The Return of Swamp Thing (DC Comics Movie Review)

Plot
The monster at the bottom of the mucky waters is back in this sequel to the campy horror classic. This time, the Swamp Thing is a hero of sorts, rescuing an attractive horticulturist from her dastardly stepfather, whom she suspects is behind her mother's early and mysterious death.

Jason's Thoughts
I'm starting to think that I enjoy torturing myself as I suffered through The Return of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing in a seven day period. Now, The Return of the Swamp Thing wasn't nearly as horrible as its Marvel counterpart, but that doesn't mean it was good either.

The Return of the Swamp Thing brings the return of the bad acting and effects featured in the first film that was released seven years prior to this one. Unlike the original Swamp Thing film, though, the sequel goes down the familiar path of past DC movies where the overall seriousness of the film is replaced with camp and comedy to the point it is almost a parody of the first film.

What was built up in the first film is completely tore to shreds in the opening moments of the film. You can tell right off the bat that the movie is going in a different direction when you hear the first few notes of CCR's "Born on a Bayou" during the opening. As a matter of fact, seeing the comic book drawings of Swamp Thing during the opening credits is one of the better parts of the movie.

From that moment on, The Return of Swamp Thing goes downhill in a rapid pace, with one dimensional characters, a boring plot, bad special effects, and campy dialog. For example, one memorable groan inducing exchange between Swamp Thing and Heather Locklear's character, Abby Arcane, has her telling Swamp Thing that she is a vegetarian when the subject of him being her boyfriend is brought up. That pretty much sums up what you can expect from this film.

I don't think I'll ever understand why DC Comics films fall into this rut. I mean, how hard is it to make a serious film based on a comic book? Films of the genre can have moments of comedy, but if you are making a sequel with the same characters and continuing a story that was set up in a previous film, why turn it into something like this?

After suffering though The Return of Swamp Thing, I wished that he had never returned at all.

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