Written By: Heath Corson
Starring: Alan Tudyk, Jason O’Mara, Michelle Monaghan, Christopher Gorham, Shemar Moore, Justin Kirk, Sean Astin
Original Release Date: February 4, 2014
Summary
Based on the first 6-issue story arc of the New 52 Justice League comics, collectively titled Justice League: Origin, this film takes us on a visual journey into the beginnings of the new League.  We get to see how Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Superman, Cyborg, and Shazam all came together to form one of the greatest superhero teams ever created, and together they must defeat the powerful Darkseid and his legion of Parademons before their world is destroyed.
Positives
Being a huge DC fan, I was really excited when I found out they were doing a movie based on the New 52 Justice League.  It was one of my favorite series from the reboot and Geoff Johns wrote it brilliantly. This film connects very nicely to Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, just as it did in the comics.  But, just like every comic book adaptation, some changes were made.
The biggest and most obvious change was the use of Shazam (formerly known as Captain Marvel) in the place of Aquaman. Â Shazam did have a backup story in the issues of Justice League, but was not part of the main story. Â The reason the studio gave for this decision was to give Shazam a role in the New 52 animated continuity and also because they had plans for Aquaman’s origin to tie in later, as seen in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis.
There were a few smaller changes made as well, like changing the name of the ‘Fatherbox’ to the ‘Motherbox’, having Shazam be the comic relief instead of The Flash, and adding a scene where Superman kills someone (which doesn’t happen in the scene in the comic).  This particular scene actually shocked me when I first watch it, especially since there was so much controversy over him killing Zod in Man of Steel.  I didn’t mind it happening, I was just shocked.  They also skipped over Shazam’s entire origin, which, as I said, worked as a backup story in the comics.  Other than that, the story kept pretty well to the source material.
The voice acting was good, overall.  Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Suburgatory) did the voice of the Man of Steel himself, Superman.  I didn’t realize it was him at first.  I really liked him in the role, and would have been fine with him sticking around for other New 52-based films.  We also had Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) as Shazam, Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds) as Victor Stone/Cyborg, and Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs) as Barry Allen/The Flash.
Negatives
There were only two voices I had a hard time with at first.  Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) was voiced by Justin Kirk (Weeds).  He gave Hal a young arrogance which was definitely needed to portray him at this stage of his life.  But there was just something about his voice I’ve had a hard time getting past.  Maybe it’s because I love when Nathan Fillion voices Hal Jordan and I judge based on that.  Who knows.  The other one that threw me off at first was Batman.  Voiced by Jason O’Mara (Terra Nova, Vegas), Batman/Bruce Wayne’s voice took some time to get into at first.  It just seemed off to me, as I am more used to the great Kevin Conroy’s voice.  But as the movie went on, I grew more accustomed to it and it began to work for me, and now I love him in the role.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film.  I love the direction DC/Warner Bros. set for their animated features. They’re getting darker and edgier, using somewhat harsher language and gearing it more toward the adults.  And they’ve also started to utilize mid- and post-credit scenes to lead into future films.  It started with The Flashpoint Paradox showing a Parademon emerging from a boomtube, which lead into this film, and continued in this one with a mid-credit scene which led into the very first stand-alone Aquaman film.  Which I loved.  So, if you haven’t seen this one, hop on Netflix and check it out.
