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Review
Justice League: War

Justice League: War is an origin movie depicting the first united effort by Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Shazam to save the world. Being a Justice League movie, the central theme is that of conflicting personalities coming together at the most critical time to overcome an indomitable threat that no one could defeat alone: Darkseid. The story is a done-in-one alien invasion overshadowed by action, action, and action. War also serves as the first movie in a new DC animated continuity, the primary incentive to give this movie a view.

Justice League: War is adapted from Justice League: Origin, the first story arc of DC Comics' "The New 52" company relaunch. The movie surprisingly begins in the middle of a kidnapping spree and Green Lantern is the first hero to appear. Batman soon enters the fray and soon enough Flash, Superman, and Wonder Woman are introduced as the narrative quickly becomes fight after fight against Parademon soldiers. Sparingly, there are character studies that slow the pace of the story with S.T.A.R. Labs and Victor Stone. But soon, they themselves are absorbed into the action beats. Oh, and then there's Billy Batson who makes his way to S.T.A.R. as Shazam. The beginning of the movie starts as a dual origin movie with heroes teaming up as a group and how Victor Stone became Cyborg. The rest of the characters have one or two lines that summarizes their back story. Some not even any. The so-called heroes start off in a state of infamy by media, government, and public at large contrasting that with children like Hannah Grace or the Ford High School student body who idolized them. But the quick shift to everyone praising them for saving the world felt heavy handed. It would have better to start off the D.C. ceremony with a few pundits criticizing the President for his support of the heroes while other pundits supporting him (your basic cable news show).

To me, Wonder Woman was the movie's stand out character. While the other character designs conformed to the New 52 designs, Wonder Woman's was slightly tweaked for the better. Wonder Woman stole the movie with her personality and all of her battle scenes were amazing and brutal, vehemently stating she's the best fighter among the seven heroes. She sliced and diced Parademons in Washington D.C., saved the President, took charge of the band of heroes, had some great scenes against Darkseid, and even socked Shazam! Every so often we have a Justice League story where Batman's not the only one who isn't clueless. This take on her was an interesting correlation of worldly naivety and Amazon warrior. Sure, there was that cringe worthy moment with the ice cream, but when there was a battle to fight, she switched to the ultimate fighting machine.

The use of lethal force by some of the heroes was an issue I had with the movie. Yes, this is an invasion. A wartime situation. One has to do what have to do to survive. The Parademons could care less. But they were revealed to be living beings kidnapped from various planets and forced against their will into becoming soldiers of Darkseid. Going into character ideologies, it makes sense Wonder Woman and Green Lantern use lethal force but it really ruins the core traits of the others. Batman and Superman have long had a no-kill rule. Likewise, the Flash wouldn't use lethal force. And Shazam and Cyborg are both minors and join in on the excessive force. If only Cyborg didn't wait so long to activate the Boom Tubes.

Superman, Green Lantern, Shazam, and Darkseid were only in name. They weren't their namesakes. Superman was sort of. He did save Air Force One... but left Batman and Green Lantern to deal with the Parademon horde. And he did give preferential treatment to Wonder Woman, catching her once or twice during the Darkseid fight. For the remainder, he was headstrong and overconfident with no superhero social skills. There were glimpses of a Superman there but not enough. Green Lantern... that couldn't have been Hal Jordan. In a few scenes, it was. Others, it felt more like Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner suddenly jumped into his consciousness. This was the worst interpretation of Hal Jordan ever. If not Superman, Billy Batson/Shazam is supposed to be one of the purest and moral characters in DC lore. Instead, we have a selfish and show boating brat. The Wizard wasn't too picky in this canon, I guess. Or is this really the writer's interpretation of a boy in modern times? Darkseid's appearance was just wasted. Jack Kirby's 4th World stories are really easy to find with the Omnibus collections. The cunning manipulator and cerebral side of him are completely absent in War. He just happens to pick Earth and spends the movie floating around and alternatively hitting and shooting lasers. Then there was the tacked on obsession with Superman coupled with a bear hug at the end. This was a very lackluster version of Darkseid.

The movie adaptation lost a lot of its geography in exchange for making the cast more interconnected with each other. Ford High School and S.T.A.R. Labs are moved from Detroit to Metropolis and the Bromfield home is moved from Fawcett City to Metropolis but Flash and Shazam are closer linked to Cyborg after the fateful meeting of Victor Stone and Billy Batson. Barry's classic slow nature is preserved as he brings dinner to the CSI crew yet his subplot about being tasked with investigating the Flash is relegated to a white board you won't notice until a second or third viewing. Flash's vampire line is appropriately given to the skeptical Green Lantern and instead Flash trades a moment of mutual respect with Batman. In the comic, Steve Trevor had a part in the action with a fleet of helicopters but here, he's simply failed at romancing Wonder Woman. No helicopters. References (and possible set ups) to other DC characters are deleted. In the comic, some of the techology Cyborg took on was a Responsometer from Doc Magnus and a White Dwarf Stabilizer from Ryan Choi or at the end, the heroes are asked to deal with Starro. With a movie starting off a universe of growing continuity, it felt odd they left off the references yet it felt right to dispose of the David Graves introduction and mystery villains meeting in London.

