On Jan. 13, the first three episodes of “Peacemaker” were released on HBO Max. Over the next few weeks the rest of the series was released.
The show stars John Cena as “Peacemaker” and takes place right where the Sucide Squad left off. It’s directed by James Gunn, and streams exclusively on HBO Max. Is it any good?
With Marvel producing numerous short series in the past year, it’s only natural that DC would try their hand at it.
First let’s talk about the things that I liked.
I really enjoyed the plot. It follows Peacemaker after he gets out of prison and is assigned to a new team. It shows his toxic relationship with his father, as well as what kind of person he is.
It also explores many of the other characters on his team, like Vigilante and others who aren’t even superheroes, like Harcourt, Adebayo and Economos. Every character that we follow goes through some kind of arc and I think that it is brillant to watch. Overall, the story is well written with little to no plot holes, and the ones that I did find were kind of neglable.
Another thing I really liked was the comedy. With the R rating, the writers were able to get away with a lot of jokes that wouldn’t normally show up in a superhero show. James Gunn really knows how to put just enough political humor in for it to still be funny without feeling overbearing.
The R rating also allows for a lot of the gore and visual effects to stand out, which gives viewers a more raw experience, which I believe to be the intention.
While we are talking about visual effects, James Gunn has made a common theme of including characters in his works that are entirely made of special effects. This time around it is Peacemaker’s pet eagle named ‘Eagly’ who is very cute and gives Peacemaker a hug which really on that alone makes the entire series worth watching. The effects on the eagle are very well done. The only reason I know it was done with sfx and not an animal actor is because I looked it up.
I should probably mention the title sequence. It has all the characters doing choreography to “Do You Wanna Taste It” by Wig Wam. I have never really seen anything like it before and I really enjoyed it because of that.
Additionally, the music selection for this film is phenomenal. It has a lot of rock and roll which fits Peacemaker perfectly. You can find the entire soundtrack on Spotify if you look up “Peacemaker soundtrack” and a playlist made by James Gunn will be the first thing that you see.
Really, the only thing I have to complain about is that the first two episodes take a little bit too long to get the show going. I kinda suspect that’s why they released the first three episodes all at once. Once the show gets going, it’s great. You just have to stick it out for the first 2twoepisodes.
All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who likes superheroes and is old enough to enjoy R-rated content. It was quite enjoyable.
