The Joy of the Uncompromising

I got a subscription to HBOMax for a month to watch Nightmare Alley. So I thought I'd check out Peacemaker while I was at it, having heard so many good things about it. Unlike The Suicide Squad from whence it came, this show has love from both critics and audiences and, four episodes in now, I'm pleased to find it deserves the praise. It's one of the best new shows I've seen in years.

A lot of that has to do with consistent narrative vision which, I'm afraid, puts it head and shoulders above any Disney+ series. Every episode was written by James Gunn and he directed five episodes out of the eight. Even if he isn't the best writer in the world, it's still much easier to get drawn into the world of Peacemaker than it is on any more committee-processed show. His artistic preoccupations continue to be mulled over--the misfit group dealing with childhood issues while wrestling with the morality of their government sanctioned murder mission.

The humour often also feels like a live action Venture Brothers or Tick as we're invited so share the amusingly mundane or surprisingly pathetic private lives of guys who wear masks and tights. But the show also feels a lot more like Guardians of the Galaxy (and therefore Farscape) than The Suicide Squad. John Cena's Peacemaker is basically the good-hearted, dumb lug that Chris Pratt is in the Marvel movies while a character called Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) is Gamora/Aeryn Sun--the hardass soldier who doesn't see why she should be wasting her time with the lug. But like Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn marshals his impressive ability to combine dynamic action scenes with rock music, in this case drawing on Peacemaker's love for '80s metal.

Other filmmakers, particularly in the DCEU, have tried to imitate Gunn's knack for this but none can match him, likely because the guy just has better instincts and is more knowledgeable about music. The show's opening titles are already legend:

Peacemaker is available on HBOMax.

Twitter Sonnet #1520

To lose a candy car is easy pie.
The giant, pleasant party burned dessert.
But people gasped before the jagged eye.
The sleeper wakes because the sky's alert.
The orange and grey of burning towns descends.
The clouds of smoke collect in patterned silk.
A narrow night approached but time suspends.
A nervous lady sought the soothing milk.
The bleeding tree revealed a witch for naught.
A screaming bird completes the dance routine.
A crowded train preserved the quiet thought.
A silver screen is never quite pristine.
The silver platter served a set of cakes.
The promised land became a group of lakes.