7/10
Epic, but still disappointing
2 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
There are a lot of things going in favor of Justice League: The New Frontier. The shear scale of the storyline, a world devouring creature who's sole wish is mankind's eradication, striking in a world that has abandoned its heroes, its brilliant, and it is EPIC. From the opening montage to the closing glimpses of the future, there really is a lot of mythos and grandeur to this storyline, and that's a big plus.

The storyline is set right in the heart of the 1950's and McCarthyism, driving the JSA to shame and retirement, and causing the public to cast a wary eye on the newly blossoming roster of heroes. Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, and the Flash are all well established at this point, however the true stars of the show are Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Martian Manhunter. Not my personal favorites, but the story for them is quite good.

The voice acting was in my opinion the greatest weakness of the movie. The problem wasn't the voices themselves, but the delivery of lines that should have given me chills fell flat. The flash especially spoke way too fast, as did Hal Jordan. The 70 minute run time should easily have been extended by several more minutes and they could have allowed the actors to actually ACT and not run through their lines at breakneck speed. Jeremy Sisto did a great job as Batman, but sadly he was given about 5 lines in the whole movie, and therefore was a truly wasted talent.

The movie also took a decidedly more mature turn than its predecessors, not to spoil key moments, but blood, death, even rape are not out of bounds in this outing, so be mindful of the children. What annoys me is that while there were more mature tones in the action, the dialog and the plot still condescended to 10 year old children. WB really needs to choose who they're shooting for, because they will alienate everyone with this approach.

Overall, for fans of DC comics, this is worth a look. GL fans in particular should be happy to see his story finally animated in full, however lovers of the core trinity (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) will be disappointed by their lack of screen time. They shouldn't have tried to hard to include some action with everyone, because everyone winds up getting short changed. The throwback costumes are a big plus though. 7/10 from a hardcore Superman/Batman fan.
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