Justice League Dark: Apokolips War Review

I've been doing less and less reviews of the animated DC movies because after the last few I've seen, I just can't bring myself to write about them anymore. Most of them just aren't worth the effort to watch. The idea of taking DC's storylines and trying to mash them up into 90 minute movie just hasn't been the same. 

I originally liked Justice League Dark. I loved how they explored the cast of semi-familiar characters who dabbled in the DC world of magic - something that wasn't really prevalent until Shazam! came out. I recalled JLD to be a competently made adventure which brought much needed refreshment to the DC animated universe. John Constantine being the central figure in a movie about defeating demons. It's great because the realm of magic is difficult for the normal pantheon of Justice League characters to deal with. Little known fact, but Superman is weak to magic. 

I enjoyed the entirety of JLD. Sure, a lot of explanations came down to "It's magic," but they did a good job of explaining rules so it never felt like a cop out. The inclusion of Deadman and Zatanna felt great and the team up with Batman made this better than a lot of other ensemble casts. I thought each character was compelling in their own right and while the trope for an anti-hero has been done over and over again, DC executed it well. 

Shark-man is a shark...

So when Justice League Dark: Apokolips War was announced and released, I was excited. I wanted to see more of John Constantine and a world that ran parallel to the regular Justice League but didn't really have them in it. DC seemed to have skipped a bit in terms of pacing though, because they once again crammed a whole lot of movie and character development into a small runtime which really did a bit of disservice to the Dark portion of the movie. 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of this movie and it is bringing me back around to the DCAU. But a lot of character development was pushed into this whole movie. So much is going on with everyone, it really makes your head spin. Thankfully, the movie makes it apparent who is driving the movie, Robin and Raven as well as John Constantine. I don't know if I've watched Teen Titans: Judas Contract  (I might have?) but I guess the Robin/Raven (Robaven?) relationship was cultivated in that movie and just developed further in this one. Their contrasting personalities actually complement one another. They also both have daddy problems, so they have similar personal problems to deal with.

So one thing to note...Justice League Dark: Apokolips War is....very dark. I mean the whole thing kicks off with Superman wanting to kill Darkseid. Like...not stop him or like...put him in the Phantom Zone or something. He wants to end his life. I thought that was a bit off kilter with the Big Blue, but it does create a great sense of urgency throughout the movie. The war starts and abruptly ends because Darkseid catches wind of the surprise attack and completely obliterates the Justice League. The whole thing is a slaughter that shows you why an animated movie is rated R.For some reason Constantine runs away after watching (in horror) Zatanna being ripped limb from limb. His "cowardly" escape is the basis of the movie as Constantine comes to terms with Zatanna's death and eventually helps plan the counter-assault on Apokolips.

Yeah, it's hard to tell, but this guy is now the only guy who can help save the world

The rest of the movie explores the aftermath of the botched plan. Most superheroes suffered death but some of the main ones were subjected to torture. Superman had kryptonite injected into his veins, Batman was brainwashed by Darksied to be his second-hand man, Wonder Woman and the rest of the major league characters were kept in Apokolips to be his playthings. 

The progression of getting Constantine back to a fighting spirit and the ultimate invasion of what's left of the Justice League into Apokolips comes at a quick pace. I mean the movie is only 90 minutes long, after all. But it helps that every scene helps advance the plot. There's very little filler and a lot of killer which I give the movie props for. 

The fight scenes are pretty cool and I really liked that there was a vibe of desperation that isn't normally felt in impending doomsday scenarios. So people died and stayed dead (except for a couple). This made things feel more final and, honestly, refreshing. Since this was basically the end of the line for this DCAU storyline, the movie allowed for all of your favorite superheroes to meet a grave fate. Though I wish it would have been explained how the survivors got back to earth. 

Watcha gonna do when you're inspiration for hope is just a normal person now?

I'm still going to be annoyed at the way that DC animates these films and the questionable art style they use. It's not that the art style quality is bad. It's more like I don't like how they have drawn the characters. Things are less organic and everyone seems to be super blocky which makes everyone sorta look like they came from the same template. I also feel like the the animation is a bit stilted. It feels like everyone just stands around while someone is talking; as if they are in kindergarten and need to take turns talking. Very little reacting is being done by characters, too. It's a small thing, but it bothers me. Maybe video game idle animations have got me spoiled. 

All in all, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War brought be back into the fold of DCAU films. If they keep going this way (and go on sale for like 7-10 bucks), I'll keep buying them. They are great to have in my collection if I ever want to watch them again. I just hope that DC tries to invest a bit more in animation. It's easy to just pass these as kid movies but this movie really isn't that. It's rated R, so it's definitely targeted for adults Hopefully this sell well enough for more of these types of movies to be made. It would also be cool if they could create new storylines that aren't just random storylines put together.