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Reviews - Blu-Ray
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Street Date: February 26, 2008
Languages: English, Spanish
Subtitles: Spanish
Run Time: 75 minutes approx.
Rating: PG-13
Media Quantity: 1
Disc Configuration: BD 25
Packaging Type: Double Amaray |
Aspect Ratio:
1080p High Definition 1.78 Widescreen [16:9 Transfer] (Main
Feature)
480i/480p (Special Features)
Sound Quality:
Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 (Main Feature)
Dolby Digital: English 5.1 (Main Feature)
Stereo (Main Feature)
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DVD Features:
• "Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League History"- The
documentary is a comprehensive forty seven year Justice League
chronology from the inception in the comics to vivid animated
renditions. The story is told with a myriad of interviews tracing back
the early days of DC Super Hero team ups during the Golden Age, to the
Silver Age rendition where the established heroes emerged and beyond.
Interviews include Paul Levitz (President of DC Comics), Dan Didio (SVP
Executive Editor at DC Comics), Michael Uslan (Historian), Gregory
Noveck (SVP Creative Affairs DC Comics), Mark Waid (DC Comics Historian
and Writer), Mike Friedrich (Writer JLU), Denny O¹Neil (Writer and
Editor at DC Comics), Mike Carlin (DC Comics Executive Editor), Stan Lee
(Marvel Comics Co-Creator) and Marv Wolfman (Writer of Fantastic Four).
• "Sneak Peak: Batman: Gotham Knight" - One part anime, one part Caped
Crusader, the result is a glimpse at the world of Eastern anime
sensibilities combined with a Western tradition of Batman. A detailed
look at the world of Warner Bros Animation, and how they joined forces
with the renowned Japanese animators to create the highly anticipated
anime film of 2008.
• "Audio Commentary I" (featuring the talented filmmakers of New
Frontier)
• "Audio Commentary II" (featuring Comic Book Writer and Artist Darwyn
Cooke)
• "The Legion of Doom: The Pathology of the Super Villain"- This
documentary will examine the early mythological archetypes of nemesis
characters from a historical perspective, and see how the tenants of
this rich history were adapted and woven into the Justice League
stories. The bonus feature includes many of the talent included in Super
Heroes United! As well as Jim Kreuger (Writer of "Justice").
• "Comic Book Commentary: Homage to the New Frontier" - This documentary
is a nod to the fans of the New Frontier comic book. This featurette
further expands the themes contained in the source material, and how
these elements were truncated or evolved for the inclusion in the film.
Featuring vivid imagery culled from the pages of the New Frontier comic,
mixed with the commentary of Writer and Artist Darwyn Cooke, this
featurette is a treat for both fans and scholars of the medium.
• "Justice League Unlimited Bonus Episodes" Bruce Timm selects three of
his favorite episodes from the Justice League Unlimited animated series:
1. Dark Heart Alien invaders attempt to thwart the Justice League. The
fate of the world rests on the shoulders of Ray Palmer, AKA The Atom.
2. To Another Shore - Wonder Woman learns of a plot to steal the powers
of the 3,000 year-old corpse of The Viking Prince. It is up to the
Justice League to make things right.
3. Task Force X - Four incarcerated villains are released from prison by
Cadmus to undertake an impossible mission: steal a powerful mystic
artifact from the JLU Watchtower under the noses of the League.
Synopsis: Inspired by the best-selling graphic novel by Darwyn
Cooke and produced by the multiple Emmy® award winning animation legend,
Bruce Timm, The New Frontier is the epic tale of the founding of the
Justice League. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all here of
course, and so are Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Flash - whose
incredible origins will be told for the very first time. Strangers at
first, these very different heroes must overcome fear and suspicion to
forge an alliance against a monster so formidable, even the mighty
Superman can not stop it. If they fail, our entire planet will be
“cleansed” of humanity.
