Justice League: War (Animated Movie)

[Kaos Arcanna]

So I was buying groceries this morning and they had the animated Justice League: War movie for 20 bucks, so I picked it up.

Gotta say that I liked it more than I thought I would. Superman was, for once, not presented as Batman's punching bag ... but he also wasn't the only one responsible for the victory.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan came across as a cross between Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. Kyle's creativity with Guy's attitude.

Shazam (I'm sorry that name is not nearly as heroic as Captain Marvel) was a bit annoying both as Billy and his alter ego.

Diana's voice didn't really match the character at all.

But on the other hand, Cyborg was portrayed well, and so was Flash.

Batman also was portrayed as being effective but not the Bat-God.

I'm still not interested in reading the New 52 comics, but I did enjoy the movie.

What'd everyone else think?

[Ohioknight]

What'd everyone else think?

Wonder Woman was flat-out terrible.  Just awful.  And the authors apparently have absolutely ZERO idea of what makes Darkseid an interesting character.  The plot was basically a stupid punch-fest. I didn't care for that version of Superman.  Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

[Shenku]

I didn't even hear of this movie until I saw random clips from it on Youtube yesterday from various users... Might pick it up, but then again I might just wait till it hits Netflix... I'm cheap and lazy like that...

[Tenzhi]

I thought Flash was okay.  I hated Green Lantern and Batman's voices but didn't mind the characters.  I really disliked Cyborg's origin.  I hate to say it, but I really liked "Shazam" AND Billy Batson, even though "Shazam" was a bit lacking in the wisdom department.  Superman was a bit too aloof and arrogant.  And while Wonder Woman's childlike naivete didn't bother me, her infatuation with Superman kinda did.

I enjoyed seeing Darkseid get defeated, but it lacked the satisfaction one usually gets with a defeat of Darkseid since they didn't really get to properly build up the scheming malevolence of the character that really makes it seem like he's getting his just desserts.

[Thunder Glove]

Bear in mind that "Shazam" no longer has the Wisdom of Solomon, or any of the other attributes that Captain Marvel had.   In the New 52 version, "Shazam" is just a magic word, not a name or an acronym.  It doesn't stand for anything.  It's only his name because Billy couldn't think of anything else to call his new superhero identity.  That said, this version of Billy was still far more likable than his current comics counterpart (who is a constantly-angry brat doing his best to push people away from him).

Wonder Woman's being presented as a childish petulant spoiled brat was a big turnoff, too.  Having her INSTANTLY fall for Superman (and having all the guys vying for her attention, with Superman playing jealous boyfriend after knowing her for all of two minutes) was juvenile, especially for a film that was aiming at an older audience (if the PG language was any indication).

A lot of things seemed to be changed just for the sake of changing them, and I don't understand why they brought out Darkseid for what they clearly hoped would be the start of a movie series.  Darkseid is the sort of villain you need to build up to, not start off with.  (Especially since the stinger suggests that, if there is a next movie, its villain will be

Spoiler for Hidden:

Ocean Master

.  Talk about a drop in threat level)

... I think I'm the only one who caught the reference at the end, though I'm not 100% sure it was intentional.  Shazam's suggestion for the name of the team sounded really familiar.

[Kaos Arcanna]

Bear in mind that "Shazam" no longer has the Wisdom of Solomon, or any of the other attributes that Captain Marvel had.   In the New 52 version, "Shazam" is just a magic word, not a name or an acronym.  It doesn't stand for anything.  It's only his name because Billy couldn't think of anything else to call his new superhero identity.  That said, this version of Billy was still far more likable than his current comics counterpart (who is a constantly-angry brat doing his best to push people away from him).

Wonder Woman's being presented as a childish petulant spoiled brat was a big turnoff, too.  Having her INSTANTLY fall for Superman (and having all the guys vying for her attention, with Superman playing jealous boyfriend after knowing her for all of two minutes) was juvenile, especially for a film that was aiming at an older audience (if the PG language was any indication).

A lot of things seemed to be changed just for the sake of changing them, and I don't understand why they brought out Darkseid for what they clearly hoped would be the start of a movie series.  Darkseid is the sort of villain you need to build up to, not start off with.  (Especially since the stinger suggests that, if there is a next movie, its villain will be

Spoiler for Hidden:

Ocean Master

.  Talk about a drop in threat level)

... I think I'm the only one who caught the reference at the end, though I'm not 100% sure it was intentional.  Shazam's suggestion for the name of the team sounded really familiar.

Okay, Shazam doesn't stand for anything? Seriously, that's just all messed up.

[HalcyonS]

Really? Wow..

[Night-Hawk07]

I didn't much care for it myself. Just finished Son of Batman, and didn't really like it either. The animation style, and the voice acting just isn't....right. The VA is almost over-done and doesn't feel natural like the better DCAU movies. To be honest, the last DCAU movie I actually liked was Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. JL: Doom, Year One, and TDKR were alright. Everything else I kinda wish I could get my money and time back.

[Pengy]

Bear in mind that "Shazam" no longer has the Wisdom of Solomon, or any of the other attributes that Captain Marvel had.   In the New 52 version, "Shazam" is just a magic word, not a name or an acronym.  It doesn't stand for anything.  It's only his name because Billy couldn't think of anything else to call his new superhero identity.

If Billy can't come up with an acronym, we have to help him.

Super Heroic Adolescent with Zero Adult Motivation

Straight Hands Accompanying Zigzag Arm Motions

Single Handed Army Designed Only for Warfare

South Queens Unified Immediate Rapid Response Emergency League

[JKPhage]

Super Heroic Adolescent with Zero Adult Motivation

/thread

Seriously though, I thought the movie was pretty bad honestly. From a standpoint of plot alone, Darkseid was WAY too anti-climactic. There was no build-up to him in-story, and when he showed up he was the story equivalent of a really threatening brick wall that the team had to figure out how to punch through. He didn't have the gravitas he should have. The plot also seemed very ham-fisted as an excuse to get the team together. "This bomb is alien. That dude in Metropolis is an alien. We should go fight him because it's obviously his bomb." Really I think they should have used a villain/group that was less cosmic in origin, simply to make things a bit smoother. If they'd used the Suicide Squad or something, it could have been shown that the heroes were at odds with their rivals, then one of them targets another hero's territory and ends up bringing those two together, follow this thread a little further and you have the revelation that all the bad guys are working together, and the heroes team up to take them down, forming the Justice League. Then they could have done the atlantis follow-up movie, adding Aquaman, and the third could have been Darkseid. As is, things escalated two quickly and I honestly didn't feel like the team got to be real friendly with each other. Even at the end it still felt like a very loose alliance where they didn't really like each other much.

*Shrug* Just left a bad taste in my mouth. In all fairness though, if they really wanted to impress me they'd have to do a movie series continuing the original DCAU story from Justice League Unlimited. I'd love to see a movie following up on the ending that had Apokolips invading earth under the leadership of Desaad or Granny Goodness (Or even two factions led by both that were at odds with one another), in an attempt to seize power after the final destruction of Darkseid. There are any number or awesome stories they could use and involve the already established cast from the DCAU that I'd prefer to see than things like this.