A Martinez, host:
John Cena's character from the recent "Suicide Squad" movie now has his own series in HBO Max's "Peacemaker." NPR TV critic Eric Degans says that unlike Marvel's recent success in bringing superheroes to streaming, DC Comics' efforts with the character Peacemaker are rarely a hit.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: One of the more troubling things about HBO Max's "Peacemaker" is how hard the show tries to explain itself without actually explaining itself. Consider this argument between John Cena's character, the Peacemaker, and a hospital janitor, where the janitor insists that the real superhero does not have the pro-wrestling-style hulking physique of Cena.
(soundbite of the TV show, "Peacemaker")
John Cena: (as Peace Maker) Yes.
Rizwan Manji: (as Jameel) You are too heavy to be a superhero.
Cena: (as peace maker) F*** - what do you mean heavy?
Manji: (as Jameel) Most superheroes have a body gymnast. They are ready to go.
Cena: (as the peacemaker) I'm ready to go.
Manji: (as Jameel) Which superhero are you?
Cena: (as Peacemaker) Peacemaker. Are you a fan?
Manji: (as Jameel) There is no superhero named Peacemaker.
Cena: (as a peacemaker) Man, I'm famous.
Manji: (as Jameel) He is not famous. Aquaman, he's famous.
DEGGANS: Or the moment when the peacekeeper explains why he wears a colorful outfit while conducting a secret mission for the US government.
(soundbite of the TV show, "Peacemaker")
Steve Edge: (as John Economos) Maybe I'm an idiot, but why would you want to wear this on a mission? A bright red shirt and white pants aren't exactly conducive to lurking in the shade.
Cena: (as peace maker) People see this uniform, it instills fear in their hearts.
Jennifer Holland: (as Emilia Harcourt) What guys? Other people in the village try?
DEGGANS: Those watching last year's "Suicide Squad" movie met Cena's peacemaker, a fat-headed weapons expert and expert fighter who was ready to use any level of violence to bring peace - Like a ferocious, jerky Captain America. Imprisoned by the government, he joins the suicide squad to serve his sentence. In the film, written and directed by James Gunn, the Peacemaker is shot and mortally wounded after killing another member of the squad, Rick Flagg. In the HBO Max series, the Peacemaker recovers and exits the hospital, only to be confronted by another secret government-run strike team that pressures him to join their obscure mission.
(soundbite of the TV show, "Peacemaker")
CHUKWUDI IWUJI: (as Clemson Murn) You served only four years out of your 30-year sentence. And you thought we'd let you go without a discount?
Cena: (as peace maker) Yes. I killed Rick Flag for you guys.
HOLLAND: (as Emilia Harcourt) No one ever asked you to flag.
Cena: (as the peacemaker) I had the only option I could.
Holland: (as Emilia Harcourt) It's funny to you how often the only option in killing people is matching.
DEGGANS: Unfortunately, Gunn, who created the HBO Max series, wrote all of its screenplays and directed most of the episodes, didn't quite strike the balance of humor and unintentional brutality that made the film a bit better. Instead, the characters here come across as jarring idiots, and the series is too self-conscious about its own R-rated absurdities to find the right tone. The show has to expend a lot of energy to transform Cena's character from a stoic, psychopathic jerk to a more sympathetic anti-hero. He is regarded as an embodiment for the excesses of unbridled linguism, but the character is such a cartoon, such introspective scenes fall a little flat.
(soundbite of the TV show, "Peacemaker")
Cena: (as peace maker) I used to think that God put me here for a purpose, for peace. I know I said I didn't care how many people I needed to torture or kill to get it, but - I don't know. I'm having feelings about things.
(Soundbite of the song, "Do You Wanna Taste It")
WIG WAM: (singing) Are you sure you want to taste it, are you sure you want to taste it.
DEGGANS: Even as the needle drops, like this cut from Norwegian rockers Vig Vam, the show's theme song, it doesn't have the nice cachet of classic rock tracks that the director used in his "Guardians of the Galaxy" Used in movies. Now, there are good things about the series, which include Robert Patrick, who plays The White Dragon, the Peacemaker's father and racist supervillain, and Cena himself, who tries to make even the most spectacular parts of this saga work. I throw away a lot of my charisma. But so much of the series feels like Gunn has done better in his superhero movies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DO YOU WANNA TASTE IT")