Review
As the movie opens, you know Justice League: The New Frontier
will be something different. Whether you've read the graphic novel that
inspired the film or have no idea what to expect, the opening scene is
something special. The movie opens with a beautiful sequence showing the
creation of a children's book, a rather ominous children's book, telling
about the coming of The Centre, and its plans to eradicate all life from
the Earth? As the author finishes the book, we see him put down his art
utensils and reach over for a gun. Cue the gunshot and then cue the
beautifully rendered opening credits. How's that for an opener? And it
only gets better from there.
Justice League: The New Frontier takes viewers on an
action-packed adventure, exploring the origins of the Justice League. DC
Comics legends Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all featured in the
film, as well as Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and The Flash, as they
band together to form the legendary super team. Strangers at first,
these very different heroes must overcome fear and suspicion to forge an
alliance against a monster so formidable, even the mighty Superman
cannot stop it alone. If they fail, the entire planet will be "cleansed"
of humanity.
So there we go. That's the gist of the plot right there. Now, for those
who have read DC: The New Frontier, you already know how
everything is going to turn out. For those who are newbies to the story,
you're in for a surprise. This is not the kind of Justice League
story you'd fine on Justice League Unlimited. It's a movie with a
tone all it's own, completely different than what we've seen before in
both the level of maturity presented and even the content. While some
may call Superman Doomsday a product of juvenile excess, this
movie is a product of maturity. This movie approaches the topic of
superheroes, and the subsequent ramifications, with such a level of
maturity not seen before in animation. Maybe comparable to some of the
live-action stuff, but nothing before in animation . . . at least the
animation I've watched.
I have to hand it to both Stan Berkowitz's script and director Dave
Bullock's steady hand for helping to achieve that level of
sophistication here. Whether it's Berkowitz bringing together the
abundance of plot lines or Bullock keeping the camera still so we can
actually watch the scene develop, both manage to create a fascinating
experience for this movie. There are also some scenes in here that have
just a huge impact thanks to the excellent marriage of the script and
the directing. There's the tense scene between Wonder Woman and
Superman, and there's a touching moment between Superman and Lois, The
absolutely crushing scene where Lois breaks down during a news report or
the amazing scene where Batman faces down Detective John Jones. I could
go on and on, but there's just an abundance of great scenes to be found,
and both Berkowitz and Bullock deserve a lot of praise for them. Of
course, those two can't take all the credit. There's a whole crew here
that deserves a huge heaping of praise, and I'm going to get to them.
Now, I'm not saying this movie is perfect, as I do have a grunt or two
about it, but this is one of the best Direct-To-Video efforts I've seen.
No lie.
What I really appreciate about this movie is the attention to detail.
Whether it's the little cameos peppered throughout, the use of the
actual "New Frontier" speech by John F. Kennedy, or the simple nuances
in each character, this movie pays attention to every little detail.
There's a short cameo by Robin. Jimmy Olsen appears. We get a quick
visit to Themyscira. Hal and Carol kissing before he leaves for his
mission. A boy being scared of Batman. The dead-on recreation of the
1950s. I could go on about all the little touches and scenes here and
there, but I don't want to spoil the entire movie. All of these touches
(and more), some from the original graphic novel and others original to
this movie, really make the ideas of this one big universe housing all
these characters believable. Not only that, but it helps to cement the
time frame of the movie, too. I have to make note of the color palette
and absolutely amazing design work done for the film. Everything here
was done by scratch, and you can tell. Everything looks fresh and new,
and the designs are just beautiful looking. The clothes look authentic,
the cars look awesome, and the film just drips that 1950's class.
Justice League: The New Frontier is really ambitious, and you can
tell that by how they approach the look of the film. The movie has huge
set pieces, wardrobe changes, character flares, all of it. It all works.
Toss on a really excellent script by Berkowtiz, who does an amazing job
at squeezing a rather large graphic novel into a 75 minute run time, and
some superb direction by Bullock, and you have a movie that, overall, is
excellent. Again, I mentioned this above, but I feel that it warrants
mentioning again, and that is Bullock's directing. I want to
specifically point out two instances. There are two sequences, one a
fight between Batman and a bunch of cult members, and the second being
the huge aerial battle at the end between the good guys and The Centre.
