A new series recently dropped on Netflix, and I will unabashedly warn you to not bother watching it. In fact, I will actively argue against it because with the state of streaming, this series was so cheaply made that if it got even a mild amount of viewership, it might actually get renewed. Seriously, Guardians of Justice was just straight garbage.

I know it seems like I am being unfairly mean or unkind to this project. And on some level, I would have to agree. After all, several people put in effort into this, particularly on the animation and effects side, but, hard work and effort does not equate to quality on any level. And, this series is sort of indicative of what is wrong with the type of filmmaking and genre. It doesn’t do anything well, but obviously had a budget which was poorly used and planned.

When I say it does nothing well, I truly mean that. It wants to be satire, but has not real commentary or criticism behind its dialogue, plot, etc. It leans into parody, but has no humor, over the top or dry, to back it up. It seems like it’s making some form of commentary on the superhero genre, but says nothing original or interesting and mistakes cursing and blood for maturity (like I said nothing original). It tries to be dark and dystopian (for commentary maybe), but the poor acting (by most of the cast) and costuming make it farcical as opposed to intriguing. It had a budget behind it, but used it to make random cinematics and animations peppered throughout the series without rhyme or reason; instead of putting money toward writing, set design, costume, or any other element that would have actually made the series better.

The entire show really does seem like it is the memory or journal of a kid from the 1980s who played out scenes with his action figures from the comics he read and kept asking himself “but what if Batman did kill people or Superman didn’t like people or etc., etc.” The main problem is that all those stories have already been done with both carbon copies and the original DC/Marvel characters by talented writers and artists. And even most of those didn’t really work outside of a wanna be edgelord’s interest which is why they tended to not be continued. Or if they did, they underwent massive changes to actually be palatable.

It’s not surprising who the creator/main writer for this series is after looking up the information. What is surprising is that he is actually a successful producer who has been involved in some legitimately well crafted and executed projects. I suppose that means he is far better behind the scenes than in the creative chair which, again, not that astonishing. Frankly, this series would have gone viral had it been a 20 minute YouTube video or something similar and would have probably received glowing praise and reviews. Even with the bad costumes, dialogue, sets, the few interesting cameos and handful of decent actors doing their best, it would have found some level of cult or niche audience as a short film. But as a several hours long, episodic show, it simply does not have enough of anything to hold interest or justify its existence outside of the very small audience that has not outgrown the schlock from the 1980s. Would recommend practically any other superhero property over Guardians of Justice.