Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox", here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're closing out this themed marathon by taking a look at an animated movie from 2008. That movie is "Justice League: The New Frontier".
The only thing that I can tell you that I do know about this movie is that it's an adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's mini-series from 2004. Not only did he write that story, but he also had a hand in writing additional material for this movie adaptation. Now, exactly what kind of material, I don't really know. But since I've never read that comic book, I'm basically going into this thing blind, and I'm going to judge this thing on it's own standards. So even if I knew what that additional material was, that's not going to stop me from giving my thoughts on the movie. I also know that this is only the second film that DC released in their line of direct-to-video animated films. So I'm gonna get a chance to see how they were able to handle their second attempt at this.
Now, I'm going into this movie with the highest of hopes. However, thanks to earlier this month, I have been proven that DC can stumble with these movies. Granted, it hasn't happened often, but "Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" certainly did just that. Because that movie sucked. So, there is a chance that "Justice League: The New Frontier" could also suffer the same fate. But I am still hoping for this movie to be amazing. And the only way I'm gonna find the answer to that, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Justice League: The New Frontier."
11 minutes later
OK, guys, I really like how Martian Manhunter is turning into whatever he's watching on TV. And one of the things he just turned into was Bugs Bunny. That was a really awesome reference.
19 minutes later
You know, guys...in the short time I have seen Batman on screen, the fact that he's being voiced by Jeremy Sisto is becoming, at least to me, one of the greatest casting choices I have ever seen play as Batman. This really is awesome.
1 minute later
So the government created a robot version of Gorilla Grodd as a distraction, just so that they could capture the Flash...OK. You know, even though it wasn't the real Grodd, it was kinda nice to see him being utilized here. Oh...and the Flash just escaped...still, my point about Grodd still stands.
9 minutes later
OK, I have a rather stupid question, and I know I'm probably not going to get an answer to it. So Hal Jordan is catching fire while he and his friend are entering Earth's atmosphere. I don't claim to be an astronaut, but if you're catching fire while entering Earth's atmosphere, wouldn't you be already dead from the horrible burning that's going on throughout your body? I understand that I'm probably asking a trivial question, but I am rather curious.
18 minutes later
You know, guys, I'm really sorry I haven't been saying a whole lot, but I'm really getting sucked into the story right now. This movie has been really fucking good, guys.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Justice League: The New Frontier". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Wow. That was a lot better than what I had anticipated. Guys, I'm gonna tell you this now, before I even get into this review. This is quite possibly one of the best Justice League movies I've ever seen. Now, do I think it's my favorite film out of DC's direct-to-video animated features? Well...I'll get more into that later. Right now, I need to talk about this movie.
The writing here is incredibly strong. Now, as I mentioned before, I have never read the New Frontier mini-series, but after seeing this, I am genuinely interested to know what they kept out in order to turn this thing into a movie. And I'm also curious to know what was added in here for additional material by Darwyn Cooke. Because if there is any one real flaw that I had with this movie, and I'm gonna use the term 'flaw' as loosely as possible, it would have to be the runtime. This movie clocks in an hour and 15 minutes. And in most cases, I don't mind that when it comes to these direct-to-video DC animated films. Because they usually do a solid job with the limited runtime that most of these movies have to work with. Unless you're "Batman: The Killing Joke", where the first 30 minutes had nothing to do with the actual Killing Joke story, and was just there to show an unnecessary sex scene involving Batman and Batgirl. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, when it comes to "Justice League: The New Frontier", it's able to tell a really solid story, even with the short runtime. However, I do feel that some of it was either condensed, or had to be cut in order get the movie made.
As with our story, it's basically an origin story for the Martian Manhunter, the Flash, and Hal Jordan. In fact, the movie focuses a lot of time on Hal Jordan, because he gets the most development out of the three names I mentioned. It is a little bit weird seeing this, because I remember watching "Green Lantern: First Flight", another DC animated movie, where it basically told the origin of Hal Jordan becoming the Green Lantern. And I felt like I was watching the same movie here. However, I don't want you to take that as a negative, because that movie came out a year after this film did, so maybe this movie was sort of a testing ground to see what they could do with a Green Lantern animated film. Who knows? But anyway, it's still some really solid development. Then we have the Martian Manhunter, who spends 2 years in hiding as a detective, while trying to get accustomed to Earth and it's human inhabitants. And, oddly enough, the Flash is the one character who gets the least development. Because we mostly get to see him use his powers in action, but he doesn't really get involved until after the government tries to capture him, and then announces that he is retiring. It is kinda weird seeing this, because when I was thinking of watching an origin story with these 3 characters in particular, I was kinda thinking maybe we would get to see how Barry Allen became the Flash. Instead, we just see him in action as the Flash while the origin stories for Hal Jordan and Martian Manhunter get the spotlight. I guess maybe it was suppose be a set-up for when his girlfriend finds out that Barry Allen is the Flash through his announcement of his retirement. But still, I would've preferred seeing a bit of his origin story coming into play. Now perhaps maybe it was in the original New Frontier comic, and they had to cut out his origin story from the comic in order to get the movie made. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't even in the original story. Either way, it was still something I noticed. But, as I said before, none of these "flaws" are going to take you out of the movie, because you're going to get sucked into the story when the movie starts playing. Our characters here fleshed out, and even though Barry Allen doesn't get a ton of development, he is still used here very well, especially towards the final act in the movie.