Instead of rapid cuts, Bullock lets the camera sit and watch the action
unfold. We don't get a bunch of quick cuts, but we get to see the action
unfold naturally and gracefully and it really seems . . . old-fashioned.
Movies today are filled with quick cuts and rapid-pace editing, but
here? No, Bullock lets the camera linger to allow the scene to unfold
and it works beautifully. Hats off on Bullock's superb directing choices
(and his amazing work on the film's opening credits).
Now, thankfully, Berkowitz and Bullock are in good company for Justice
League: The New Frontier. Not only is the creative team sharp, but
the voice talent is just top quality. And, before I go any further, I
want to say that Bruce Timm was right. Jeremy Sisto was just amazing as
Batman. Not only him, but the rest of the cast are top-notch. Neil
Patrick Harris brings the perfect sound to the Flash, mixing youth and
doubt. Miguel Ferrer is pitch-perfect as the Martian Manhunter. He
brings such a quality to his performances that you feel for the Martian.
He really added depth to a character that could have been easily
overlooked. Lucy Lawless is great as Wonder Woman, absolutely flawless.
She really brings a commanding presence to the role that I haven't heard
anywhere else before. Kyle McLaughlin and David Boreanez are superbly
cast as Superman and Green Lantern, and get the most face time among the
big-name heroes. McLaughlin has this quality about is voice that makes
his Superman sound classic while Boreanez really brings a 1950's-vibe to
Lantern. Keith David's brief role as The Centre is also very
exceptional; his voice really commands the presence of a deadly threat
that will eradicate everyone on a whim. Overall, the casting is sharp
across the board. And before I forget, Brooke Shields and Kyra Sedgwick
deserve special shout-outs for their roles as Carol Ferris and Lois
Lane.
It's this superb casting, the excellent directing and script, the
amazing attention to detail that help Justice League: The New
Frontier overcome a couple of its flaws. And I suppose, in a way,
it's even a bit unfair to call these flaws, but more like limitations
pushed onto the creative team of the movie.
The first one, and probably the most damning, is the limited running
time. Like Superman Doomsday before it, here we get 75 minutes,
including credits, to tell a rather large tale. And, yes, it does hinder
the movie. I think whether you've read the book or not, you're going to
notice that some scenes or characters were very truncated in the film.
And due to the running time, a lot of the story from both DC: The New
Frontier and the actual movie had to be cut down. As I recall Timm
stating in the commentary track, it came to the point where if they
included on extra scene, another would have to be excised, and you can
tell in the final product. Now, I could be seeing this through biased
eyes, as I've read DC: The New Frontier, but I think it's
something that even casual viewers may be able to notice. However, it's
not as damaging as one may think. The story still flows, very briskly at
times, and everything manages to wrap itself nicely, but some
relationships are cut down to the bone. There are moments where I wish
they could've just let the scene stay for a couple more beats.
Thankfully, in one way or another, Berkowitz was able to at least
reference a lot of the cut material. Whether it's through newspaper
headlines or news reports, we do get references to some of the material
from DC: The New Frontier that just can't completely fit into the
movie. A lot of the stuff wasn't necessary to the plot of the animated
movie, but did expand upon the era and the characters, so it is a shame
to lose. It does cut back a bit on the character development for the
movie, but I can understand why it cut. However, it's all in the book
so, after checking out this movie, go read the books if you haven't
already. I can only imagine how difficult it was to trim and alter the
material to make it fit within the 75 minutes running time and I applaud
Berkowitz for making it work. Still, I can't help but wonder what those
extra few minutes may have brought.
