Movie Review: Justice League Dark: Apokolips War

It seems this week is a bit of a finale when it comes to some very popular cartoons.  To paraphrase a certain  Dark Lord of the Sith “it is has seen the end of the Clone Wars and soon sees the end of the DCAU”.  Well, at least kind of.

After a couple of foiled attempts by Darkseid to take the Earth, Superman has had enough.  The big Blue Boy Scout decides its time to become more proactive rather than reactive.  Anyone who thinks pre-vengers instead of Avengers needs to hold onto that thought. Thanks to a mole, that hasn’t been used previously to Darkseid’s advantage, things take a turn for the worse with plenty of death, destruction and maiming to go around.  This then is the first indication that this movie isn’t aimed at kids in any shape way or form, with the language used throughout being more mature than some would expect.

Skip forward two years later and we find an almost decimated Earth.  There are few heroes around, but it takes a kryptonite infused Clark and severely weakened Raven to round up the last of the League, starting with the magician turned coward John Constantine. and a certain none rhyming sidekick.  Together they have a plan to save the one person they feel could turn the tide, Batman.  Along the way there are plenty of surprises.

This movie is the culmination  of various points of the most recent version of the DCAU.  Whilst there have been a mix of animated movies; not all have tied into the grand scheme of things.  Here there are nods to Justice league War, Reign of Superman, Batman and Son, Bad Blood, Teen Titans vs the Justice League and of course Flashpoint,  It’s here then that the first tease of what will become of the universe is bared  The Leaguer’s are helped out by a Harley led Suicide Squad.  Of all the characters involved, I found Harley to be the most wooden.  Sure, there is a level of crazy, but with little real interaction with anyone, she serves to really just add humour to the dark proceedings and just be loud and annoying.  Other characters fare better; the interaction between Constantine and Captain Boomerang, whilst feeding on certain social stereotypes, made me laugh.  The action scenes are well paced throughout, though with the huge cast, it is easy to lose character focus.  This happens a couple of times; members of the Bat-family are given short shrift, which includes Bane, usurped as the muscle by a one, albeit funny, trick, King Shark.

The promotion of sorts for Constantine gives the movie’s its “Dark” element.  Throw in Raven and you can see that magic becomes the deus ex machina that is normally reserved for the bat-belt.  With other such gaps in logic throughout the movie; why is Batman the key, when it becomes apparent that there is someone else who has more importance, for example,  you may feel that the movie becomes disjointed at times.  Stick with it though as there are some great performances from the cast who truly buy-in to what there are doing; kudos to Jerry O’Connell, Matt Ryan and Stuart Allen in particular,  For all the planning and setup the resolution is painfully apparent and it is a solution that once used, is hard to put back in the lamp, so to speak.  What is to stop ist being  used over and over again?  That is a problem for another day.

Changing tacks with an animated universe can be difficult, for every switch from B:TAS to Beyond, there is Brave and the Bold and Beware the Batman. I have often said, that I would personally prefer these movies to be more original in actuality rather than just promotion; this will explain why Bad Blood, and to a large part, Gotham by Gaslight are my favourites.  I even enjoy the added elements in the Killing joke better than the adapted bit.  With that in mind, this movie fits squarely in this idea; there are influences on show, spot the Man of Steel two for instance, but these are dressings rather than the main course.  DC have dominated the animated market place, regardless of how successful Spider-Verse was.  This movie is a good send off for a style and universe that some hated, some loved, but for me, has always been enjoyable.

Overall – 4 Stars

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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