After the Flashpoint storyline, it’s time to relaunch… everything.
What They Say:
When the powerful Darkseid and his massive, relentless forces invade Earth, a group of previously unaligned super heroes – misunderstood and, in some cases, hunted by the authorities – discover the only way to fend off the attack will be to work together as a cohesive unit. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Shazam and, in his origin story, Cyborg combine their respective talents in an all-out battle to save the planet.
The Review:
Audio:
The main audio presentation for this release brings us the English language track that’s in 5.1 and encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. It also includes a pair of French and Spanish Dolby Digital tracks that are in 5.1 as well. The English track is definitely a strong one overall as the feature is pretty much all about action so there’s a lot of things going on with the fights across the screen and the various abilities of the characters. The bass levels are pretty nice in some of the action scenes as well with the way the impacts work, giving it a great feeling overall. The action dominates and it’s given a great mix but the dialogue is similarly served with all that’s going on as the characters move about and interact in varying groups. There’s some solid placement and depth in a number of scenes as it goes on, what with some flying, others running fast and others standing still, and that helps to keep it vibrant and engaging overall.
Video:
Originally released in 2014, the transfer for this feature is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Clocking in at just about eighty minutes, the feature is one that has a whole lot going on as it’s nearly non-stop action. That keeps the screen busy throughout and the flow and feel of the animation is one that is generally strong and clean without any problems such as break up or other noise. There are some areas of minor banding, which is more noticeable on some setups than others, but it’s also a part of the animation as opposed to the transfer itself. I didn’t have any issues with it overall and while I know some felt it was distracting, it didn’t detract for me in the slightest. Colors are strong, the animation looks great and there’s a lot of detail to be had throughout.
Packaging:
In a moment of weakness, I ended up grabbing the steelbook version of this release since it was actually cheaper than the regular version. I really do like steelbook cases, but I try to avoid them since I always feel like they’re going to get scratched up and lose their luster. The front of the case has a busy piece of artwork that goes about as expected with the main cast of characters, though not all of them, coming out in attack mode towards the viewer. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get Flash or Green Lantern, which I suspect we would have gotten if they did a standing line approach. With an explosion background giving it a bit of extra color, it has a vibrant feeling to it and the colors look good with the steelcase aspect of it. The back cover uses the same characters again, once more without Flash and Green Lantern, with a different illustration style that has them coming at an attack mode as well but with more subdued colors. No inserts were included with this release but the reverse side of the case features the same explosion styled background across it with the logo taking up a significant amount of real estate as well.
Menu:
Warner generally does pretty minimal menus with a standard design so it’s not surprise what we get here. The main menu is one that uses the front cover artwork as its main piece where the left side has the logo while the right does a slightly zoomed in version of the character artwork. It’s all pretty vibrant and appealing here with a lot more colors that have a great feeling to it. The background has a lot more pop as well which is a big plus. The navigation strip along the bottom is the standard design where it has the usual selections that’s easy to use and navigate. The menu is certainly functional and it looks decent but it is fairly unmemorable overall.
Extras:
DC Universe animated properties tend to have some good extras and this one is no exception. While we get some of the usual things here such as the sneak peek at the next feature coming out, the behind the scenes pieces are what really sell it for me. There’s a solid piece that looks at what makes the team what it is as it brings in director Jay Oliva and DC Comics’ Jim Lee to talk about it, the film itself and how it compares to the comics as well. Another documentary piece delves into Jim Lee in particular as it shows his path over the years that brought him to this point where it had him taking on one of the most iconic teams out there with characters so well known. Add in some design pieces that shows how they go from start to finish in production and there’s some good stuff to have.
And as is the case with all DC Universe releases, there are some episodes from a variety of other series that have been produced over the years, albeit in standard definition. This release includes:
1. Justice League Unlimited Season 3 “Destroyer”
2. Batman: The Brave and The Bold Season 2 “The Malicious Mr. Mind”
3. Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Happy New Year”
4. Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Earthlings”
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline, it wasn’t a surprise that the animated DC Universe adventures would start to work the whole redefined New 52 universe for material. I had greatly enjoyed Flashpoint in both comic and animated form, so I’m hopeful that we can get a few good adventures adapted from the new works, though I suspect they’ll continue to revolve around Batman or Superman properties since those are the ones that sell the best. I’m even kind of hopeful that they’ll adapt the flashback Superman stories in a way since I’d like to see if they can make it work better than they did in the comics. With the post-Flashpoint Paradox stories, the best one to start with is obviously this one that relaunched the Justice League by going back to when the group had first met.
