Peacemaker - Season 1

Wow. I didn't realize I hadn't written about this yet. The Peacemaker show on HBO Max. The show I didn't ask for, but didn't know I needed. After his appearance in THAT Suicide Squad movie last year, more of anything related to that movie is the last thing I wanted. However, like some invisible rope tied to me, I feel obligated to watch any comic book related thing. So I watched this show.

I have never been more wrong about my pre-conceived notions. I like James Gunn's sense of style and jokes in his movies. With Suicide Squad, I felt like it was a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Too much James Gunn and too cute for it's own good.

Here, it feels like he's more restrained, oddly enough. Maybe because of budget reasons he couldn't film big sweeping battles with CG everywhere. I don't know. He found the right tone with this show.

There are so many genuine, laugh out loud moments. This is a band of regular people who are screw ups, not the super powered ones we saw in the Suicide Squad. I also can't put my finger on what didn't click with me and John Cena in the Suicide Squad movie, but I loved him here. Maybe because he got to be goofy and tap into some real emotions. Whatever it was, this was the perfect vehicle for him.

Before I go any further, if you have never seen just the opening to this show, go do that and come back. I love choregraphed dance numbers and to know that the cast went all in can only bring you joy.

Let's go a little deeper. Why did I love this show so much? Gunn's style of irreverent humor hits all the notes for me. I can't explain it. It's just the jokes really hit home for me. I am a sucker for a bunch of losers that try their best. Vigilante is completely hysterical here. I could watch him and Peacemaker bounce off each other all day. Their goofiness starts to infect the rest of the cast and it gets even better.

This invasion of the body snatchers thing I was okay with to a point. I wanted them to take on just regular people, not try to stop an alien invasion, but whatever. I was here for the jokes.

Normally I would go on and on, but I'm trying to restrain myself more with my little reviews. So I'll end with this. The cast is all great and perfect for the roles they play. I hope to get more of this show's aesthetic and humor in the second season. I hope they don't get a bigger budget which I feel would make them get lazy (re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). 

Also, ten episodes is about the appropriate maximum length for any comic book based show. I hope this becomes the new standard. If you haven't already checked this out, I recommend it. DC is starting to find that Marvel magic in their more lighthearted shows. Keep it up and maybe we'll get some different, weird stuff when we get fully done with Marvel.