Absolute Justice

DC comics writer Geoff Johns, who successfully brought the Legion of Superheroes to Smallville in season 8, returns with the two part movie "Absolute Justice". This time Johns is bringing the old school Justice Society to the show, including Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Stargirl.

First I'll cover the goods. Geoff Johns knows comics better than anyone, and it shows, as this story not only matches in tone and structure to the comics, but the plot is fantastic. "Absolute Justice" is epic enough to be a big screen adaptation. This is a massive episode. Not only do we have a handful of new DC characters, but John Jones comes back as well. The production values are possibly the best Smallville has had yet. Everyone went all out on this episode, and it shows. The real star though is Geoff Johns script. Even though this is my least favorite episode Johns has written of the three he's done, behind "Legion" in season 8 and "Booster" in season 10, it is the most engaging story he's conceived. As a fan of DC comics I loved that Johns never hides some of the corniness of these superheroes, but there's a downside to that, as I'll cover next.

Now the negatives. Yes, as a fan of DC comics I love that Johns writes this like a comic book story, but having so many characters, and refusing to dumb down their complexities makes this harder to watch if you're not familiar with the comics. What Johns did differently in "Booster" and "Legion" was play up on some comedy. That made it easier to see these characters in live action, whereas here it's very serious, and much more dramatic. That causes the characters to come across as a little cheesy at times. Although in defence of Johns, the fault with that lies with the rest of the crew. Some of the costumes look super cheesy, and not in a way where it's intentional. Hawkman especially looks ridiculous at times. I don't want to fault the costume designers, as I think they did a phenomenal job, but with a TV show budget on the WB, it's next to impossible to make a character like Hawkman look as good as he should. Even though many fans will hate me for this, I also thought guest star Michael Shanks from Stargate:SG1 gave a weak performance. He has some great dramatic scenes, particularly those opposite Dr. Fate, but most of the time it seems like he's doing a bad impression of Rorschach from Watchmen. I don't want to knock him too much considering when he returned in season 10 I thought he did an amazing job as Hawkman. On the topic of Dr. Fate, again as a comics fan I liked how well his character was adapted, but it is extremely sci-fi in a way that doesn't fit the overall tone of Smallville. Again, that's a complaint that will effect non comic book fans more.

This 2 parter is a great achievement for everyone involved, but as can be expected when you go this far out on a limb, there were bound to be some minor flaws.

Camera depth, sound and image harmony, costumes etc... Tom Welling is definitely a very good director. It's interesting why he didn't continue his career in this direction.

Two of the worst episodes in the series. Looking at the reviews, I think it boils down to this: if you're familiar with DC comic characters and you watch Smallville because it's a superhero show, you probably really liked this. The reviews show that these kind of people were thrilled at these two episodes. If, however, you are like me and watch the show for the human aspects -- the stuff that the first four seasons were about - then this couldn't have gotten any worse. Embarrassingly bad lines, bad writing, lots of looking and macho stuff. Weird voices. Dumb. I rank this as perhaps the dumbest episode since the episode in which Lois, Chloe, and Lana all become witches in the fall of season four. After that episode, I quit watching on Hulu for about four weeks.

Bring on the buffet of super hero's.

This was one of the better episodes of the season, and it had a more sustainable and independent story line than the other Zod-esquire episodes.

I love Dr. Fate - he is the wise of the old, the Martian Manhunter of the elders. Hawkman's character was also well played.

I wish they would have included a few marquee players in this episode (Batman, Wonder woman, Flash). But I do understand the rights and legalities involved - so it was in all likely hood a challenge just to get the ones they did have.

The only complaint I have is using the Iceman-dude as the villain. Stupid. Why use that actor too? Was he Tom Wellings friend? How did the metro sexual guy with the lisp get that part? The fight sequence between Stargirl and Iceman was poorly choreographed as well - so was that particular dialogue.

Oh well - keeping in mind, it is CW and resources are limited. How about NBC? I heard they need a few more quality shows.

Anyway, good episode - and like I said - it stands alone, so you don't need to have background of the season in order to enjoy.

8.5/10.00. - (-2.5) for using that weird actor as the iceguy.

I would definitely have to say that this episode was amazing. There definitely must be new writers on staff, because this was leap and bounds better then any other Smallville i have seen. I was starting to lose faith in this show, but i am glad to see they made a lot of changes. There was plenty of action and had a really good plot. And i loved the huge catalog of DC characters that were brought into the show which i am glad, because a show can get boring with the same characters for so long over many seasons. My only hope is that now the show continues with this pace, because now they have a lot to live up to. I would really like to see more of the same from here on with this show.