know, knows exactly what it is, understands the assignment, keeps it lean and mean in under 90 minutes.
Film's Ending & Sequel Speculation
00:41:44
Speaker
and has the balls to give us like a wild bunch ending. That was the bit where I was like, oh, oh, I see what this is now. You mad geniuses. It made me wonder if maybe we might get a sequel to this. I mean, it is a pretty like,
00:42:02
Speaker
you know, butch and sun dance running into the gunfire and then everything just fades to, everything fades to white. So who knows? Like, I would almost want to keep it just as this weird thing on its own. But I mean, a sequel could be fun, but I don't know. Or here, you do a sequel and you just don't explain what happened. Like you don't tell, how did you get out of there? And Batman just says,
00:42:30
Speaker
wasn't easy or something like that. And just like, well, too, I think that because this is such a love letter to Denny O'Neill, like, you know, there's so many more Denny O'Neill stuff that you could bring in in the sequel. So yeah, I think, you know, just, I mean, this is, this is what I love about this is full Denny, full on Denny O'Neill Batman. And I love it. Like, don't get me wrong. I love Frank Miller's work on Batman, but well, most of his work on Batman. Well, you know,
00:43:00
Speaker
Well, you know what you do, you know what you do in the next one. You know what you do, you don't necessarily make it a direct sequel, but take something from that era that is universally beloved and do it, and do it. And for those who don't see what I'm holding up, I'm holding up the Walt Simonson Archie Goodwin Manhunter series. I never read that. So you got to explain for me and everybody else. Okay, so the Manhunter series was essentially like,
00:43:29
Speaker
Archie Goodwin and Walt Simons had did this backup in detective comics featuring the like 1940s manhunter character, but they updated him into like into the modern world of the seventies and they made him like a globetrotting adventurer assassin. He's working for the secretive organization that's trying to supposedly better the world. And they've created not only, they've not only created this organization as his support network, but they've also cloned Paul Kirk, the manhunter, and made a bunch of clones of him as their army.
00:43:59
Speaker
And he's ostensibly gonna help them save the world, but hey, surprise twist. The organization turns out to be evil and Paul has to go rogue with some friends of his. And then eventually he runs into Batman. And so in the final story of that, like Batman and Manhunter team up, and at the end of it, well, Manhunter doesn't make it out. So it's great. That would be very much of a piece with Soul of the Dragon. I think that would make for a great,
00:44:25
Speaker
spiritual sequel slash adaptation of it like Batman Manhunter that would be that would be bonkers good so.
00:44:34
Speaker
you haven't read the comic everybody run do not walk it is yeah i'm just looking it up on comixology right now yeah it's uh it is you know it's early simonson so he's not quite as polished as he is later on in his career but it is really really quite quite good as like a globetrotting adventure story set in the 70s that eschews a lot of the superhero stuff and plays more into like
00:44:56
Speaker
martial arts spy conspiracy stuff. They're very, very kind of like three days of the con war. Oh, okay. Feeling, yeah, to it. Very conspiracy, very conspiracy kind of thing, but very fun. And eventually, like, Kurt Busiek would revisit it years later in his comic, The Power Company, where he would have a character named Manhunter, who was one of the clones that survived. Okay. And it was just like, he called himself Kirk Nepal, and was very much like a mercenary, like,
00:45:25
Speaker
I don't care that I was a clone of this guy. I'm just trying to handle my business. I'm a ruthless mercenary. But every so often, he would do something that was very characteristic of his template. And you're like, are you as evil as you think you are, dude? So yeah, very fun, very fun. That seems like, you know, HBO Max, maybe you should make an adaptation of this because this- I mean, man, like, it is one of those unsung series that, like,
00:45:50
Speaker
if you know, you know, and it's so fun. And the fact that nobody has thought to do anything with this. And this seems, especially if you do something like this in the seventies, I think that would be pretty interesting. Set in period, it would be very, very good. And that Walt Simonson Manhunter costume where he's got the guitar, the punching dagger, like, oh, it's so good. And he's got the broom handle Mauser. Oh, that design is just so good. Like,
00:46:17
Speaker
In reality, adapted, it might look a little goofy, but on the page, it looks so good. I mean, they made Peacemaker's costume work, so. They made Peacemaker's costume work, so all bets are off. Yeah, yeah. That girl at Burnside looks amazing now. She looks exactly like the comic book counterpart. I'm like, what an age we live in where comic costumes are starting to look like the comics. And I'm just like,
00:46:43
Speaker
Yeah. And they're finding ways to make them work. I think that's, some of them would not have worked in live action, but I really, I really love how they've managed to make costumes that I thought would never work actually look
Discussion on Green Lantern Series Potential
00:46:59
Speaker
pretty good. Actually work, yeah, yeah. You don't have to make the Green Lantern costume, CG. I know we will have made it when I see
00:47:08
Speaker
Guy Gardner's costume in live action with those giant green moon boots. I will know that we have arrived. All feuds are over. All hatchets buried when I see that outfit. Isn't he going to be one of the lead characters in Green Lantern Corps? So you may see that. I don't know. I haven't heard boo about that show. The only thing I know is that it's coming.