The Wonder Woman protest was one of the bigger disappointments. These people gathered to protest Wonder Woman for a legitimate reason, she caused several million dollars worth of property damage. But the very real point the protesters made was swiftly deflated by the reveal of the leader being a secret Wonder Woman cross-dresser and thus, a hypocrite. It was an opportunity to really expand on a one page gag from the comic. Recalling how much I enjoyed that one scene in Iron Man 2 when Tony Stark was subpoenaed and showed up in D.C., I think along those lines, I think this part of War would have been stronger if they had Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman talking to a Senate sub-committee about the property damage, endangering civilians, and clean up efforts. In addition, it would have better sold her difficulty with her duty as a diplomat.

Come to think of it, I don't really get how Superman broke free from DeSaad's programming either. Darkseid's terra forming plan fell to the wayside. I doubt many viewers remembered that was the reason for the invasion at all. At least the tech didn't work off Dubstep like Zod's did in Man of Steel. Cyborg's random mastery of the Mother Box slowly evolved into ridiculousness by the end of the movie. Open three Boom Tubes and all the kidnapped people come back? Where was tech support on Apokolips at?

Phil Bourassa and the design crew did their usual best. The New 52 designs were well reinterpreted for War. But for a movie meant to be the start of something new, there was too many old things. While it makes sense a design or two was reused from The Flashpoint Paradox in terms of continuity, all others felt debilitating to the thrust of the animated New 52. It could have been a mix of easter eggs and the production schedule, but was still off putting. Sarah Charles was a recycled design of Dr. Roquette in Young Justice. Thomas Morrow's design is from Young Justice. Man #3 in CCPD Foresics (last guy to take food) has Jeremiah's design from Young Justice: Invasion's opening of "Salvage". At the 10:32 mark, the teenage boy with gold chain is stock background character from Young Justice/captives in Invasion "Before The Dawn" while at the 10:53 mark, walking behind ticket guy there's Tye Longshadow from Young Justice: Invasion. At the 11:24 mark. the boy behind Billy is Virgil Hawkins from Young Justice: Invasion. The woman next to Billy in the row is a recycled design of Raquel Ervin from Young Justice. The girl next to Virgil is a reuse of Amber Joyce from Young Justice "Misplaced" The Wonder Woman protest leader reuses the Henry Ackerdson design from Justice League: Doom. It is worth noting in Doom, Ackerdson was a White House correspondent for the Daily Planet. A woman in the protest crowd reuses Noor Harjavti's design from Young Justice. At the14:45 mark, Riker (the man looking for Billy) was Belle Reve guard Riker from Young Justice. The Ice Cream Vendor is a reuse of Phil Bourassa/grilling dad frozen in the Young Justice pilot. Darla Dudley and Freddy Freeman look as they did in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. The alien assimilated during Parademon Indoctrination is a species on Laroo in Superman: Unbound. The man who hits security alarm under desk in S.T.A.R. is Professor Ivo from Young Justice. It is worth noting in Origin comic, it was stated Ivo got taken but he was never shown in a panel. Lastly, Ocean-Master appears as he did in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. The Action 4 News at the start is a reuse from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, also directed by War's director, Jay Oliva. When Boom Tubes suck Parademons back, the location after White House reuses the Taipei stock shot from Young Justice. Still think I'm paranoid?

The casting was a pleasant surprise. War is the start of a new continuity and like wise, the cast is a new slate. Jason O'Mara is Batman, Christopher Gorham is Flash, Justin Kirk is Green Lantern, Shemar Moore is Cyborg, Michelle Monaghan is Wonder Woman, Alan Tudyk is Superman, Sean Astin is Shazam, Rocky Carroll is Silas Stone, Steve Blum is Darkseid, and Bruce Thomas is Desaad. O'Mara, Gorham, Moore and Monaghan are the stand out voices that captured their respective roles. Kirk, Tudyk and Astin never caught on with me. Of note, O'Mara is the Batman of the animated New 52 continuity. I had some reservations about an Irish actor voicing Batman but once the first preview clips came up online, it was a treat to hear his take. To me anyway, it pleasantly sounded Michael Keaton influenced. Looking forward to Son of Batman all the more. Jay Oliva continues his streak as a master director and amps up the action.

The bonus features were a unique but mediocre mix. Although an actual commentary track was absent, in its place was "Deconstructing War," a selection of scenes broken down by director Jay Oliva and from the comic artist Jim Lee. "Creating Heroes" is a great featurette for those who didn't know much about Jim Lee or needed a refresher course. "Act D Animatic to Pencil Test" is a treat for animation fans. Jay Oliva quickly explains the process of pencil tests, overseas animation, approving processes, and editing. Oliva stops about 12 minutes in and leaves the audience to soak in the rest. The bonus episodes selected for From the DC Comics vault are not in Blu-Ray quality and suffer from jagged and jerked playback. The sneak peak of Son of Batman had a healthy amount of finished footage and looks like a great rebound from War.

Justice League: War has a simple plot with some glaring issues but the fast pace and non-stop action are a suitable counterweight leaving a nice 79 minute opening jaunt into the animated New 52 continuity. The Blu-ray release is a purchase. Audio, video quality, music, and animation are of the high caliber we are accustomed to. The voice cast, screenwriting, vapid story, and the bonus features was a mixed bag. Hopefully, we will see these A-type personality heroes develop into the legends we know and love in upcoming solo and team up features.

Rating
Main Feature: 3 out of 5
Special Features: 3 out of 5
Average Rating: 3 out of 5