Director: Jeff Wamester
Distributor: Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Duration: 84 minutes
Justice Society: World War II (DVD) – Movie Review
It’s not been that long since we took a closer look at the DVD release of Batman: Soul of the Dragon, for us to already have a new physical DC release lined up for you. We found Soul of the Dragon a fairly interesting ‘Elseworlds’ story, but also found it a lesser entry in the library of animated DC movies. Now, once again, we find ourselves in a fairly unknown environment for our generation, namely the middle of World War II. This movie revolves around the Justice Society, which has secretly been fighting the nazis. The twist here, however, is that our modern-day Flash actually ends up in the 1940s with these heroic superheroes.
As mentioned above, the movie will revolve around the Justice Society in the midst of World War II. This band of ragtag heroes is under the leadership of none other than Wonder Woman (Stana Katic) and consists of many familiar faces, such as Hawkman (Omid Abtahi), Jay Garrick (Armen Taylor), Black Canary (Elysia Rotaru) and Hourman (Matthew Mercer). Steve Trevor (Chris Diamantopoulos) is also supporting the troupe from the skies. While these heroes put up a valiant effort against the mystical artifact-wielding nazis, it seems they are not gaining any ground. That is, however, until Barry Allen (Matt Bomer), The Flash, accidentally ends up in the past, due to a mishap of one of his ongoing battles in the present. Even though it’s clear he has to find a way back to his time, things start feeling more and more peculiar as he spends time with these heroes of the ‘past’.
The pacing of this film is a bit all over the place, to be honest. We go from one action scene to another, with a minimal number of questions actually being answered. This is perfectly okay for the most part, but it does end up making the entire experience somewhat shallow. Nonetheless, the film is somewhat hectic, perfectly portraying the atmosphere of being at war, where there’s no moment to rest. We do very much enjoy the short stories that are being released for the DC universe, but an additional ten minutes for this one could have fleshed out a few story portions a bit more.
In terms of voice acting, the cast is comprised of veterans. Wonder Woman is voice by Stana Katic, who many of us know from her leading role in Castle for many years. She brings an original touch to the Amazonian warrior, and we quite like it. Matt Bomer is currently still active in another DC series, namely Doom Patrol. He does also bring justice to the Flash, as he has that perfect blend between boyish and mature down to a T. Other supporting roles are often also voiced by experienced cast members, but it’s mainly the aforementioned ones that stand in the foreground throughout most of the film.
The special features on the DVD version are somewhat odd in nature. We get to see a preview of a movie we’ll be covering soon, namely Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, but also two previews of movies that have been out for quite some time. We get to learn more about Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Wonder Woman: Bloodlines. The previews are quite detailed, however, which is certainly a plus. We see the creative minds behind these films, as well as some of the cast members, voice their opinions when it comes to their respective projects.
Conclusion
Justice Society: World War II is an interesting addition to the ever-growing library of animated DC movies. While not all projects have been amazing experiences, these movies always hit a few sweet spots, showing that DC (or Warner Bros in this case) has a lot of good stories to tell. Even though this comic book-based universe cannot string everything together, we thoroughly enjoy all the separate tales it keeps showing us. If you liked most of DC’s animated films so far, you can easily add this one to your collection as well.
Justice Society: World War II (DVD) - Movie Review,1 Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] taking a closer look at Justice Society: World War II, we trade in a hectic World War II setting for the grim surroundings of Gotham City, where the […]