Creature Commandos
Writer: James Gunn
Director: Matt Peters and Sam Liu
Cast: Frank Grillo, Zoë Chao, Sean Gunn, David Harbour, Alan Tudyk, Indira Varma, Viola Davis, Maria Bakalova, Anya Chalotra, Steve Agee
Any review of MAX's Creature Commandos needs to start with writer and series creator James Gunn. A veteran of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy series, and DC's The Suicide Squad, he very publicly took the reins of DC Studios' creative direction in 2022 with partner Peter Safran. Marvel had distanced itself from Gunn, somewhat erroneously, and he jumped at the chance to join up with DC and Warner Brothers Discovery. Creature Commandos is the first entry into what is shaping up to be a massive cinematic and television shared universe.
Creature Commandos, therefore, was pitched to the public with the assurance that since this is a shared universe, these characters from the series can and will appear in live action media, played by the actors who provide their voices: Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) as The Bride, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk (Firefly) as Dr. Phosphorus, Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Weasel and G.I. Robot, Zoë Chao (The Afterparty) as Nina Mazursky, and Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as Rick Flagg, Sr. This series is also joined by Viola Davis and Steve Agee, reprising their roles of Amanda Waller and John Economos from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.
As the spark that sets off the explosion that is the next phase of DC media, this series had to hit and hit hard — And believe me, it does.
Animation gives a writer and director the ability to do things that they either can't do in live action (because it would look unbelievable) or are hesitant to do frequently (because it would cost a lot). Creature Commandos delivers at least one big action scene per episode, usually more, with faces burned off, limbs shot through, blasts of magic power, and heads going through toilets. It's graphic. If you're an action junkie, there's enough to get your blood pumping, and the bad guys who you hate get what they have coming to them.
If you're less about the fights and more about the feelings, Gunn delivers those too. It's not enough that these are gruesome monsters, grrrr grrrr grrrr. They all have backstories that illuminate where they started from, the changes in their lives that brought them into Amanda Waller's "Task Force M," and how their actions in the present reflect all that they've been through. Nearly every episode has flashback sequences devoted to one member of the squad and pulls at the strings that made them who they are when we see them.
The show is not for kids. I'm going to warn hip parents everywhere who think their kids are old enough for Creature Commandos: They probably aren't. While Gunn and Safran are in charge of all DC Studios' projects, including assumed family-friendly fare like the upcoming Superman, this one leans much more heavily into the violence and adult situations of Peacemaker. There is death and sex, both of which are shown on the screen. Directors Sam Liu and Matt Peters don't shy away from very, very wet executions, just so you're warned.
The plot begins with major league Wonder Woman villain Circe attacking the Eastern European nation of Pokolistan, a country straight out of the comics. Waller thinks that protecting the Pokolistani princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) is the right job for her newly created Creature Commandos, under the supervision of Flagg. If the name is familiar, Flagg's son, also named Rick Flagg, was one of the few characters to appear in both Suicide Squad movies, played by Joel Kinnaman. The Creature Commandos arrive to defend the princess, but The Bride is pulled away by her past: She was created in Pokolistan to be the wife of Frankenstein's monster.
If there was one performance that didn't sit right with me it was Harbour's Frankenstein, and for a weird reason: he's too good. That's a weird thing to say, and I'm not kissing up to him in case I meet him in the future. It's that I've seen him do fantastic acting in Stranger Things and Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein and the nuance of those performances gets lost in Frankenstein's voice over. He talks a lot as Frankenstein, kind of sounding like Patrick Warburton's Joe from Family Guy, and while the dialogue is good, Harbour, especially at first, is giving a performance worthy of the stage that doesn't necessarily translate to an animated hulking, obsessed monster. It would work in a live performance though.
