Movie Review: Justice League - Gods and Monsters

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

So I watched this last night. For those who aren't aware but interested, DC has been producing a shit-ton of these animated movies based on their most memorable arcs, as well as some original projects. It's sometimes hit-and-miss, and the last couple of movies -- War and Throne of Atlantis -- has been pretty underwhelming. And I absolutely frowned that they chose to create yet another Elseworlds-style alternate-universe with a harsher, evil Punisher-style Justice League... but it's done in the old Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) style! The concept didn't really appeal to me, and Elseworlds stories generally don't, and I'm just flabbergasted that they chose to make up something new instead of adapting well-known stories (we don't see any plans on adaptating Long Halloween or Knightfall, for one) or even well-known Elseworlds stories (Red Son).

But it's actually a solid movie. The reimagination is well-done and not at all tacky, and speaking as someone who's seen so many evil alternate universe versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (DCAU itself already did it twice in Flashpoint and Crisis on Two Earths) it's actually well done in that the new characters actually behave in a sensible way thanks to their relatively well-told backstories and are simply harsher instead of being straight-up evil. It's relatively fresh, even if it's weird.

Superman is now the son of General Zod and Lara (done without mention of sex thanks to some weird Kryptonian fingerprint-DNA-sampler thing), Batman is now dr Kirk Langstorm (Man-Bat from the comics) who has been turned into what's basically a vampire by a bat serum, and Wonder Woman is now Bekka, a minor New God who fled to Earth after being disillusioned of this universe's version of Highfather who actually pulls off a motherfucking Red Wedding on motherfucking Darkseid. Which in itself is a crowning moment of awesome (and monstrosity) for AU!Highfather, but okay.

The opening scene seems to imply that they're just your generic Punisher/AzraelBatman super-violent kill everyone heroes, with some very, very blatant deaths, especially brutal thanks to  Vampire Batman just snapping necks and draining poor Blockbuster to death. But they're not being brutal because they're evil, they just... don't pull their punches. And it's underscored that dude, it's fucked up.

However, the League is then framed for a series of murders by what I initially thought were O.M.A.C. robots (hey, one-eyed black formless robots!). Among those killed are Victor Fries, Ray Palmer and Victor Stone's father, people who comic-book readers will know as Mr. Freeze, the Atom and Cyborg respectively. I honestly thought we were getting another extended Cyborg backstory and as much as I like the dude I was a bit pissed that he gets so much screentime in recent movies while classic JLA characters (J'onn's absence being the one that troubles me the most) being cut out.

And while this all goes on, the movie diverges to flashbacks to give us the backstory and lowdown on these new takes on characters, including an awesome twist on Lex Luthor (who's evolved into a Metron role at the end) and the motherfucking Metal Men of all people -- have the Metal Men been in anything outside of the comic books? Damn. The fact that they were actually heroes in all their comic book appearances only make Will Magnus's treachery all the more surprising. And the big twist about the Metal Men is absolutely well done, without spoiling too much.

The ending comes off as a bit truncated as the heroes bar Batman don't really face any consequences at the end for their violence, especially offputting considering Superman and Wonder Woman actually killed a shit-ton of soldiers during their defense of their Justice Tower. So despite their pretty strong origins, I thought their conclusions were poorly handled. Batman's story was more solidly told, but relatively predictable after the big Metal Men twist.

Overall a movie that I unexpectedly enjoyed more than I thought it would. Not much to say beyond that -- it certainly delivers more than just a basic superhero plot and entertains me a lot more than a lot of the other DC movies thanks to the focus on character instead of a half-baked "plot". Not really perfect, but still rather good.