Serie - Peacemaker: You'll love it

By Mulder, 14 january 2022

The character Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (November 1966) from Charlton Comics. The character was later integrated into the many characters of the DC comics universe. Created by the writer Joe Gill and the artist Pat Boyette, it was not until the movie The Suicide Squad (2021) that this character finally came out of the shadows and had his moment of glory under the features of the actor John Cena. In this movie Christopher Smith (aka Peacemaker) appears as an invulnerable superhero ready to do anything to make peace even if it means killing innocent people who cross his path. We recognize there all the genius of the writer and director John Gunn to give life to comic book characters and transcend them on the big screen whether in an independent film Super (2010) (distributed in the United States by IFC Midnight) or more recently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)). After the visual shock The suicide Squad also written and directed by James Gunn, the character Peacemaker is back in a miniseries consisting of eight episodes, the first three of which were broadcast today on HBO Max.

Faced with the blockbuster with the consequent budget of The Suicide Squad, it was necessary not only to find a perfect orientation with a lower budget to give Peacemaker a place of xhoix but also to propose a series intended for the very many fans of this film but also of the films of James Gunn in which the music, the action and the humor occupy a dominating place. To our great pleasure, Peacemaker is a violent series intended for a well-informed public and has lost none of the strength of The Suicide Squad nor the excesses of this director who stops at nothing to give life to dantesque action scenes and colorful characters. This new series from the very first images with its credits worthy of a scene from a musical comedy on the music of the band Wig Wam (Do Ya Wanna Taste it) captures our attention, surprises us and makes us want to dance and applaud. Music is again a strong element of this series as it was for Guardians of the Galaxy.

This spin-off of The Justice Squad starts exactly after the post-credits scene of this movie and we find Christopher Smith (aka Peacemaker) (still played by John Cena) but also some of the supporting characters of this movie like Jennifer Holland (Emilia Harcourt) and Freddie Stroma (Adrian Chase). The first images of the first episode are those of the movie and preceded by a rather long conversation between the janitor of the hospital, Jamil (Rizwan Manji) and Peacemaker on the fact that the latter seems to kill significantly more people of different racial minorities. Far from softening the messages of The Suicide Squad, the first three episodes do not make any concession and do not skimp on the violent scenes or even gore outrageous. We will appreciate the presence of new characters like Christopher Smith's father (aka Peacemaker) played by the actor Robert Patrick in great form. The latter appears here as a conspiracy theorist and supremacist, but also a virtuoso in creating numerous gadgets that he keeps in a secret room in his house.

The Peacemaker series does not hesitate for a moment to be irreverent and to make fun of this superhero who is certainly physically very strong but who seems to have trouble showing real reflection in his actions. The script and the direction of James Gunn are again very effective and make this series one of the most successful of this year 2022. The numerous special effects perfectly mastered make that the spectators will almost prefer this series to the movie The Suicide Squad as it turns out to be an excellent comic book adaptation and allows the director to be much freer to create a perfectly mastered universe.

Another undeniable success of this series is the presence of the actress Jennifer Holland who proves to be very talented for the numerous action scenes. While her character, Emilia Harcourt had a very short presence on the screen in The Suicide Squad, this one gains here in thickness and especially brings to this series a glamorous side which reminds us enough that of Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow.

We are now waiting with great impatience for the five other episodes in order to get a real idea of this series conceived as a very long action movie in the vein of those of the 90's in which actors like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenberg killed a maximum of people.

Synopsis:
Peacemaker explores the continuing story of the character John Cena reprises from Gunn's The Suicide Squad (2021) - a vain and convincing man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it.

Peacemaker
Created and Written by James Gunn
Based on Characters from DC
Starring John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Chukwudi Iwuji, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Robert Patrick
Music by Clint Mansell, Kevin Kiner
Opening theme "Do Ya Wanna Taste It?" by Wig Wam
Executive producers : Matt Miller, Peter Safran, James Gunn
Producers : Lars Winther, John H. Starke, John Rickard
Cinematography : Michael Bonvillain
Editors : Fred Raskin, Todd Busch
Production companies : The Safran Company, Troll Court Entertainment, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
Distributor : WarnerMedia Direct
Original network : HBO Max
Original release January 13, 2022 - present
Running time : 39-46 minutes