The Guardians of Justice review: Thought-provoking at its best, an abomination at its worst

Adi Shankar’s satire TV series, part of Bootleg Universe, is his idea of a spoof Batman-centric Justice League show that has borrowed heavily from nearly 70 years worth of pop-culture

The Guardians of Justice

Story:
After the world’s greatest superhero, Marvelous Man, kills himself on live television, Knight Hawk launches an investigation into his death, while trying to keep global peace as a result of growing unrest in the aftermath of Marvelous Man’s death.

Review:
The show’s creator Adi Shankar does not shy away from what the series is at its core - an R-rated spoof that is meant to critique society. By all intents and purposes, it is an amalgamation of a zillion pop culture references almost parodying Batman and the Justice League. Former pro wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page plays the lead as Knight Hawk, a version of Batman. Page, who was a mainstream star during the peak of the ‘Monday Night Wars’ between WWE’s (formerly WWF) Monday Night Raw and WCW’s (now owned by WWE) Monday Nitro, essays a role of an older Batman archetype. As one would expect his performance leaves a lot to be desired but has somehow managed to keep the audience engaged till the final episode.

The series itself is a mix of live-action, 2D animation, 3D animation, and retro video game animation as well modern 3D video game animation. In other words, Shankar has used every storytelling device under the sun for this project. The constant switch between the different visual styles is often jarring. While the idea itself is not to be faulted, the execution has been botched. It ends up being akin to a series of fan films of popular characters. There is no denying there is effort gone into creating this series but the similarities with Watchmen, Justice League Doom, The Boys, Mortal Kombat, among others, distracts the storytelling with the endless references to pop culture post World War II. In fact the poster itself is the exact copy of the one from Justice League: The Animated Series.

Considering the series is not the most expensive of productions, despite being a Netflix series, the production value is on par with a B-film at best. This is disappointing considering the door was already open to using 2D and 3D animation to mask any deficiencies in aesthetics. However, Shankar has opted for blood, gore, and violence for the same and it has ultimately proven to be counterproductive. The narrative also takes its time to settle which makes binging through the series tedious at times. It isn’t only until the final episode that the story fully develops.

The series does have its moment to shine towards the end with some thought-provoking themes. The threat of nuclear war, fascism, racism, homophobia, totalitarian regimes, justification of evil for the greater good, and the idea of power corrupting are all included in the narrative. The ending is a clear reference to the Brainiac invasion from the Superman lore — which again shouldn’t be surprising considering Marvelous Man is a Superman copy. Performances by Derek Mears as Awesome Man and Sharni Wilson as Speed helped elevate the quality of the series. It was also interesting to see another pro wrestler, John Morrison aka John Hannigan, in the film alongside Diamond Dallas Page. The shock ending does leave the audience with philosophical conundrums that rightfully deserves praise.

Verdict:
Unbashful in conceptualisation but flawed in execution, Adi Shankar’s latest addition to his Bootleg Universe fails to be engaging despite its half-decent finale. The unique aesthetic does deserve praise but does not offer enough to warrant one to binge through the entire series.

Share

Where To Watch