The opening titles of Peacemaker make it clear that the shadow of the career of James Gunn is over it. The cast of the film performed an elaborate musical number under neon lighting that would feel out of place in any of the films, if they had been given the chance to direct such a sequence. It is a fun display of work from all involved that shows off the love of music, direction, and comedy that was shown by the man. It also shows how much this spinoff focused on Christopher Smith, and how much of that owes to the misadventures of Star-Lord and his crew. He has the same amount of love for ‘80s rock bands and penchant for saying absolute nonsense as Peter Quill. The fact that he has more range allows him to have a lot of fun with the role he has been given, and that makes the silly asides and jokes much stronger. Not many actors today can say "freedom!" while climaxing during sex, or glee at being hugged by an eagle sidekick, as hilarious as he does.
Peacemaker has decided to let its supporting cast be as weird and quirky as its lead character, as if his strangeness is enhancing the frequency of everyone else. In the moments where the cast gets to play off each other and react to one another, the show has shades of a workplace comedy in the vein of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It is thanks to Danielle Brooks and her comedy troupe that it is at its strongest. She has a lot of charm to her character, and she has great chemistry with John Cena. It is a riot when Adebayo brings things to a halt due to her inexperience or the absurdity of being a married lesbian taking a job as part of a black ops team.
Watching the first three episodes of Peacemaker, it is clear that the director wants to make the most of his time with DC's antihero and is having some fun in a way that the MCU movies don't allow. Peacemaker the character is fond of women and is willing to sleep with any woman who catches his eye. The action at the end of the pilot and later in episode three is very nasty, but it wasn't until the fight between Peacemaker and Rick Flag that the action really came to life. There are a few mentions ofFlag's death in the first two episodes and a scene is shown during the beginning of the pilot. It is also a lot weirder than its ads have made it seem, as it is a horror movie that is very similar to Slither. DC has more grounded but still silly characters like Freddie Stroma's stupid Vigilante and Nhut Le's awesome but underused Judomaster on hand, which makes for a great show of horror.
The transition from film to TV adds to the weaknesses that began to show up when he started doing superhero movies. His writing has not been cruel to anyone, but he still makes banter be a little longer than it should be. In the second episode, Peacemaker tries to escape from an apartment complex, which takes up about half of the 40-minute episode. It feels like the show is in danger of being over-dramatic with its threat as a way to give Peacemaker a way to become the superhero he claims he is.
Peacemaker is able to work and sell its absurd slice of the DC Universe. The first sequence is a riot of a scene when Peacemaker and Vigilante use weapons and explosives to blow up the woods like two kids with nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon. The second ends with Auggie smirking while being greeted by fellow white supremacists, all of them on their knees and saluting their returning leader. For a show that features body snatchers and where almost everyone is putting up emotional walls, Gunn puts a lot of foolishness and heart on display. There is something darker just waiting to be known.
New episodes of Peacemaker can be found weekly on HBO Max.
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