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JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS
(***)
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DVD Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
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Directed by:
Lauren Montgomery & Sam Liu |
Written by:
Dwayne McDuffie |
Starring the Voices of:
Mark Harmon, James Woods, Chris Noth |
Running time:
75 minutes
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Released:
02/23/10-direct to dvd |
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Rated PG-13
for action violence. |
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"...more epic, climactic, and intense than those featured in most other DC
animated endeavors."
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Long before DC and Marvel began making billions at
the worldwide box office, long before graphic novels became a staple of every
bookstore, dastardly doppelgängers, evil twins, and villainous heroes from
alternate realities were putting Earth's mightiest to the test. Who better to
face a near-invincible demigod like Superman than an equally powerful
manifestation of his darkest impulses? Who better to challenge a strategist like
Batman than a mentally unstable Dark Knight who believes murder and justice are
one in the same? Who better to battle Wonder Woman in hand to hand combat than a
cruel, callous Amazonian who chose an entirely different path? Manhunter against
Manhunter, Flash racing Flash, Lantern versus Lantern... it's the stuff of
fanboy dreams and comic industry gold. Sadly, such stories have lost their edge
after countless incarnations. More often than not, they've revealed themselves
to be lazy gimmicks; formulaic crossover events designed to boost sales and
offer diehards quick-n-easy access to their favorite heroes' carefully guarded
psyches. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths owes its very existence to these
same stories, and subsequently suffers from many of the same problems.
When Lex Luthor's unexpectedly upstanding double (skillfully voiced by Chris
Noth) arrives from a parallel Earth to recruit the Justice League's finest --
Superman (an asleep-at-the-mic Mark Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall),
the Green Lantern (Nolan North), the Flash (Josh Keaton), Martian Manhunter
(Jonathan Adams), and Bats himself (William Baldwin, lumbering his way through
lines Kevin Conroy would have brought to life) -- he's greeted with a healthy
dose of skepticism. But a heartbeat scan and a peek at a maximum security prison
leaves everyone but Batman nodding their heads. Teleporting to Luthor's Earth, a
planet where a super powered crime syndicate has risen to power, Supes and his
brightly hued comrades attempt to reinstate some law and order in a world gone
mad. Before you can say "holy conveniently truncated plot, Batman," they come
face to face with several squint-and-you'll-recognize-em faces: Ultraman (Brian
Bloom, channeling the gents of Jersey Shore), Super Woman (Gina Torres), Captain
Super (Jim Meskimen), Johnny Quick (James Patrick Stuart), Power Ring (Nolan
North), Jimmy Olsen (Richard Green), and a chilly villain's villain dubbed
Owlman (a welcome bit of vocal panache by James Woods). Meanwhile, Batman stays
behind to guard the Justice League's orbital base only to find himself matching
wits and fists with an invading force of supers. Quick-dialing a pile of
second-tier heroes (among them Aquaman, who might as well be Rocky Balboa for
all he can do on a space station), Batman quells the uprising only to be dragged
to Luthor's maligned Earth. There, he must stop Owlman from destroying the
entire multiverse, all while resisting the urge to tell his fellow Justice
League mainstays, "I told you so."
Critical jabs aside, Crisis on Two Earths isn't a mediocre film by any means.
Yes, the animation is rough and inconsistent, and yes, the first two acts of the
tale are as predictable and conventional as they come. But screenwriter Dwayne
McDuffie's generous super-on-super action sequences are hard-hitting, the
animators' character designs are slick and striking (minus a handful of
laughable alternate-reality costumes by way of Black Lightning, Breakdance,
Jimmy Olsen, and their fellow period-inspired criminals), and directors Sam Liu
and Lauren Montgomery's Batman vs. Owlman endgame is more epic, climactic, and
intense than those featured in most other DC animated endeavors. Considering how
telegraphed and tiresome the tale is for its first fifty minutes, the last
twenty come as a fresh and welcome surprise. The fact that the filmmakers
suddenly up the ante significantly certainly helps, mind you, but it's the
much-needed burst of character nuance that makes Batman's trip to Earth-Prime so
engrossing. While watching the other heroes go toe-to-toe with their misguided
doppels is fast and fun in its own right, their fights tend to be brawny affairs
that come down to simple tests of strength and resolve. By contrast, the Batman/Owlman
tussle is visceral and cerebral, and genuinely takes advantage of the film's
PG-13 rating by introducing a few mature themes and some meaty dialogue.
That being said, Crisis on Two Earths isn't nearly as effective or satisfying as
Justice League: New Frontier. Yet it is a step or two up from the previous
release,
Batman/Superman: Public Enemies. Lesser heroes and villains make cameo
appearances for the sole purpose of rallying eagle-eyed JLA junkies; the cast's
voicework is hit or miss; fourth wall references to invisible jets and Jedi mind
tricks are amusing but a bit distracting; a budding romance between Martian
Manhunter and the President's daughter (Freddi Rogers) is little more than a
left-field tangent (one that slows the film to a crawl time and time again); and
the moral absolutism that dominates almost every decision the characters make
reeks of Saturday-morning simplicity. Worse, logic -- even as it applies to the
exaggerated rules of comicbook reality -- is carelessly jettisoned from the
airlock. How is it that Batman, an ordinary human being, can shake off a sucker
punch from Super Woman? The same kind of punch that put Superman on the ground
not ten minutes before? How can Owlman make a mid-air stand against Wonder Woman
but have such trouble besting Bruce Wayne? Why does Superman have so many
problems knocking low-level baddies out of commission? Why do the combatants
feel the need to take their individual fights to their direct counterparts? Why
do the heroes attack so blindly, without evaluating the situation in the
slightest? And that's just scratching the surface. I can't tell you how many
plot holes I had to ignore to move on; how many times I shook my head and
muttered, "wait, what?"
Still, at 75-minutes, is it any wonder that subtleties, cohesive storytelling,
and character development have fallen by the wayside? Hopefully the day will
come when DC's animated films grow up. It's safe to assume their producers
aren't interested in targeting a younger crowd (the PG-13 rating their on-screen
violence demands suggests as much), but the writers seem far too hesitant to
elevate the content of their scripts and the complexity of the conflicts
therein. If Crisis was as intellectually engaging as its action is entertaining,
it would warrant more praise. In the future, Warner Bros. Animation would be
wise to greenlight feature-length projects in the vein of The Spectre (a sharply
written, adult-oriented animated short included on the disc) instead of clinging
to the status quo. |
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JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO
EARTHS
© 2010 Warner Premiere
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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