Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie is the very first DC
animated movie headlined by Deathstroke. However,
it isn’t a production of DC Universe Animated Original Movies (DCUAOM). Rather, it was originally meant to be a
12-episode web TV series over at CW Seed.
But like CW Seed’s previous DC animated project Constantine: City of Demons, it didn’t finish its run (in the case of
Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons,
it didn’t go further than the pilot; Constantine:
City of Demons at least had a couple of episodes), but was instead turned
into a direct-to-video animated movie.
Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke is
typically depicted as a supervillain. Knights & Dragons, however,
interprets him as more of an anti-hero. This
version of a character is still a deadly, ruthless mercenary, but what’s
significantly different from other incarnations is that he apparently only
takes jobs that would require him to kill bad guys. The plot pits him against the supervillain
terrorist organization H.I.V.E. in a conflict that causes his double life and past
mistakes to stir turmoil in his family.
I’m not really sure what I feel
overall about this movie. There are
things I like. It has decent
action. The characterizations are mostly
compelling enough. The narrative is adequately
competent and engaging. And there are
twists and turns that are kind of clever and impressive. One that blew my mind away a bit is a kill
that seems unimportant, but is actually revealed to be relevant.
At the movie’s core is a family
drama, which I find to be partly okay, partly meh. I
think that it was cool to bring in Deathstroke’s relations into the
storyline. Comic book fans will derive mild pleasure from recognizing them. Plus, the family drama does generate some dark, solid aspects for the narrative. On the other hand, the soap opera vibes it gives off is pretty cheesy. And this kind of
story seems uncharacteristic for a character like Deathstroke.
Thus, in the end, I couldn’t shake
off the feeling that there’s something off about Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons.
While entertaining in parts, its whole comes off as lacking and inconsistent with a legit Deathstroke adventure.
For his very first animated
movie, Deathstroke deserves better.
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