Superman and Jimmy Olsen are back, sort of. Brandon Routh and Sam Huntington from Superman Returns team up once again to bring another comic book to the silver screen. When the monsters you tell yourself aren’t real have a problem with each other they call one man: Dylan Dog. Every vampire, werewolf, and zombie in New Orleans has the former man of steel on their speed dial and TMNT director, Kevin Munroe, is trying to put this small character in big lights.
We meet Dylan, just as he has given up his detecting for the supernatural, while his sidekick Marcus, played by Sam Huntington, is chomping at the bit to make him a partner. Lucky for Marcus opportunity comes knocking, because he seems more useful to Dylan after a zombie kills him and makes him undead. Together the two of them must figure out why a werewolf would attack a rich man’s home, how the head vampire Vargas, played by Taye Diggs, is involved, and how to stop the ultimate monster from returning to raise hell.
When I first saw the preview for this film it seemed like a funny version of Constantine. Dylan has just as troubled a soul as Keanu Reeves did after his fiancé’s death but lucky for him the dead guy’s daughter is semi-hottie Anita Briem. To start off with the cons, you can tell this film wasn’t done by one of the big studios. It seems Munroe saved all of his special effects budget for the big baddie at the end of the film because the werewolves are actually kind of laughable. Also I felt Routh’s and Briem’s characters moved a little too fast toward each other, but that could just be the bad acting.
As story goes the film is solid. The rich mythology into the Louisiana underworld helped give Dylan's relationship with the other characters history and made the audience more comfortable. But the film wouldn’t have worked half as well if it hadn’t been for Sam Huntington’s comic relief. Marcus trying to cope with being a zombie was quite hilarious, and the Being Human star is quickly becoming one of my wife and I’s favorite actors because of it. The film also had a nice cameo by acting great Peter Stormare as the head werewolf.
The real treat for me in this film was seeing Routh and Huntington back together in this film noir style of picture. But can I couldn’t believe in a big city like Austin, TX the film was only showing on one screen, at one theater, in the entire town. Sure Dylan Dog and its practically underground adaptation isn’t well known, but when Hoodwinked 2 is taking up three theaters at one multiplex I think we can make room for the first comic book film released this summer to get the fireworks started.
Rating: C-
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