My other complaint is that, sometimes, the animation does seem a bit
average. Now, mind you that this is few and far in-between, but there
are moments where it's not strong, and it's even noted from time to time
in both commentaries. Now, again, this is something that is generally
out of their control so I can't really slight them; they do try to fix
up the odd mistake, but there are a couple moments that I thought really
could've used some stronger animation. Thankfully, it is only a handful
of moments. The two that seem to distract me are Superman's arrival for
an outer-space rescue and Green Lantern dispatching something into outer
space. Those really stood out to me, for one reason or another, but it's
just minor quibbles. Personally, I can be overly picky so I don't know
if people will notice these or not, but these are just a couple that
jumped at me. Overall, the animation is still gorgeous and a few scenes
are absolutely breathtaking.
At the end of it all, I can't praise this film enough. Like I said, my
complaints are really minuscule, small, but that doesn't stop this from
being a great film. It's a really well done movie and probably one of
the greatest Justice League stories ever told (and it's technically not
even a Justice League tale). It's such a different approach to these
characters in animation. It's gutsy, you have to admit. There's no way
this story could have worked if they contemporized it, and I'm glad they
didn't. The setting is a crucial aspect to the story and they really
sell it, making the setting of the movie just as important as the main
characters.
When you add the truly excellent creative team behind it, with Bullock
directing from a Berkowitz script, a brilliant voice cast, an amazing
score, and a host of brilliant professionals working behind the scenes,
you have a movie that really shows how much everyone cares for the
source material. And with Darwyn Cooke stepping in to help (he worked on
the script and storyboarded a few sequences), it's obvious what everyone
set out to accomplish here and they succeed in spades. Justice
League: The New Frontier is my favorite film of the year so far, and
it comes Highly Recommended for fans of both the comics and the
DC Animated Series. Justice League: The New Frontier is probably
the best direct-to-video effort to date, and it's one that all fans
really should check out. There's just something really special about
this movie, something that helps it overcome any of its flaws, something
that really pushes and makes it something special. There are moments
from Justice League: The New Frontier that will stay with me for
some time.
The Blu-Ray Disc
Warner Home Video has released Justice League: The New Frontier
in four editions: Single-Disc, Two Disc Special Edition, HD-DVD, and
Blu-Ray. The complete rundown of specs for each release can be found
here. Warner Home Video has provided the Blu-Ray release to review.
With this being my first Blu-Ray release, I'm not entirely
sure what to look out for, so I'll approach it as I would any regular
review. The audio and video for this Blu-Ray release is, not
surprisingly, incredibly strong. If you compare the Blu-Ray transfer to
the standard DVD transfer, if you have a copy of the movie in standard
DVD lying around, you can notice a difference. The image appears crisper
and clearer. While the standard DVD transfer is nothing to sneeze at,
the Blu-Ray transfer is definitely something to behold, especially
during some of the bigger film moments, like the climactic battle
between The Centre and the great outer space sequence with Hal Jordan
and Superman. And yes, even the beautiful montage at the end looks so
beautiful. Of course, with the High-Definition transfer, there are times
when imperfections in both the animation and even the digital master of
the movie come to light. Pixelation pops up on occasion, but it's not
distracting or damning, just it does become a bit more obvious than on
the standard DVD release. Still, the incredible transfer here makes the
image appear almost three-dimensional at times. The video is mastered in
1080p High Definition with a great 1.78:1 transfer.
The audio, also amazing I might add, perfectly compliments the tight
visuals, even if at times there appears to be a slight bit of overkill
in the volume. Sometimes it sounds a bit too loud and bombastic. The
audio is mastered in both Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 and Dolby Digital
5.1.
As for the extras themselves, I have to say that I found them pretty
engrossing for the most part. While I was disappointed that they were
done only in the standard DVD format, in 480p (or 480i), that doesn't
knock any points off the actual content to be found within.
First up is the forty minutes-long Super Heroes United: The Complete
Justice League History documentary, where a host of creators give
their thoughts on the history of the Justice League. The documentary
mixes clips from Justice League: The New Frontier, Justice
League, Justice League Unlimited, and Super Friends
with comic book shots, artwork, and talking heads interviews. We start
with the birth of Superman and basically work our way to the current
Justice League of America comic series and everything in-between.