00:47:30
Speaker
Like whatever it turns out to be, like they've already been playing like footsie with Green Lantern as a concept over in the Arrowverse. If you've been watching Batwoman, Diggle has this box. I'm so behind on Batwoman, I watched like a few episodes of the first season. But I do remember at the end of,
00:47:52
Speaker
the last episode of Arrow, like he'd found the box. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He found the box and it's pretty clear that there's a ring in there. Yeah. But when he appeared on Superman and Lois, there was no mention of that. And I'm just like, like, is there going to be something about the ring here? But no, nothing. They've been playing footsie with it. Like he had an opportunity, like he mentions in the Flash that he had an opportunity to
00:48:12
Speaker
to become a hero. And he kind of deferred it because he's got his, you know, his wife and family. And so he's still on the fence about it. Although they have also like in crisis and infinite earths when flash 91 meets up with Diggley's like, John, like where's your ring? It's just like, he's John Stewart of that other earth. So, oh man, that's so good. Cause Green Lantern is one of my favorite.
00:48:43
Speaker
Not necessarily characters, but concepts. There are a lot of characters under that Green Lantern umbrella that I quite, quite like. Like, you know, everybody from Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz to, you know, John Stewart and Guy Gardner. I absolutely love that idea of like, there's just something cool about it. Like, just like that fraternity of heroes out in space. And yeah, cool, cool. I would love to see that show, but yeah.
00:49:16
Speaker
But I mean, there's this, this movie though, there's not a whole lot to really dive into because it's very much on the surface. It's what you, what you see is what you get.
00:49:27
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's, and, you know, it would have been, must we go off tangent? We're just going to be sitting here for an hour talking about, oh, wasn't this awesome? And yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, it's easier to critique and talk about things that we didn't like. And with very, like, I have to say this one, this one played it lean and mean it knew exactly what it was doing. It didn't overstay its welcome. It had its, it had its point to make that
00:49:54
Speaker
All four of these characters are amazing and they should be in more things and maybe more things together.
00:50:02
Speaker
You know, would it have been cool to see bronze tiger with that tiger head mask on? Absolutely. We can't have everything, but what we did get was really, really cool. Yeah. I was kind of surprised that we didn't get any sort of more Tigress motif with him. Like I was expecting at least like a tiger stripes shirt or something. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they do kind of like lean into that one design and they don't really like, cause everybody else kind of has like
00:50:26
Speaker
I mean, like, Lady Shiva has her cool outfit. Richard Dragon has his, like, Bruce Lee kind of outfit there. But then he really gives, like, Batman has his thing, and, like, but I guess they kind of emphasize that, like, Bruce is the outlier because he has this whole theatrical costume that he wears. Everybody else is just like, we got no problems with bar martial arts. But Bruce, apparently, he needs to get into his mode. He's, like, full method. He's like Olivier. He needs to be
00:50:52
Speaker
He needs to be in his zone, in his trailer, meditating. Well, Olivier actually wasn't that method. I mean, the famous story about Dustin Hoffman and when they were working on Marathon Man is Dustin Hoffman came in completely sleep-deprived. And Olivier asked him why he was, and he told him, he was like, well, I'm getting into the role. And then Olivier, and I think this is apocryphal, but Olivier apparently leans in and he says, it's called acting, young man.