With Justice League: War, what we get is an eighty minute feature that is pretty much non-stop action. And that’s a very good thing because in a lot of ways it feels like we’re getting a continuation of the style of the Young Justice series in a lot of ways when it comes into the character designs and the feeling of power behind them. At this point in time in the DC Comics world, there is nothing but distrust of the few caped individuals running around out there in the world. The core members of what will be the Justice League don’t know each other as they’re operating on their own. Batman is more myth than reality for people and that starts to change when while hunting down a creature that’s involved in kidnappings in Gotham, Green Lantern bursts onto the scene and just causes a lot of trouble. The banter and interplay between the two is definitely solid as you can tell that Batman has been doing this in secret for awhile while Green Lantern is relatively new, cocky and confident about himself.
What they end up hunting together is actually a Parademon and they discover that there are more running around out there in an area around the east coast. That has them seeking out the mysterious alien named Superman that has been getting noticed in Metropolis and that in turn brings in Flash since he’s friends with Green Lantern. Not surprisingly, the fun is in how Batman treats everyone different but better than he does Lantern, even after getting into a pretty good tussle with Superman while revealing that he actually knows Superman’s secret identity. Of course, Superman can and does the same with Batman, so the two have a certain kind of respect for each other early on. The dynamic between the characters largely resembles what we had in the comics and that was a big part of the appeal for me, though some of the dialogue is going to be a little bit dated along the way with some of the things they reference for jokes.
While we get the introductions of this group pretty well as they come together, it takes awhile for Wonder Woman to make her way to them as she’s off in Washington with Steve Trevor making the political route while being fascinated with ice cream and showing off some of her abilities until the Parademons start showing up there. It’s a bit hard to figure out how they’re approaching her here since she’s so lightly defined and is playing the fish out of water role. A lot more time and effort is spent with the introduction of Vic Stone, a high school senior who is looking for approval from his father and ends up mortally wounded in a Parademon attack himself. That provides the opportunity to graft a lot of technology onto him that turns him into Cyborg and he’s able to deal with the alien technology that’s causing all the problems as the Parademons are laying a lot of things around the various cities. The father/son dynamic is nicely handled and Vic also gets to make a connection with another character.
That character is the one that really left me feeling kind of odd about the new interpretations of old characters is that Billy Batson is a part of things here. The Big Red Cheese has been one of the hardest characters to modernize overall, both in his normal kid form and his superhero form. As Billy Batson here, we get introduced to him sneaking into a sports event, stealing stuff, causing trouble and being snarky to all sorts of people. He and Vic have a connection since Billy stole Vic’s team shirt and snuck into the game and sat in Vic’s father’s seat, and that gets realized when the two end up pairing off to fight the Parademons later as well, so they share some pretty good secrets that define who they are. But Billy is a hard character to really connect with and the loss of the kind of innocence that I’m familiar with when it comes to Shazam definitely makes an impact.
Similar to the way the Justice League came together in the comics decades ago by fighting an alien invader, the same plan is used here. This time it’s Darkseid that’s used for the opponent and that certainly makes sense. Darkseid doesn’t deviate from the basics here and we get a little bit of a look at Apokalips when Batman sneaks his way there to save Superman and there’s also some time spent with Desaad, but that’s about the extent of it. Darkseid provides a powerful opponent that definitely takes all of them to defeat, both Darkseid directly and the numerous Parademons that are causing trouble all over multiple cities, and it sets the stage for showing how Earth has some significant protectors for it. Storywise, it’s all predictable material that has defined many, many groups coming together as teams. And it is the original Justice League that wrote much of the book on it, so this slightly tweaked updating with a bit more tone and snark to it among the characters doesn’t feel all that off and manages to flow pretty well.
With the characters being fairly close to what we’re used to over the years with only a few changes for some, it’s easy getting into the dynamic of the feature. What really helps it though is that while a lot of these features do their best to balance the action with quieter scenes, this one goes all out with the action. There are some quiet dialogue and character scenes to be sure to help it move along, but a significant portion of this is all about the action. With it shifting between different configurations of people, some one on one time, fights between future friends and the Parademons as well, it just keeps moving and moving along. That keeps it pretty exciting to watch because it doesn’t get bogged down in anything else that distracts from the core idea of a baptism by fire. And with it featuring some strong animation, slick and fluid moments and some solid fight choreography, it’s a real treat to watch unfold.
In Summary:
I had liked the post-Flashpoint launch of the New 52 universe in comics form when it came out and Justice League was the top of the charts for obvious reasons. With this feature giving us the way the group was formed, it plays to its roots very well while changing things up with some personality quirks and the nature of some of the characters, particularly with Billy Batson and Vic Stone being founding members. The story is straightforward and the villain works well enough with a simple but accessible approach that’s all wrapped up in some great fight scenes that are spread across the whole feature. There’s good to great character engagement here but the heavy focus on the action and fights is what really kept me enjoying the whole thing. Definitely a whole lot of fun and it has me hopeful for more New 52 stories.
Features:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Featurettes
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B+
Released By: Warner Home Video
Release Date: February 4th, 2014
MSRP: $24.98
Running Time: 79 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
