Justice League: War 2014

[5.9/10] With the consistent disappointments of the D.C. Extended Universe, it’s easy to yearn for the good old days of D.C. Comics’s animation wing. The D.C. Animated Universe, which spanned multiple series and films on a variety of different channels, and the more comical, C-team pulling escapades of Batman: The Brave and The Bold each offered better takes on the franchise’s iconic characters, more interesting pairings, and better action.

But it’s easy to forget that D.C.’s animation wing has persisted since the DCAU closed up shop and The Brave and The Bold wound down, and are currently doing pretty much what their live action counterparts are doing – attempting to adapt seminal comics whilst giving them something of a modern twist. The problem is that they’re not doing a much better job than the likes of Zack Snyder and Co.

Enter *Justice League: War*an animated film meant as an origin story for the iconic group, which sees Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg, and Captain Marvel teaming up to fight Darkseid and his minions in a bog standard world-ending event.

It’s easy to contrast and compare this with 2017’s live action Justice League film. Both are meant to establish the reasons for the team-up. Both feature a body-suited godman from beyond the stars deploying mother boxes and parademons to try to take over the world. Both feature a broody Cyborg coming into his own. And both feature the usual “we need to work as a team” tripe that suffices for character details and shading in these big team-up movies.

That’s not to say that Justice League: War is awful. It’s mostly fine, out of a few eye-roll-inducing lines. It’s just dull and uninspired, a perfunctory grouping of these characters with only the barest attention to who they are or what they want or why they would come together in the first place.

It doesn’t help that the texture of the film isn’t great. The character designs feature ugly, anime pretty boy looks for just about everyone. Overly angular faces and sharp lines leave everyone looking like strangely-modeled androids. The voice acting is similarly disappointing. There’s some legitimate names and talented voice actors in the cast (Sean Astin as Captain Marvel and Alan Tudyk as Superman for example), but almost everyone here is muted and stilted, which suggests it’s more a product of coaching than performance. It again leaves the characters feeling somewhat lifeless and robotic (no offense, Cyborg).

But the writing does little to help fill in the gaps of charm or meaning that the overly reserved vocal approach creates. It’s not easy to introduce seven characters and have them come together in a world-saving conflict in 75 minutes, but Justice League: War barely tries. Almost every member of the league is one-note, from Wonder Woman’s flat “I know not but the way of the warrior” routine, to Billy Batson as a mild artful dodger type, to an entirely flavorless Flash and generic Superman.

There’s really only two bits of real character development we get in the film. The first is a buddy cop routine with Batman and Green Lantern (the Hal Jordan variety). Green Lantern is the young, brash beat cop, and Batman is the consummate veteran, and they have their back and forth ribs leading to a barely motivated “we’re not so different you and I” moment. It’s the closest thing the film has to a spark, and the dialogue is too weak and cheesy to make it more than a mild thumbs up.

The movie also devotes more of its runtime to a Cyborg origin story than pretty much any other subplot. It too is both hackneyed and convenient, with the most prototypical absentee dad routine with Cyborg and his father, and a magical robot body setup that magically gives him the ability to know the villain’s plan and have the unique ability to stop it. It too is weak as all hell, but Cyborg’s more or less the only character in the film with a genuine, semi-fleshed out arc, which at least helps the proceedings.

The problem is there’s just nothing to latch onto here. The characters are flat and speak almost entirely in exposition and clichés. The conflict and introductions are rushed and unsatisfying. And the film doesn’t leave you with enough reason to care who these people are or what they’re fighting for if you didn’t already know.

The one thing Justice League: War does well is action. If you don’t care about story, you don’t care about character, and you just want to see some iconic heroes kick butt, this is the movie for you. The film makes all kind of creative uses of Green Lantern's powers, coming up with protective vaults, pummeling mallets, and even warship. The sequence of The Flash and Superman trying to outrun Darkseid’s eye beams is a standout. And the final fight – empty calories though it may be – finds visually satisfying ways for each of the leaguers to get their licks in.

There’s also a subtle strain of well-down body horror to the film. While the direct to video shtick means D.C.’s animation division can nominally be more adult than when their work was on broadcast television, that mostly comes down to a handful of curse words and deaths. (Plus a weird, misaimed, attempt to girl power their way through criticisms of Wonder Woman and her costume.) But the one way in which this film feels even a little adult is in the horror it deploys as Victor Stone is transformed into Cyborg, or Superman is overrun by the experiments of Darkseid’s top minion. The film doesn’t cower from the terror of these moments, and comes up with striking visuals to match.

And when Darkseid comes a knockin’, the film retreats into third act action sequence mode and acquits itself a little better. It gives the leaguers straightforward, simple goals – power the motherbox, blind Darkseid, toss him into a conveniently-located wormhole back to his homeworld – that gives an otherwise inert movie some direction. That’s the peak of Justice League: War’s abilities – when it’s less trying to be a movie and more trying to be a vignette or set of cool sequences.

But that’s not really enough to sustain a 75-minute feature. Justice League: War barely bothers to introduce or develop its characters, show much of a group dynamic, motivate its heroes, or give them anything but a generic challenge allegedly worthy of uniting them. If you want some visually-striking but otherwise hollow action set pieces, then it’s worth mining those assorted clips on YouTube, but the half-hearted attempt the current D.C. animated efforts makes to try to bind those sequences together or give them real meaning fare no better than their multi-million dollar counterparts that debut on bigger screens.