00:51:23
Speaker
That's amazing, yes. That is great. I heard Brian Cox on the beat with Ari Melver recently. And he was talking about his co-star on Succession, how he gets really into the method stuff. And Brian Cox, he's like, at the end of the day, it's really just pretending. Yeah, exactly. It's just make-believe. Yeah. But I do like the idea that Bruce needs to be in the suit to really activate
00:51:53
Speaker
Yeah. It kind of ties into his whole, like how he has the Batman of zero and R from the Grant Morrison stuff in the back of his head is like this, this emergency backup personality. Like if he, if he's ever so broken by anything, this ultimate Batman will take over and just take him like completely hog wild.
00:52:12
Speaker
Like, it's fun. It's one of those like little bits of like, it's very comic book, but I like it. No, it works. It definitely works for that character. And that's a recurring thing in a lot of different versions of Batman. Like Nolan's films did that very much. Like the whole thing that it's like, you know, his complete outlet of the rage and everything. You know, Dark Knight Returns definitely leaned into that. Yeah, like which is the disguise and which is the person. Yeah, yeah.
00:52:42
Speaker
They've always played into the idea that Bruce Wayne is the disguise, Batman is his real face.
00:52:49
Speaker
And, you know, it's fun to see them play around with that and kind of play footsie with like, is it though? Or is it like a give and take? Yeah. Very, very cool. Like again, this movie is just, it's just fun. I mean, I absolutely recommend like if you're, if you have a lazy Sunday and you just want to watch something fun and light and breezy that knows what it is and it's just here to entertain you, like, you know, just get yourself a big bowl of popcorn and have at it because it's an entertaining, it's an entertainingly fun time at the
Nostalgia & Homage to 70s Cinema
00:53:18
Speaker
movies.
00:53:18
Speaker
I mean, you know, DC, if you haven't yet put this up on HBO Max because Absolutely. Yeah, should be it's on some streaming platform somewhere because it deserves a wider audience because this is very clearly like a lot of care went into it like the animators in creating the fight choreography like they very much did their homework. There's all those fights.
00:53:41
Speaker
from the opening fight in France to the final battle, they are painstakingly choreographed. There's never anything where it looks like, oh, well, they're just recycling some file footage or something here or there or just going through some previous stuff that they've done. No, each fight feels unique and it plays to the strengths of that particular character, like that great sequence where Jade's like, well, why does Shiva get the sword?
00:54:09
Speaker
Like, why doesn't Rip get the sword? He's been here longer. And so, oh, Osensei is like, all right, okay. Rip, would you like the sword? Sure. Okay, you fight Shiva and Shiva, you can only fight with one thing. I love that. And like, that shit was crazy. Yeah. And then it's bookended where like, Shiva's changed and she like takes that dude's trachea out with her bare hand and she likes the blood offering and you're like, oh, dip.
00:54:37
Speaker
Yeah, those fights- Yeah, I was wondering, going into this, because I'm like, you know, Lady Shiva is one of the good guys. I wonder how much they're gonna sanitize her. And they did not. They did not. Like, Shiva has a code. But if you cross her, she will end you. Like, that's been one of the things with like, Shiva as a character, particularly when she shows up in the Batgirl comics. Like, the Cassandra Cain comics, like,
00:55:03
Speaker
Cassie's very, very good. She is the best physical fighter and Bruce is stable. But even she's got to work when Sheeva shows up. Cause Sheeva's just, she's the Leonardo da Vinci whooping ass. Like she's just, she just handles it. Like she's not bothered. And she sees through all the Bat family's attempts at, you know, theatricality and deception. Like she doesn't, she doesn't buy what they're selling. And she knows she's the baddest person in any room. Such an underrated comic. That Bat girl.
