Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share on my own.
Let’s be honest cats n’ creeps we live in a wondrous age… an age where it’s possible for any ol’ superhero team to get their own TV show, no matter how offbeat or obscure (as far as the general public is concerned anyway). That brings us to the subject of this here revoltin’ review; Doom Patrol, a great slice of wacky weirdness in it’s four-color iteration, but not the first choice one may have for live-action adaptation. Turns out it should have been…
The basic storyline for this super show goes as follows:
The Doom Patrol; who’s ranks include Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), a dominant personality of a woman who has been traumatized, Rita Farr (April Bowlby) known as Elasti-Girl who is stretching herself thin trying not to become a permanent bowl of Jell-O, Larry “Negative Man” Trainor (Matt Bomer) who has being of negative energy using his body as a humble abode, Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser); Robotman, whose is a human brain in a robot body. Eventually the team gains a new member in cybernetic vigilante Vic Stone (Joivan Wade) a.k.a. Cyborg.
Now, all of these disparate personalities were brought together (or in some cases created) by one dude; The Chief (Timothy Dalton), and that sumbitch has got himself kidnapped by super-villain Mr. Nobody (Alan Tudyk), sending the Doom Patrol on a rescue mission… but before that can happen the team must face some unpleasant truths!
Seems basic enough; but it’s what the show does with these tropes that makes the magic happen right quick! While covering the overarching storyline, the series manages to give us plenty of twists and turns, and so much batshit craziness (there’s deadly asses for instance… yeah, it actually has stranger things on tap as well, but to ruin it here would take the joy out of discovering it for your damn self… ) that you will quickly realize you are in a bizarre, fever-dream reality that just uses super-heroes as a sounding board to present full-on lunacy at every turn… we are talking a one of a kind experience here boils n’ ghouls!
Adding to the irresistible vibe Doom Patrol‘s unpredictability brings, we also get top-notch acting from our ensemble cast (with Fraser being an amazing stand-out with his portrayal of a man forever trapped inside an artificial body, as is Tudyk as the sinister big bad of the affair), excellent moody ambience and cinematography, and one of those misfits/underdogs having their day storylines that is always a crowd-pleaser.
If there is a negative on display it’s that the final skirmish with Nobody is a bit blah, but hopefully the second season will stick the landing (and truthfully the rest of this is so strong this becomes a minor point at best)…
As for extras on this Blu-ray you get some deleted scenes and some outtakes… so the ribs are showin’ in that department.
Bottom line: Doom Patrol is one of the most brilliant and refreshing takes on the well-tread super-hero genre out there, and presents a fantastic story, well-told that is honestly one of the can’t miss comic book adaptation of 2019!
