Superman vs. The Elite
Superman vs. The Elite
PG-13 | 12 June 2012 (USA)
Superman vs. The Elite Trailers

The Man of Steel finds himself outshone by a new team of ruthless superheroes who hold his idealism in contempt.

Reviews
Dat Nguyen

I'm not a huge Superman fan, I lean more towards Batman but wow this movie was epic. What a lot of people don't realize is that Superman holds back in almost every fight because he knows he could easily accidentally kill someone. This is shown towards the end when Superman pretends to lose it, he was so fast, he was teleporting. Sucking oxygen out of the air but flying super fast, creating a vortex. Zooming bad guys into orbit. Destroying parts of brain with laser vision. There's not doubting it, Superman is practically a god and this movie showed that perfectly. It's refreshing to see how Superman would fight if he gave it his all. It's also refreshing that this movie deals with real life issues and politics, like wars between countries rather than mad scientists, super villains, aliens, etc. It gives you a glimpse at how super heroes might react to world problems in real life, if super heroes existed. The animation quality was good and all the technical details of this movie were good. the dialogue was decent, not too corny. If you like Superman at all, give this a watch.

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jppurkis

Superman is a walking atom bomb. This movie shows all of the themes that comic book writers have swept under the rug for years including the scope of superman's powers, the collateral damage associated with him cutting loose, and the absolute necessity of his moral restraints given that his unintentional motions could have devastating consequences for others. Superman is capable of fulfilling all of his desires instantly including his desire for revenge. This movie begins to explore the depth of his restraint and why this makes him the best superhero as well as why others who are not as stubborn in their unwavering morality can't be trusted in similar positions of authority. The difference between Manchester Black and Superman is the difference between Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Emperor Commodus.A serious battle between Superman and an aggressor would have devastating consequences for his surroundings. If he moved at his top speed his surface temperature would bake his surroundings (an SR-71 blackbird has some areas on its surface at 1000 degrees at mach 3 and superman can move at 880991 times that). He can easily cause earthquakes, tsunami's and hurricanes when his various abilities are used at their full strength and I like to imagine that unleashing his heat vision at maximum intensity could roast the surface of the earth. When you have this level of power absolute restraint is necessary to avoid upsetting the fabric of human society. Because of this it is almost certain that one day his powers will be the source of a natural disaster when fighting off one of his tougher opponents. This is an untapped source of endless potential drama. What if he accidentally caused a tidal wave that wrecked a certain community? What if he accidentally destroyed one of the fleets of the US? How would the US respond given that it is the job of all military organizations to develop contingency plans against potential threats? What would be the geopolitical impact of Superman in a world like ours if he chose to intervene in world affairs? He easily has the power to do so given that he has intelligence gathering and processing abilities as well as the ability to project force on par with the strongest of modern nation states. He sees everything and can hear everything and is therefore privy to the most sensitive of information. His alien origins give him surpassing intelligence so he is capable of processing this information as well as retaining it because he is not subject to human limitations. How Superman chooses to direct this force as well as how powerful organizations respond to it would be a very interesting storyline. Given that he can see and hear all there is also tremendous potential for social commentary with the character.I like to think that Superman is a force for good because he is not subject to human limitations. He has no need for food, air, sleep, power, security, shelter, or money and is therefore free to direct his efforts to the benefit of others. There have been many morally despicable actions taken out of ugly necessity such as Diocletian's razing of a city in the south eastern Mediterranean (I'm pretty sure it was in Egypt and I think it was Alexandria but I'm not quite sure). In order to preserve the foundations of Roman power he made an example of the city. In order to secure a living wage salesmen routinely lie in order to rip off customers. Superman is not subject to any of these constraints. Therefore he is free to be a positive influence.All of these themes are present in this video and although they aren't very developed I am absolutely thrilled that they have been discovered. Collateral damage is present in the final sequence and his intervention in world affairs is a theme present in Bialia and Bocolistan (apologies if I spelled them wrong). Restraint is present in the beginning and final sequences.I understand that some want more and think that this line of thought requires more exploration. I couldn't agree more but animation is not the medium to do it yet (this film alone cost 3.5 million dollars). Given the constraints involved this movie was masterfully made and Superman fighting the elite choreographed together with tragic music and Manchester black's monologue is one of the best sequences I have ever seen. People who rate it lower than 9 don't know what they are talking about.I had the good fortune to be able to watch the film with the commentary of Joe Kelly and the director and it shows that a great deal of thought and skill went into the development of the scenes. This movie is an absolute triumph and is not only the best Superman film that I have seen but the best animated superhero film that I have seen ever. Watched it. Appreciated it. Loved it.

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Mohammed Baybars Mehdi

The basic premise is Superman meets, allies and later battles against a new group of superheroes lead by Manchester Black who, as the name suggests, hails from Manchester - despite his confusing accent. A civil war between neighbouring countries Pokolistan and Bialyia serves as the backdrop. As Superman is saving lives of Bialyia forces under attack from the Pokolistani bio weapons, the Elite arrive to steal his thunder. Superman returns the favour and helps the Elite save civilian trains following a terrorist attack in England. Black interrogates the terrorists and is about to kill them when Superman intervenes and lectures Black on not operating above the law, passing judgement or whatever sanctimonious nonsense he said. The film falls down quickly at this point with Superman battling The Elite over their ideological differences. YAWN. The last 40 minutes or so really dragged.The issues highlighted in the film only serve to illustrate, pardon the pun, the sheer stupidity of comic book writing and the shaky moral stance of so called heroes such as Superman, Batman, the Avengers, that pansy Spiderman etc, etc - Superheroes who capture villains and then hand them over to the authorities only they invariably escape and KILL again. As The Punisher once said "Mercy is for the weak". Give me mass murdering lunatics like The Hulk any day. There's a real Superhero.The voice acting is good but the dialogue awful. The characterisation of Lois Lane is completely wrong, she could not be more unlikeable. The animation is also poor unless you're a fan of the tedious, angular Japanese style. The films only saving grace is the fight scenes, they're excellent especially those featuring the Atomic Skull.

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ymeer_maxi

Superman Vs Elite is the latest DC Animated feature to date and it follows a very interesting premise that has never been tackled before in terms of a Superman or any other superhero movie. The hot topic in this movie is "why not kill the bad guys once for and at all and make world a better place". Superman meets the Elite, a bunch of way if I may say look alike hooligans and set the of teenagers that might annoy you from time to time with there trash talk. These Elite have one goal in mind and want to distinguish a new dawn on the world by doing things differently than what world has been saying for many many years, they want to do it different and with authority, which is taking out the bad guys and killing them once and for all.People of the city and overall around the world seem thrilled about the fact and see things as illogical that why Superman has to fight the same bad guy over and over guy and many innocent civilians get killed in the process each and every time and why not end the whole thing once and for all by taking eliminating your opponent from the face of the earth by taking its life. Superman's actions and morals get questioned and is pushed to aside seeing these new heroes Elite arise.Some dialog's in the movie really hits home, especially the dialog exchange between Superman and his father and the twist in the ending, which really makes you think about the whole premise and makes you question whether thats what you really want to happen or not. The animation here is quite crisp but I still would have preferred a different approach towards Supermans design, in this movie he looks like one giant thick ball of meet, makes me question the overall design, but that won't ruin the fun of the movie once you get drawn into it. The story takes some time building up and it could have been presented in a different more entertaining manner, but it gets the job done for what it is and it is damn well entertaining if you let yourself go into the premise of the movie that it is offering.A very solid movie that would keep you entertained till the next DC movies come out, but in my book Superman: Doomsday is still one of the finest pieces of DC Animated movies I have ever seen. The Superman Vs The Elite gets a very solid 6.5 out of 10.

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