00:55:32
Speaker
Yeah, such an underrated one. Cassie Payne got done dirty. Yeah, yeah. So hard. And it's gratifying. As much as I, you know, we talked about this back when we did Birds of Prey, but as fun as that movie was, that was one of the biggest disappointment for me is what they did to Cassie on that. It is kind of a bummer. It was just completely unnecessary. Poor kid.
00:56:00
Speaker
All good. Can we get her taken away now? Bye. She's a little sleepy, I think. Time for her morning nap. A little cranky. No worries. All right. We've all been there.
00:56:16
Speaker
Okay, Stacy, is there anything else we wanted to talk about with Soul of the Dragon? Because we kind of touched on it, but I think the music is just perfect. It's delightful. I'm someone who doesn't really pay a lot of attention to music in movies.
00:56:33
Speaker
Unless it's really, really good. And this music is really, really good. This music's good. It makes you want to have a copy of the soundtrack. Like it's just so like, it's of a piece. It's evocative of the mood of the era. And it's just really cool. And a lot of the visual stuff, like the animation team,
00:56:52
Speaker
is clearly having a ball playing around with these these tropes like when you get like the the axe gang shows up and they break into Bruce's club and they're very clearly like just whoops he had come through ninjas like all cranked up to 11 and it's great um the Robert Atkins dowels um
00:57:11
Speaker
of lieutenant yeah yeah with the gloves uh schlagenfaust or whatever his name is schlagenfaust that was great and when they reveal his thing i was like oh yes yes this is my nonsense i love it like they're clearly having a ball with this and even some of the visual gags like when they're when they're chasing the the the the cobra cultists escaping with the sword and their inverse his car which is
00:57:39
Speaker
So the 70s Batmobile, it's nuts. It should have had a back printed on the front of the car, like that silhouette head from back in the day. But when they like, there's like, don't be a dummy buckle up and they smash through the middle. Like, it's clear that they're, these guys just know like,
00:57:57
Speaker
We're just having fun here. And this is all over the top. Or when Sheba looks at the big red button on the dash and she's like, is that what I think it is? And she just like this movie knows exactly what it's doing. And it's having so much fun doing it. This is the kind of thing like, it's all too often that, you know, you see these things and you're like, ah, well, it's kind of disappointing. It's not really what you want. I like it, but I don't love it. This wall to wall just had me
00:58:23
Speaker
grinning from ear to ear and like that's the biggest praise I can get it like if you if you're in this kind of mindset if you like these kind of movies if you watch like Kill Bill volume one and two if you've enjoyed Enter the Dragon or you know you know Game of Death all that kind of stuff if you like that era of cinema if you like that visual language you are going to have a fun fun time absolutely absolutely yeah yeah um
Comparisons to 'Shang-Chi'
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's so funny, because we just talked about Shang-Chi recently. And going from that to this, it's a real treat. It's such a good callback to that era. Yes, yes. It's a fun callback slash evolution from this era. And it's fun to see both of them kind of come into their own in a way that's really, really fun.
00:59:17
Speaker
Like, you know, Shang-Chi is very much the, the modern air of all this stuff. And this was just a chance to be like, Hey, you remember all these great tropes? Well, here's why they're great. And here's why they're fun. And we essentially made a little like greatest hits mix tape for you of all these visual beats and references that you will have an amazing time.
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's not really much else to say about it. It's just, I mean, really, it's a, it's a really, cause it's also kind of light on plot. Like it's just a very, it's a very standard plot and the plot is just standard. Yeah. Yeah. To showcase, to be a framework, to showcase these characters and how they kick much ass. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, of course, you know, you could go after it for being, you know, light on the plot, but I mean, it knows what it's doing. It's like, look,
01:00:03
Speaker
We understand that you've probably seen this story like a thousand times before. We're doing a MacGuffin chase, everybody. We're doing a MacGuffin chase. But I did respect the fact that one of the characters starts off with the MacGuffin and then gets the MacGuffin stole out from under her. So that was pretty cool. Well, yeah, I mean, the whole thing is the actually I think the filmmakers, they knew that, you know, we know why you're here.
