REVIEW #120 Titans (3 seasons)

Titans is a gritty take on the Teen Titans franchise, following the group of sidekicks from the mainstream heroes as they team up to take on a variety of foes from the DC comics. Led by Dick Grayson, the first Robin, he tries to guide these young heroes whilst trying to avoid the mistakes Bruce Wayne made with him. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

The casting is fantastic throughout all three seasons, everyone really suited their roles, to the point where many fans were wishing the actors could take up the roles in the mainstream DCEU (DC Extended Universe). Brenton Thwaites plays Dick Grayson and I think he does really well at portraying the complex character. The original Robin really goes on a journey throughout the 3 seasons and Thwaites’s performance really gets fans invested in that version of the character. I won’t go through and list the entire cast but I believe all of them do justice to their comic book counterparts. The tone of the series meant that the Titans all had a darkness to them and I think that come across nicely in their performances. A lot of the actors also had a physical strain to portray their characters, there is so much action choreography, so credit to them for pulling that off so well. What I would say is that some of it is really over the top, it would literally be quicker just to take a couple of normal steps instead of doing a backflip and roll… However this seems to be the case in all superhero based projects, so it is expected. So other than that, the acting was good across the board. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

The storyline kicks off in the later years, the original Titans are no longer together but Dick Grayson finds himself wanting to help a young troubled girl (Raven). In the process of helping her he begins to form the foundations of a new, less experienced team. What I loved about this series was that it tried to use the Daredevil template, a 15+ age rating which created really gritty versions of the DC characters. Granted that grittiness was tainted at times due to the fact that a lot of the new Titans are really young so there were a lot of childish moments too as you can expect. We are introduced to some iconic villains, from Deathstroke to Redhood and the Scarecrow and Redhood especially was given so much character development, so we really got to see his struggles with being the replacement Robbin which ultimately led him down a villainous path. Despite there being a ton of action, the series is actually heavily focused on the relationships between characters. Bruce Wayne makes many appearances, an older version of the caped crusader and we see how he tries to mend his relationships with his adopted sons. This in depth exploration into the characters and their motives made the storylines so intriguing and had me hooked from start to finish! 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

The cinematography was actually pretty good, the dark tone of Titans created some really gritty scenes that looked fantastic. The special effects were okay, a little questionable at times, it’s certainly not competing with any of the films for realism but it was good enough to still be more than enjoyable. They got the suits spot on, it was so good to get a really good live action depiction of these characters, so credit to the costume department! The action sequences were captured nicely with smooth camerawork that created really exciting scenes. I didn’t like the design for the Lazarus Pit, I think they could have done a bit better there. All my criticisms in this category are probably down to the size of the budget and the quality of the CGI that we have come accustomed to, was probably just not affordable. However you can put that aside because for the most part, Titans is made very well. 

OVERALL (8/10)

I’m so glad we got another 15+ age rated superhero series, after the success of Daredevil it’s no surprise that DC would want in on the action. The casting was handled really well for Titans, the actors should be proud that they have created fantastic versions of their characters that the majority of DC fans absolutely love. The storylines were full of action but actually had a strong focus on developing those characters, exploring their relationships and struggles in real detail, making them so relatable to audiences and because of that we could get so invested in their journey. We got to see some iconic villains, some iconic heroes, with my personal favourites being Dick Graysons transition into Nightwing and Jason Todd’s transition into Red Hood. The cinematography created some really gritty scenes that looked great but the CGI used for the powers of these heroes did look questionable at times but you soon get used to it. If you’re a fan of DC, or even just comic book projects in general, make sure you watch Titans! 

Thanks for reading.

Callan