PEACEMAKER (2022)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological, sociological*

Because I've liked the majority of James Gunn's works, with occasional exceptions like BRIGHTBURN, it's a major bummer to see him transition from SUICIDE SQUAD, a clever juxtaposition of colorful DC icons with dark comedy, to a moronic, politically correct mess like PEACEMAKER, the more so because Gunn intentionally spun off his version of the Peacemaker character from the SQUAD film. How did he get things so wrong, immediately after getting things right?

A possible explanation occurred to me. Gunn may be a creator akin to Alan Moore, in being able to come up with brilliant revisions of other people's characters but not that skilled in inventing compelling new personalities. Peacemaker wasn't one of the better revisions in Gunn's SUICIDE SQUAD, and for the matter he was based on a pretty nothing DC anti-hero, who was in turn based on an obscure Charlton crusader. Gunn expands on the fragmentary background of Peacemaker in the eight episodes of his first HBO season, but the characterization is bland and predictable. Similarly, Gunn's adaptation of another mediocre DC character, The Vigilante, also manages to be inferior to the model, taking a one-dimensional tough guy and changing him into a one-dimensional bundle of insecurities, desperate to make Peacemaker his BFF. 

But what sinks PEACEMAKER are the totally original characters, all of whom are wafer-thin representations of politically correct personas. None of them deserve individual names, and I'm not spending any time on them, so they are best described as:

No-Nonsense Black Authority Figure

Hot Blonde Chick

Fat White Guy

Fat Black Lesbian

Ah, but I suppose I shouldn't point out that the lesbian character is fat. Gunn's script is fine with having the other characters bash the White guy for his weight issues, but somehow, not even the terminally rude Peacemaker ever points out that the Lesbian is a porker. Peacemaker also mercilessly torments the White guy for doing a bad dye-job on his beard, but when Black Lesbian actually betrays Peacemaker at one point, he just kind of blandly forgives her her trespasses. Possibly Gunn felt he had to turn out something both rude and politically correct since he was writing the show for HBO Max. In any case, the formula that has served Gunn so well, that of "misfits who band together," is executed with a pedestrian lack of imagination. Only the fight-scenes are handled with some gusto.

The plot is equally ordinary. The motley crew is forced to work together by Suicide Squad martinet Amanda Waller, investigating aliens who have invaded Earth by taking over the bodies of prominent humans. This ALIEN-lite concept makes for a lot of gross-out scenes, but nothing along the lines of half-decent science fiction. Worse, the last episode contains one of the most indulgent liberal screeds I've ever heard in a superhero film. It makes BLACK PANTHER seem latitudinarian by comparison.

Until I saw PEACEMAKER, I had high hopes for Gunn's plans for future DC Comics projects. Unfortunately, due to the business relationship between DC and HBO Max, PEACEMAKER may come to be more the rule than the exception.