01:00:29
Speaker
You're here to watch a Kung Fu Batman movie. You're not here as much as in Tim. Yeah. So we're going to give you a Kung Fu Batman movie. And they did. Exactly. Yeah. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Exactly. Yeah. You know what you're in for. You know you're going to have a good time. You'll be going through every minute of this movie like a can of Pringles. And you're going to have fun with it. It's an unabashedly fun movie. And I really hope.
Desire for Era-Specific Films
01:00:56
Speaker
that it did well in terms of like Blu-ray and like DVD sales, because I really want to see them play more around with these kind of like era movies, because that would be fun. Like it would be fun to see them do another like 50s, 60s riff, not necessarily like a kind of like new frontier, but kind of like its own thing. Like it would be cool to see them do something like that or something in the 80s or just evoke those prime eras of like,
01:01:24
Speaker
Cause it would be cool to see them do like a green arrow movie set in like eighties, like star city, like just over the top, like, like longbow hunters, but not a lumber and not as horrible to black canary as longbow hunters is whole like.
01:01:40
Speaker
There's a rant waiting to happen, but evocative of that era. I want to see full-on class war green arrow in animation. Yes. Him just being a full-on outlaw, he's just like, fascist capitalist, laggy. And I think he's capitalist, like B, just living in his best Robin Hood. Yeah. And I think that is the best
01:02:03
Speaker
That's the easiest way to, that's the best era to do it. It ends the 1980s. It's the eighties when greed is good. Exactly. Have him fight some Bordeaux gecko monster and his gang of thugs. Like, you know, somebody posted online, like the one fight we should have got from the Arrowverse and it was Green Arrow played by Steve Amell and Tobias Whale.
01:02:23
Speaker
Yeah. Like that will be an amazing fight. Like one of the 100, which were like the greed is good mega super villain conspiracy of the eighties versus Oliver Queen, the most loud mouth, like kick the door in.
01:02:37
Speaker
take it to the like, take it to the capitalist fascist pigs, Oliver Queen, like say what you will about dark night returns. And a great deal may certainly be said about old Frank before his tragic disappearance into the ninth in the Bermuda triangle in 1992.
Conclusion & Farewell
01:02:51
Speaker
We never saw him again. And he never made a sequel to dark night. Never. Um, he, he nailed Oliver Queen where it's like high old goddamn silver. He does not give a fuck and he hates, he hates the machine.
01:03:06
Speaker
And he will always be a rebel. And that's what I love about him. Like he's a loud mouth lefty. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Okay, Stacy, thanks so much. It's always fun having you come on here. It's always fun to talk about you. It's always a delight. I look forward to our next, whatever this might be. So I'll have to marinate on the next one to do so. Absolutely, yeah. Interesting. But tell people where they can find you.
01:03:28
Speaker
Oh, you can find me all over the place. If you want to find me on Twitter for my stream of consciousness thoughts, you can find me at Stacy HD S T A C Y H is in Harold Diaz and David. And you can find the fanboy power at fanboy power hour on Twitter. And we're also available. If you do a quick search on Google for the fanboy power hour, you'll find the latest episode. You can subscribe to our RS feed and you know, just to RSS feed, I should say, and just have a good time with it. So yeah, those are the two easiest ways to get a hold of me and our fanboy power our Facebook page.
01:03:56
Speaker
Great. And this is Superhero Cinephiles. You can find us at the website, superherocinephiles.com. Make sure to rate and review and subscribe Apple podcasts, anywhere else you get your podcasts. And that does it for now. Thanks so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.
01:04:12
Speaker
You have been listening to the Superhero Cinephiles podcast. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at SuperCinemapod. Join our Facebook group by searching for Superhero Cinephiles, where you can interact with us and other superhero fans. If you'd like to support the show, you can become a regular supporter at Patreon or make a one-time donation through PayPal, both of which can be found at our website, SuperheroCinephiles.com.
01:04:34
Speaker
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01:05:03
Speaker
Good night. Good evening. God bless.