Released: February 2012
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 75 Minutes
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Genre: Action/Animated
Cast:
Kevin Conroy: Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tim Daly: Superman/Clark Kent
Susan Eisenberg: Wonder Woman
Nathan Fillion: Green Lantern/Hal Jordan
Carl Lumbly: Martian Manhunter
Michael Rosenbaum: The Flash
Carlos Alazraqui: Bane
Paul Blackthorne: Metallo
Phil Morris: Vandal Savage
While most people would look at comic books and comic book movies as mindless entertainment, nothing could be further from the truth. A lot of the time, many of these comic stories generally have some form of social commentary that deals with certain situations during a particular year or decade. Sometimes, a story deals with drugs, aids, being gay, or whatever certain people are going through. What these stories allow is for audiences to identify with characters and situations that may seem familiar to them. Other times, people just want to escape into a full on fantasy story to escape the harsh realities of every-day life. Some of the finest stories in comic books don’t necessarily deal with political issues, but rather social and personal ones. For example, The Death of Superman takes a look at what a world would look like without hope, which is what Superman brought to the world. While these stories are fiction, they’re often a reflection of our consciousness and what we hope to be. This is why people read comics and watch these movies. This is also why Justice League: Doom is one of the most significant and important DC animated movies to come along.
As the film begins, we see Batman and the Justice League take on the Royal Flush gang during a heist in which the gang is stealing diamonds. After Batman takes a massive beating, the Justice League eventually prevails. Afterwards, each hero leaves and Batman, while bruised and beaten heads back to the Batcave to recuperate. However, a mysterious figure appears and takes some information from Batman’s computer. Afterwards, each member of the Justice League comes under attack and nearly destroyed. As it turns out, the information that was stolen was Batman’s contingency plan in the event that one or all of the members of the Justice League would go rogue. The people behind the attack is a group of super-villains known as the Legion of Doom, led by the immortal Vandal Savage. While the story in Justice League: Doom definitely goes into the whole “save the world” bit that we’ve seen so many times before, what’s most significant about this story is that Batman had the foresight to come up with a plan should any Justice League member, be it Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, or even Superman himself go off the reservation. In the real world, especially in that of politics, we have a system of checks and balances and a separation of powers to prevent one person from taking absolute power. What would happen if a group of remarkable and extremely powerful individuals such as the Justice League decided to go down a much darker path? How would we be able to counter something like that? That is the question that the Tower of Babel series of Justice League comics asked. The story here is remarkable that deals with issues of trust, betrayal and accountability. It’s also good because we get to see the Justice League at some of their lowest points, before they come back to beat the bad guys. This is one of the best stories in the DC universe, as far as I’m concerned.
The Justice League has seen a large number of members of the years, but the most important ones here are Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg and Superman. Each villain in this film was chosen to be the antithesis to the corresponding hero. Bane to Batman, Star Sapphire to Green Lantern, Cheetah to Wonder Woman and so on and so forth. Each villain has a very personal connection to the hero that they are targeting. The only villain here that feels somewhat out-of-place is Vandal Savage, a 50,000-year old immortal from the dawn of mankind. He’s served as one of the most powerful super-villains that the Justice League has ever encountered, but I don’t think the film-makers really took advantage of the character. Granted, he was used as a replacement for Ra’s Al Ghul from the original story, but he strikes me more of a back-ground villain. That being said, he’s very intimidating, mostly due to the fact that he can’t be killed, at least by any normal means. The voice-acting in this film is fantastic. You have Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly reprising their roles from their respective 90s shows, and they haven’t lost their edge. Nathan Fillion plays Green Lantern(and he would continue to do so for a number of films). Michael Rosenbaum, who was known for his role as Lex Luthor in the Smallville television series plays a hero this time around: The Flash.
If you want action, you’ve come to the right place. Justice League: Doom is pretty much packed, but it leaves enough room for character and story development. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish in a film that runs less than 80 minutes. There’s big explosions everywhere and enough hand to hand combat that fight movie buffs will appreciate. The art-style and animation is really top-notch. The music score is fantastic as well. The film is well-paced and it’s extremely well-written. Despite the fact that Justice League: Doom goes to some fairly dark areas, it’s not without a sense of humor. There’s some pretty solid one-liners and quips from everyone. Overall, the production values on Justice League: Doom are pretty damn good.
The Death of Superman was an important story for Superman, and the Tower of Babel story is no less important. It brings things down to a more personal level and how it affects those around the central character or characters. Justice League: Doom is one of the most mature and powerful Justice League stories ever written, and I would love to see it adapted into a live-action film if Warner Bros. would pull their collective heads out of their ass and put some effort into making a really solid live-action DC universe. As it stands, the DCEU that was created to compete with Marvel’s universe, is pretty much dead. You don’t need to have all these movies interconnect with each other directly to have a compelling universe. While DC and Warner Bros. have made a bit of a turn-around with their live-action films with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, their animated movies are leagues above and beyond what their live-action counter-parts can achieve right now. Do I recommend Justice League: Doom? Very much so. It’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and powerful. Definitely check it out.
My Final Recommendation: Here’s hoping that Batman doesn’t have any information on MY weaknesses. 9.5/10