Whedon’s Dr. Horrible Continues With a Darker and Bloody Brilliant Act II

by Josh Roth @ 5:56 pm July 17th, 2008

Act II of Joss Whedon’s web series Dr. Horrible went live at midnight last night, and I was up eagerly awaiting it’s arrival. I was a huge fan of the first part of this three part musical about a supervillian in love, and I was more excited to see where Whedon would take it. Act II brings us a slightly darker, more rock opera, professional addition to the first act. Whedon gets to really flush out the characters, pumping me up even more for the finale on Saturday.

Neil Patrick Harris continues to show us how incredibly talented he is. His acting is superbly awkward and intriguing, and his singing is damned impressive. Dr. Horrible’s monologues and soliloquy songs help us further understand this supervillian, and it’s nice to see a supervillian who’s been beat down so many times he nearly gave up on his plans of world domination. As Dr. Horrible said, “the world is a mess, and I just have to rule it”. This is a man driven by a desire to fix the world, albeit with a freeze ray and other mad scientist schemes. But he’s not incredibly evil, he’s just been shunned by the resident superhero, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), who is a chauvinistic bastard who continues to beat on Dr. Horrible and taunt him with his ability to sweep women off their feet. Dr. Horrible’s the typical nerd who gets beat up by the jock, he just wants to get the girl of his dreams, and the only way to do it seems to be to take over the world and give her Australia.

We get to see more of Felicia Day’s character Penny, and she’s fantastic. Not only does she have a surprisingly good voice but she’s an impressive actress. She plays great next to NPH (Neil Patrick Harris) and Nathan Fillion as the innocent Penny who wants to help the homeless. Her scenes with NPH in the laundromat are great, you can clearly see why Billy/Dr. Horrible wants to keep her away from Captain Hammer. Whedon excels at complicated and real love stories. Dr. Horrible is a perfect example, as well as his other works like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly.

Nathan Fillion also gets a bigger part as Captain Hammer, the jock to Dr. Horrible’s nerd. He is perfectly cast the smug super powered bastard. I like Nathan Fillion in everything he’s been in, he usually plays the gallant, humble hero of the story, but it’s nice to see him playing a down right mean superhero.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog was made on a shoestring budget, which one of the reason’s it’s so impressive. Act II looks even better than the first act. The lighting and cinematography up the ante for online videos, and the final shot is an effects shot that’s rather impressive (NPH ten stories tall, smashing LA and Captain Hammer). Whedon has proven himself once more as a capable and brilliant artist with a camera. He can do some really incredible things given the right actors and the right budget. Act III lands on Saturday at midnight, and I couldn’t be more psyched.