For those who don't know anything about the comic book roots of these
characters, this is an invaluable extra. Barely any stone is left
unturned as just about every era of the League is covered, and I mean
everything. On top of covering the history, we even get a look at the
characters from a historical standpoint and from a theological
standpoint, too, resulting in some really fascinating information and
comparisons between these heroes and mythology. Never boring, always
interesting.
After that we get a ten-minute preview of the upcoming Batman: Gotham
Knight, and I have to say that it looks absolutely amazing. Now, I'm
not a big anime fan, but I can not wait for this release. It looks
absolutely stunning. You get a look at the different Batman designs
being used, as well as a look at some very creative designs for
Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Deadshot. Add on a healthy heaping of
supporting cast designs and a ton of the action scenes, and I think you
have a winner. This upcoming DC Universe Animated Original Movie
looks absolutely amazing and Summer 2008 can’t come fast enough. Count
me in!
What follows that are a couple of really informative audio commentaries.
One is by the filmmakers who worked on the film, including Bruce Timm,
Dave Bullock, Michael Goguen, Andrea Romano, Stan Berkowitz, Gregory
Novak. It's a packed audio commentary that starts off strong and manages
to hold itself quite well until the end. I was surprised that there were
more than a few quiet moments peppered throughout, but overall it's a
good track. The second audio commentary by Darwyn Cooke is just
excellent. Yes, there are pauses, too, but he provided just a wealth of
information here. A lot of the time he talks about the differences
between this movie and his graphic novel, what he finds disappointing in
the movie, and what he thought did and didn't work in both the draft of
the movie and the final version itself. It's a great track, and the best
audio commentary between the two.
The other documentary on this release is the The Legion of Doom: The
Pathology of the Super Villain documentary, which runs roughly a
half-hour in length and takes a look, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, at the
villains and it's a really enjoyable extra. It takes us throw some of
the various incarnations of the villains and where they are now. It’s
not as in-depth as documentary on the previous disc, but fans,
particularly those of Justice League Unlimited will enjoy the additional
background information on the bad guys.
There's also a short ten minute featurette, called Homage To The New
Frontier, where Darwyn Cooke provides some more commentary on both
DC: The New Frontier and the Justice League: The New Frontier
film. It's a nice companion piece to his commentary.
And now, to round everything off, we have three Justice League
Unlimited bonus episodes and, well, it's a bit of a letdown. The
transfer for these episodes is purely standard format, which is a bit of
a disappointment. Warner really missed out on the chance to put these
episodes in High-Definition, something that would have really caught the
attention of those perhaps unfamiliar with the series.
And, speaking of extras, while I enjoyed the very comic book-oriented
aspect of the extras, I was hoping we'd get to see more production
information on the movie itself, but sadly, that's mostly limited to the
commentaries. I can understand that these extras will serve as a doorway
to the comic book world for some viewers, but what about information on
the film's actual production? I wish we could have seen more of that,
and the deleted scenes and animatics referenced in the commentaries.
Much like the Superman Doomsday DVD release, I thought the extras
were excellent, yes, but they still lacked a nice, detailed look at the
actual production of the film, though I suppose a fair amount of that is
covered in the audio commentary.
Overall, it goes without saying that Justice League: The New
Frontier comes Highly Recommended. It's not your average
Justice League tale and that, to me, really makes this special. This
Blu-Ray release contains a great load of special features that comic
book enthusiasts should find really enjoyable. And you just can't beat
the High-Definition transfer that comes with this release. The main
feature looks amazing from start to finish, save for a few unavoidable
flaws. And yes, while the extras are only in standard DVD format, that
doesn't knock down the quality at all. Rich and full of info, fans
should get a kick out of what they see here. It's a really solid package
from start to finish with an abundance of material. It truly belongs on
any comic book, animation, or movie lover's shelf.
Justice League: The New Frontier is currently available on Blu-Ray
and standard DVD single-disc and two-disc releases. Justice League:
The New Frontier will be available on HD-DVD on March 18th,
2008. |
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