Justice League: The New Frontier

(Movie Review)

This probably wasn't the best use of my time. But it was late at night and I was having trouble falling asleep. And I found a copy of this on the internet through a clone of TV Links.

(I probably shouldn't be admitting this. But in my defense I would gladly have paid to rent this movie had it only been available here in Japan. I much prefer watching a movie on my TV as opposed to my computer).

Anyway, this is one of a series of direct to DVD animated films about the DC Universe. According to wikipedia, it is based off a graphic novel of the same name, which I have not read, but which is supposed to bridge the gap between the golden age of comic book heroes and the silver age.

Right away I guess you can tell we're into geek territory. And as every comic book geek knows, the discrepancy between the silver age of comic books and the golden age of comic books is what created the DC Multiverse, the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and all the continuity problems DC comics is still plagued with to this day.

This story offers a new interpretation of what happened in between the end of the golden age, and a rebirth of the heroes in the silver age. Because the story is set in the actual 1950s, it does not take place in DC's current rebooted timeline. But because it has both golden age and silver age heroes occupying the same universe, neither is it set in the old pre-crisis multiverse. So it would be difficult to know how to classify this story, other than a completely new interpretation.

Most of the old classic silver age heroes are back here. Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, Berry Allen as the Flash, the Martian Manhunter, and of course Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

...If this movie had come out 10 years earlier, I might have said I was overjoyed to see the old "Superfriends" gang return to animation. But in fact we just got done with the "Justice League" and "The Justice League: Unlimited" (both of which came out while I was in Japan, but both of which I caught up with using TV Links). And now all of a sudden it's not such a big deal to see the Justice League back on TV again.

Which means in order to be a success this movie had to up the ante, and give us fans a little more to be excited about rather than simply a 75 minute continuation of the "Justice League" cartoon. And it doesn't do this. There's nothing horribly wrong with this movie, but there's nothing that would make me recommend you go out of your way to see it, or watch it as anything other than a time killer when you can't fall asleep late at night (like I did).

Of course the premise of the passing of the torch from the golden age to the silver age is very promising. If only the golden age characters were utilized. In fact they are only alluded to. At one point Superman says, "now the Justice Society of America has been forced into retirement, and Hourman is dead", and that one line is about all the screen time they get. How did Hourman die? Why is the JSA in retirement? These questions are never answered.

I'm not sure if some of this is gone into more detail in the original graphic novel, but as I've not read that I've only got this film to review. And the film should be able to stand on it's own.

It's implied that all this was a result of McCarthyism, which is somewhat fitting because in the real world McCarthyism (or at least it's offshoot, Fredric Wertham and the Senate subcommittee hearings) was attacking the comic book industry at the time, and did play a part in the transition from golden age to silver age. But other than name dropping McCarthy once or twice, these issues are never really explored inside the film itself.

A trip over to the fan reviews at amazon shows that some fans are complaining that the big 3 (Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman) get less face time than minor characters like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. (I've only linked to one review, but I've been in enough geek circles to know this is a common complaint).
Myself, I've always been the opposite sort of geek. The kind who thinks Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman have gotten more than enough screen time over the past 50 years or so, and it's nice to see some of the minor characters come to the forefront. This is why I would have liked to see the Golden Age characters get some screen time here.

Nevertheless, the movie does through a few bones to geeks like me. Minor comic book characters like Rick Flagg, King Faraday, Ray Palmer, and Ace Morgan (from "Challengers of the Unknown") all have roles in this movie. At the very end of the movie more comic book characters show up like Green Arrow, the Black Hawks, and Adam Strange. Although these last three appear out of nowhere near the end of the movie with no explanation whatsoever. Still, the fans know who they are and what their story is, and it's good to see them.
...And yet, after the series "Justice League Unlimited" just got done, with it's big geek fest of all sorts of rotating lesser known comic book heroes, this also has the feeling of "been there, done that."

The story itself is passable. Nothing great, nothing horrible. I'm not sure all of it makes sense, but I won't go into nitpicking just yet. (It is after all, just a cartoon).

There is a shameless attempt to add drama near the end by making it appear that Superman has died. (Come on! No one believes for a second Superman is really dead. And we've seen this kind of thing a million times before in a million different movies).

In short, unless you're a hard core geek, there's no need to run out and rent this movie.

Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky on the Death of Moughniyeh

Justice League: The New Frontier: Movie Review (Scripted)