There is one other minor flaw, and this is just me nitpicking here, but it was something that I brought up during the movie. So, we see Hal Jordan and his friend, Morgan, entering Earth's atmosphere in the rocket that they are in. Because it was originally being sent to Mars, along with a ton of nuclear weapons and bombs that were made to destroy all life on Mars. And it becomes, sort of, a fight between Hal and Morgan, as Hal wants to fly the rocket towards Earth, while Morgan insists otherwise, because he feels that they won't be able to make it, so he tries to commit suicide by activating the bombs and killing them both. And during this struggle, we see Hal Jordan being ejected out of the rocket, while still trying to hang on to it. Now from here, they enter Earth's atmosphere and Hal's suit begins to catch fire. My question in all of this is how the hell is Hal Jordan still alive? Again, I don't claim to be an astronaut, so maybe the suit is more flame retardant than I thought, but I would think that maybe catching fire for the amount of time Hal was on, he would be on the verge of death by that point. At least, until he is saved by Superman. I totally understand that I might be bringing up a trivial point, but I did think that it was kinda worth bringing up, so maybe I'm just complaining for the sake of it. Now, in terms with the rest of the writing, when it comes to the origin stories of Green Lantern, the Flash, and Martian Manhunter, we don't get a lot of screen time involving Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. When I say that, I'm more leaning towards their backstories. However, I do believe this was intentional, because the story is not focused on them. You already know their backstories. Though in the case of Wonder Woman, her backstory changes from writer to writer. But in this movie, it looks as though they are focusing on the original Wonder Woman, so I'm totally fine with that. Anyway, the story is more focused on them coming together with these new heroes to take on a threat known as the Centre, which wants to eradicate all of human life, because it fears them. And as I said, you're going to be sucked into this story, because the writing is just incredibly strong, that any minor faults that this movie may have is not going to be an issue for you in the long run.
Now let's talk about the acting. The acting here is fantastic. And I want to give a special mention to Jeremy Sisto as Batman. Guys, I mentioned it back in my review of "Superman: Red Son" that I wanted to see other actors, specifically voice actors, do their own take on Batman that doesn't mimic Kevin Conroy's take on him. And while I enjoy Jason O'Mara's performance as Batman, as well as Roger Craig Smith, Jeremy Sisto as Batman is slowly becoming one of my favorite casting choices to play as Batman. He nails this performance perfectly. And if this is the only movie where he's voicing Batman, then that is a real shame, because I would love to see what else he could do as Batman. Maybe if DC wanted to take an older story from Batman's earliest days and turn it into an animated film, then I think giving Jeremy Sisto another shot as Batman would be amazing. But this is just me fanboying about possibilities that may or may not end up happening. Anyway, setting Sisto's amazing performance aside, everyone else turns in awesome showings, too. But then again, I have been watching these DC animated movies for the better part of several years now, and they've always had top-notch voice acting. Even in the bad ones that I watched such as "Justice League Dark" and "Teen Titans: The Judas Contract", the acting was still incredibly good. And this movie is no exception. So the acting is guaranteed to be generally amazing, and everyone in this movie did a fantastic job.
The animation in this movie is great. The character designs are really unique. And to some people who may have seen other direct-to-video DC animated films and have never seen this one, are going to notice the stark contrast with these character designs. However, you have to understand that this was during a time when DC was transitioning over from the Golden Age era of comics to the Silver Age. So, in the case of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, their characters designs are based off of their Golden Age counterparts. While with the Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern, their designs are a part of the Silver Age. There are other DC heroes in this movie, but I couldn't tell you if they were a part of the Golden or Silver Age era of DC Comics. But regardless of which era they come from, all of them look uniquely designed, and the rest of the movie has some fantastic 2D animation. There is very little usage of CG in this movie. However, unlike my complaints I have had with other DC animated films that utilized CG terribly, it's not as noticeable here. So, I am willing to give DC a bit of a pass here with CG, because it's not as bad as it could've been.
The music here is really good. The sound-mix is mixed well. Ultimately, guys, can I recommend "Justice League: The New Frontier"? Oh, hell yes. This movie is amazing. And, as I stated before, this is one of my favorite Justice League movies that DC has put out in their direct-to-video lineup of movies. I would say it's almost as good as "Justice League: War" and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis". Now, I don't necessarily think it's better than those two movies, considering how good those movies are. But it's still an amazing film in it's own right. And if you are a fan of these animated films that DC has put out, then I would say go ahead and check it out. It's certainly worth your time, and I'm happy that I have finally gotten to watch this thing. Now, I should mention that the copy of this movie that I own is the two disc Special Edition. And on the second disc, it comes with 3 bonus episodes of "Justice League". So, I'm gonna go ahead and watch those, because I never got around to watching the Justice League cartoon. I only watched "Justice League: Unlimited". So, I'm gonna get a chance to see what these episodes are like, because the movie itself was worth the purchase. And I'm pretty sure these 3 episodes are only going to solidify that.
And, with that, guys, we come to the end of "Tales of the Longbox" for Reaction & Review. And I'm pretty fucking happy that I got to cover two months worth of comic book related movies for this series. And I do hope I get to do another one of these marathons sooner rather than later. But anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment