In the wake of the closure of the DCEU and the anticipated start of the DCU, numerous fans have been wondering what James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new universe of superheroes old and new would possibly look like – but I don’t think anyone expected this.
I have to admit right from the start that my knowledge of Detective Comics’ more fringe characters is more than a little hazy, so the introduction of a gaggle of monstrous anti-heroes wasn’t something that came with any real pre-existing expectations for me – but even though we now have the potential for a World War II obsessed robot, a glowing green skeleton and the Bride of Frankenstein to rub shoulders with the likes of Superman or Batman, Gunn (on writing duties) us making sure he keeps things familiar by essentially giving us yet another variant of the Suicide Squad. Has he made things too familiar however? Virtually everything Gunn has done with the DC sandbox so far has spun out of a movie that he directed that technically doesn’t even exist in this universe anymore – so is the new co-boss of the DCU just giving us money for old rope, or is he easing us expertly into this new abnormal?
Two years after the events of The Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller hope to thwart the invasion of quaint nation of Pokolistan by the Sons Of Themyscira, an army of incel douchebags led by Amazonian sorceress, Circe. She intends to do this by taking grizzled soldier Rick Flag Sr. and putting him charge of another assortment of freaks and geeks who are being coerced into service to save the day.
However, seeing as Waller isn’t allowed to use humans to do her dirty work anymore, she’s dug into the more monstrous prisoners of Belle Reve Penitentiary to send them to war in the name of Task Force X. Rounding out the team is the scarred, sardonic Bride; the sarcastic, irradiated living skeleton known as Doctor Phosphorus; Nazi killing automaton, G.I. Robot; timid mer-worman Nina Mazursky and Weasel, an anthropomorphic rodent beast rumoured to be responsible for the deaths of 27 children.
This Task Force M (for monster) is deployed to Pokolistan with the standard explosives lodged in their skulls and despite a warm welcome, it seems that Princess Ilana Rostovic has rather amorous intentions with Flag that he’s utterly unprepared to deal with, but while he politely fends off her advances, some of his unwilling troops have some other ideas.
Doctor Phosphorus fancies a spot of freedom and attempts to steal the phone Flag is using to trigger those explosives causing an allmighty brawl to take place. Meanwhile, the Bride leaves the castle with Nia in tow in order to seek out the mansion of her birth; but unbeknownst to her, an old flame of hers has been spying on her…
Your initial feelings concerning Creature Commandos may very well be tied in to your feelings with Gunn himself; after all, despite essentially launching an entirely new cinematic universe, CC repeatedly refers back to both The Suicide Squad and it’s spin off, Peacemaker – which proves to be a mite confusing when determining what exactly is supposed to be cannon or not. Still, even if we ignore the trials and tribulations of trying to build an entire universe from scratch, Gunn’s script really isn’t trying to change the wheel here – it really is just variations on what he’s done before with other, simular collections of oddballs such as Task Force X and the Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Once again we have another gaggle of witty, but emotionally damaged, outcasts who are thrown together by fate and forced to fight a battle they literally have no interest in. For those expecting this to be a bold new start, this could be seen as something of a disappointment as it seems that Gunn is just doing the same old thing he’s done in his last four or five projects. However, to give the mischievous filmmaker his due, this is only the opening salvo. At only 22 minutes long, there’s not a lot of time to get things going, or fully bond with the cast, but while The Collywobbles manages to squeeze in all the introductions, a few cracking jokes (the concept of incels storming Themyscira because they deem it unfair is kinda genius) and a couple of fights, it’s obvious that there’s much more to come.
So far the main plus points seem to be the reanimated sass of Indira Varma’s Bride who seem be able to deliver a withering put down with the best of them (seriously, her delivery is sublime) and Alan Tudyk’s Doctor Phosphorus (quite simply because he’s Alan fucking Tudyk), although there’s some other immensely promising stuff on display here that, knowing Gunn, will have heart rending ramifications.
The return of Sean Gunn’s scuzzy Weasel delivers some choice physical comedy and G.I. Robot’s unending obsession with killing Nazis is a fun running gag. However, the always reliable Frank Grillo provides a constantly gobsmacked straight man and it’s nice to see that Viola Davis is still playing Amanda Waller even if it once again raise more questions about how much of the DCEU has trickled into the DCU.
However, the perky tone, funky soundtrack and a massive deep dive into the lesser known corners of DC keep us nicely hooked until the real story starts and the rapid-fire wit – fairly standard in worlds created by Gunn – certainly makes thing flow even smoother and any grandstanding proclamations about the entirety of the season based solely on what we see here would both be rash and rather unfair.
So, am I fully sold on this world of gods and monsters yet? After a mere, yet fun, 22 minutes, I don’t think that’s even a remotely sensible question yet; but it probably won’t take me too many episodes to discover if I’m fully willing to sign up with the Creature Commandos yet. However, while I’m not once of these Zack Snyder vs James Gunn time wasters who have to turn everything into an adolescent passing contest, I have followed Gunn’s career with intrest since his days with Troma and he’s more than earned a shot at a fair assessment.
Still way too early to call overall, Creature Commandos opening salvo nevertheless delivers enough chuckles and action to carry us through (the timing of the fight choreography in Flag’s fight with Phosphorus really is exquisite), however some may feel that for this preamble into a whole new status quo, Gunn may have settled too much in being a Creature of habit.
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