|
 (040217)
Justice League Dark marks the twenty-seventh entry in the animated DC Universe,
and like its immediate predecessor,
Batman: The Killing Joke, it has been stamped
with a well-deserved R rating for extreme violence. But Dark is a far superior
film, and not just because it features a host of lesser known DC characters in
leading roles. Besides the novelty factor, Dark provides a well-told narrative
with a clearly articulated "spine" around which to wrap its action set pieces
and multiple origin stories. The achievement of director Jay Oliva (
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) and writers J.M. DeMatteis (Batman vs. Robin) and Ernie Altbacker (Green Lantern: The Animated Series) is all the more impressive given
the size of the cast they manage to keep in play.
The key to their success, and the linchpin of the whole enterprise, is the
character of John Constantine: sorcerer, exorcist and overall rascal, whose
general contempt for humanity doesn't stop him from trying to protect it from
evil. Actor Matt Ryan, who played Constantine in the short-lived TV series,
returns to voice the character in Dark, and now that he's been freed from the
clunky "mythology" with which the series' creators weighed him down, Ryan tears
into the role with a relish that is positively demonic. Both literally and
figuratively, Ryan's Constantine floats gracefully above the helter-skelter
events of Dark, and he carries the movie with him.
All over the world, people are being seized by a delusion that their friends,
family and even random people on the street are horrific monsters that must be
destroyed. As the death toll mounts, the Justice League convenes and considers
the possibility of an occult causation. Batman, ever the rationalist, rejects
any supernatural explanation, but he reconsiders after the spirit known as
Deadman (a/k/a Boston Brand) invades Wayne Manor, possesses Batman's body and
writes the name "Constantine" throughout the mansion. As Batman's guide to the
mystic realm, Deadman leads the Caped Crusader to Zatanna, a stage magician
whose dazzling Now You See Me-style illusions are, in fact, the product of real
magic. Zatanna is also Constantine's ex-girlfriend. With Deadman invisibly
accompanying them, she and Batman seek out Constantine's elusive House of Magic,
to which the sorcerer has just returned after a contentious poker game with a
trio of demons in Las Vegas. (The House of Magic has its own personality, which
manifests as a purple figure called "Black Orchid".)
As this tentative confederation investigates the worldwide outbreak of madness,
they are eventually led to a magic gem known as the Dreamstone, which was
created centuries ago by an ancient sorcerer known as Destiny. Destiny is
believed to have been rendered harmless in the Middle Ages by the wizard Merlin,
but someone has revived the Dreamstone and its powers here in the present.
Constantine's old friend, Ritchie Simpson, points the team toward a likely
suspect, a powerful sorcerer named Felix Faust, but Constantine himself may
share in the blame, because he currently holds a piece of the Dreamstone as part
of his winnings from the poker-playing demons. Other key players in the
adventure include Etrigan, the demon whom Merlin summoned to defeat Destiny all
those years ago and who now inhabits the body of Jason Blood, one of
Constantine's many frenemies; Swamp Thing, guardian of the earth's plant life,
who here makes his first appearance in the animated DCU; and Batman's fellow
Justice League members.
Dark is so stuffed with characters and outrageous incidents (including a
stomach-turning attack by a giant monster made of excrement) that it routinely
teeters on the edge of chaos, but director Oliva and his writers always manage
to pull it back from the brink and maintain the narrative flow. Constantine
remains the resourceful and sardonic center of this spiritual storm, while
Zatanna and others continually bait and insult him. Meanwhile, a skeptical
Batman stands on the sidelines, dispassionately observing. (His repeated
one-word expression of doubt and disbelief—"Mmm!"—becomes a running joke.) By
the end of the story, the threat has been neutralized, and the Justice League
has a new member.
The film surrounds Matt Ryan's Constantine with an impressive array of voice
talent. Jason O'Mara, Jerry O'Connell and Rosario Dawson return as Batman,
Superman and Wonder Woman, respectively. Zatanna is voiced by Grey's Anatomy's
Camilla Luddington, and Deadman's wisecracks are delivered by NYPD Blue's
Nicholas Turturro. The film's two evil sorcerer-villains are given appropriately
theatrical intensity by veterans Alfred Molina ("Destiny") and Enrico Colantoni
("Felix Faust"), while Jeremy Davies, who has a knack for making small parts
memorable, supplies the voice of Constantine's dying friend, Ritchie.
It took the DCU's animators to give Matt Ryan the episode of Constantine that
his outstanding portrayal deserves, something that the creators of the canceled
TV show never managed to deliver. Constantine fans should snap up Justice League
Dark at their first opportunity, and newcomers may find themselves inspired to
discover Ryan's earlier incarnation of the character. With any luck, the
overseers of the DCU will send the smart-aleck sorcerer on further animated
adventures, preferably in another adversarial collaboration with the Justice
League. Constantine's cynical banter is even more enjoyable with Batman standing
nearby, dubiously surveying the supernatural proceedings and darkly muttering
his disapproval under his breath. |
