While I’m sure having read The New 52! version of the Justice League origin tale would give one a deeper appreciation of Justice League War, it’s certainly not necessary to have any previous knowledge of the story to enjoy War. Pop culture icons for generations now, War features DC stalwarts Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern, alongside relative newcomers Cyborg and Shazam. Cyborg’s origin is explained during the course of the seventy-five minute movie, while the origins of the remaining characters are understandably not discussed. The first meetings between most of these characters is however a key part of War, and those interactions and the general origin of the Justice League proves an intriguing backdrop against the more pressing story arc of the movie. That primary plot involves the awesome Darkseid and his endless hordes of Parademons who are invading Earth, the next planet from which they intend to harvest living inhabitants from to further Darkseid’s insatiable desire for power.
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In unfolding these stories to the viewer, a tremendous amount of very well animated action is used. From the opening moments that have the Green Lantern bumping into Batman in Gotham to the final efforts of the then-unnamed team of seven heroes against Darkseid, War is not short on creative and entertaining action, primarily against the expendable hordes of Parademons. The storylines also afford some hero versus hero battles, pitting Superman against Batman at one point, with the latter using his wit and utilities (or toys as a certain Joker would call them) to survive until he’s able to reason with the favorite son of Krypton. Green Lantern, used largely for comic relief through is dialogue, also uses an impressive assortment of conjured objects from the power of his ring to both protect himself and put on a tremendous offensive show.
Any action-heavy movie, especially pitting one side versus a faceless, speechless horde-type enemy like the Parademons, runs the risk of becoming monotonous, but I thought War did a good job of side-stepping that potential problem by injecting plot and/or character developing scenes at smart intervals. The final struggle against Darkseid came across a little bit long, in that the League teetered on the brink of success for a surprisingly long time. That minor quibble aside, Jay Olivia and crew did a very good job of giving everyone plenty of superhero (and Batman, too) action while not forgetting to “take care of business” by attending to story and character developments.
So I watched the Blu-ray version of DCU: Justice League War, but a DVD and Ultraviolet (digital HD streaming) version was also included. Presentation quality was on par for what you would expect: technically excellent, with clean, crisp, and vibrant visuals that never miss a beat. The core artwork of Jim Lee impresses, and I appreciated the very light use of 3D computer animation, used very sparingly, I think only in a handful of very short scenes where a large group of Parademons is shown. However, I thought the menu design, especially the buttons or icons used to navigate, seemed “cookie cutter,” as though a computer program’s default icons were left in place instead of something that didn’t look as amateurish. More importantly though, navigating the menus uses a tried and true method of vertically stacking sub-menus which I liked.
The audio quality is similarly great. Language tracks include English, French, and Spanish, with subtitle support for those as well. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 did a fine job of conveying the variety of personalities and voices of the League, and of course all of the explosions and things inherent with massive comicbook/superhero style action scenes. I especially liked some of the music, including an early track that plays during the “chase” scene in Gotham.
Primiarly a Blu-ray release, the inclusion of a DVD disc and the Ultraviolet voucher is appreciated, but WB also packed in a few other extra features and they’re, perhaps surprisingly for a non-theatrical animated release, quite good. Besides a few trailers which I generally don’t count as bona fide extra features, here’s what you can expect:
-Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee (37m18s, HD) – A great biopic-featurette starring DC lead artist Jim Lee. An interview with Jim, and separate interviews with an executive from DC whose name escapes me, as well as a comic historian, follow Jim’s career from the very early stages to his current position. It’s candid and interesting, and getting a literal over the shoulder view of Jim as he draws is fascinating stuff. Hell, even photos of some of Jim’s art from his youth are pretty impressive!
-Justice League War Act D: From Animatic to Pencil Test (23m45s, HD) – Director Jay Olivia presents a cool behind the scenes type of feature whereby side-by-side comparisons of the animatics and pencil tests were ran.
-From the DC Comics Vault: 4 Vintage Cartoons – This was somewhat unexpected, but welcomed. For your viewing pleasure are two episodes of Young Justice, one season two episode of Batman: The Brave And the Bold, and a season three episode of Justice League: Unlimited.
-Deconstructing War with Jay Olivia and Jim Lee (21m26s, HD) – Jay and Jim provide a sort of video commentary track whereby a lot of scenes from the movie are played, full screen, but the presenters are also shown on film often as they discuss and provide commentary to various elements and scenes of War.
Available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and Digital HD Today!