The cast members with extensive voice acting experience run away with their roles. Indira Varma and Alan Tudyk could do this in their sleep, but deliver high class performances just the same, Tudyk in at least three different roles. It feels like Grillo, who only has two VO credits to his name on IMDb, gets more comfortable in front of a mic as the series progresses, and Gunn, Bakalova, and Chao bring solid talent to the booth. Some surprises pop up throughout, many with links back to older Gunn projects: Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Linda Cardellini (Scooby-Doo), and Flula Borg (The Suicide Squad). The distinct voice of Shohreh Aghdashloo, fresh off her dynamite turn in The Penguin, also on Max, appears in Episode Six.
Like any Gunn-driven project, the soundtrack is as eagerly anticipated as the plot. For this one, Gunn dove into Eastern European and cabaret music, bringing in The Dresden Dolls, Kaizers Orchestra, Firewater, The Dead Brothers, and a whooooole lot of Gogol Bordello, who appear in cameo. It's not the ear-pleasing '70s mixtape of Guardians of the Galaxy . It's angrier, punchier, and more evocative of the Pokolistani setting for Creature Commandos. As such, it's a fucking banger and made me want to dance around a bonfire with a bunch of half-drunk people I just met. While the Guardians mix-tape made you want to chill in the rec room with the homies, Creature Commandos makes you want to tear ass down an abandoned road at midnight, banging on the ceiling of a car that's barely holding together.
So, is the series a good entry point to the new and improved DC Universe? The fact that the first two official entries, Peacemaker and Creature Commandos, are not suitable for everyone is a big drawback. While the argument can be made that these are for when the kids grow up and mature, it also signals that large chunks of this universe are not going to be accessible for everyone, and that's troubling. And although DC has a very large slate of animated fare for the kids' table (Teen Titans Go!, DC Super Hero Girls, Young Justice, Merry Little Batman, Batwheels, Justice League Action, and old standbys like Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited), for their big public push to be totally off-limits to kids feels like a missed opportunity. At the very least, Warner Brothers Discovery may need to bump up their children's production slate to give all audiences something from the Gunn/Safran regime.
We've seen that Gunn can do all-ages stuff. Guardians of the Galaxy was proof of concept. But if his Marvel Studios tethers are removed, will he lean more towards Guardians…or his work with Troma?
The show stands on its own merits, even if it is more The Suicide Squad than Guardians. Each character is given an emotional hook that resonates well after the credits roll, illustrated by the well crafted flashbacks that celebrate the ups and downs of very complicated and conflicted characters. Dr. Phosphorus is a callous jerk, but once you see how he got there, you find yourself wondering if you'd be any different. Weasel, who we saw survive at the end of The Suicide Squad, gets a backstory deeper than you'd expect for what is ultimately a joke character from the film. The tale of Frankenstein and The Bride is absolutely terrifying, setting up the characters as an obsessed stalker and someone desperately trying to escape him, almost since her creation.
Oh, and if you got a kick out of the short cameos of Calendar Man, Zebra Man, and Double Down in The Suicide Squad, you'll have fun picking out background characters and references from Episode One all the way until the end. I won't say who, but I will say that you'll see DC heroes and villains from the 1940s, the 1960s, and the present day continuity. Gunn himself appears in the animated credits of every episode as the show's creator. He knows that he's completely tied to this project.
Yes, you should see this show. I thought it was enjoyable, even if it did yank my emotions back and forth like a stuffed toy dangling from the dog's mouth. It's well-paced, funny in about as many places as Guardians was, but not as many as Peacemaker, and has all the Easter Eggs that make old school DC fans giggle and new DC fans want to run to the DC wiki. I mean, Crimson Centipede??? He had ONE appearance in Wonder Woman in 1967!
RATINGS
RESPECT FOR DC HISTORY: 5/5
BLOODY FACES: 4/5
LINEAR STORY: 2/5
VOICE ACTING: 4/5
WITTY REPARTEE: 3/5
NEED FOR DR. PHOSPHORUS ACTION FIGURE: 5/5
