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Reviews - Blu-ray
Street Date: February 23rd, 2010
Languages: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Run Time: 75
Rating: PG-13
Media Quantity: 1 (BD25)
Packaging Type: Elite Blue |
Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio - 1.78 Widescreen [16:9 Transfer] 1080p
Sound Quality: Dolby Digital: English 5.1
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Special Features:
●The Spectre (11:51, 1080p)
● Bruce Timm Presents - Four Bonus Episodes ("A Better
World," "Twilight") (1:31:00, SD) non-anamorphic
● Live-Action Pilots ("Aquaman," "Wonder Woman")
(1:55:25, SD)
● DCU: The New World (33:14, SD)
● A First Look at Batman: Under the Red Hood (13:46, SD)
● A First Look at Green Lantern
● A First Look at Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
● A First Look at Wonder Woman |
Review
(Zach Demeter)
Either
I’m just out of it or it seems that this latest DC Universe
effort hasn’t made very much noise in the online community (I
said the same thing about Green Lantern, of course).
The publicity for it seems greatly diminished when compared to
past films, but that may just be the direction these titles are
headed—they don’t pull jaw dropping numbers in terms of sales,
but they well enough that they will continue coming to us for
awhile now (or, at least, I hope they do). This most recent
entry is a bit of an odd-one-out when it comes to this series so
far; it’s an original story, so it’s not like The New
Frontier, even though this is the Justice League once again.
No, this film was originally written for the animated Justice
League/Unlimited series. Perhaps a lull in ideas kicked up
this old script from Dwayne McDuffie, but whatever the reason
fans who wanted to see this “lost” story will no doubt crack
smiles as they see long rumored elements of this story finally
come to light.
This is genuinely a hard film to describe. I know I say that
about nearly all of them and end up going on for three or four
pages, but while watching this film I was hit with a feeling I
hadn’t felt while watching these films before: indifference. I
enjoyed the action that was going on (which is really almost the
entire film to be honest) and the story itself was
interesting…but I really just wasn’t all that compelled to stick
with it. I did, of course, and the ending was more than enough
of a satisfactory payoff…but this is really quite a bit more
dramatic film than we’ve gotten in the past. It’s also almost
entirely plot driven as opposed to character driven, as we enter
a world where all the main characters are already established.
Sure, the Crime Syndicate has some relationships and character
setup of its own, but it’s pretty minor as they’re basically
just evil versions of characters we already know anyway.
The story itself is pretty straightforward (Good JL fights Bad
JL) and reminiscent of the season two Justice League
Unlimited finale (“Divided We Fall”). Good versions fighting
evil versions is always fun to watch as its essentially complete
equals dueling it out and that’s really what 60% of the
on-screen time is spent on. Which is really fine with me as Moi
Animation is absolutely brilliant here and there are some
genuinely painful looking fight animations. It’s all very slick
and smooth too, so anytime a punch or kick is thrown it’s done
with such fluidity that you can’t help but drop your jaw at the
choreography of some of the scenes. There’s the usual shaky cam
work thrown in there too, but there’s also some just good ol’
fashioned face smashing and there were more than a few times I
cringed as the violence dial got turned up.
Another thing about this film, aside from the violence and
singular act of cursing (which I thought was really well done),
it was really adult feeling. Not in just a “oh there’s violence
and language and innuendo” sense either; it was just a very
psychological story and the basis for Owlman’s ultimate plan
would be enough to send a Spongebob loving child into a fit of
tears if there wasn’t an adult nearby to soothe his fears away.
I mean, yeah, it’s still a cartoon and there are elements here
that lighten the mood (mainly the characters of Flash and Johnny
Quick), but my first impression of this film is that it’s
genuinely a lot darker than the material we’ve received
previously.
Then again it could just be my mind playing tricks on me; some
of the DC Universe subject matter was just as dark, I suppose,
but I think the fact this production reminded me so much of an
extended Justice League Unlimited outing is the cause for
my main feeling of this film being a much more dramatic
production. The core League is the same (sans Hawkgirl and a
changeup of Lantern’s…who is hardly used in the film anyway, so
that didn’t matter much) and even the voices are eerily similar
in some cases. Mark Harmon sounded a lot like George Newbern at
times to me, if a bit younger sounding at times (which is odd).
Other voice actors delivered the job remarkably well too,
although Josh Keaton as Flash seemed to stick out like a sore
thumb to me for some reason; it was just some the earlier
dialogue I think, because later on he seemed fine. And William
Baldwin as Batman…well, has Romano ever cast someone as Batman
that didn’t work out in some fashion? I didn’t even bat an eye
at when he started speaking…it just oddly felt right. The rest
of the voice actors all did remarkable jobs as well, especially
James Woods as Owlman…which, if nothing else, will be the main
performance you take away from this film as he has some of the
most twisted and evil dialogue in the entire film.
Click here to read the rest of the film
review.
The Blu-ray
Warner tosses Crisis onto Blu-ray with a
standard Elite Blu-ray case housed underneath a reflective
foil/embossed slipcover. Inside the case is the usual
assortment: a Blu-ray for the film and an insert containing the
digital copy activation code (you actually just download the
file, as there’s no dedicated disc just for the copy itself).
The movie even has a main menu you get to choose from before it
auto starts, although if you’re a diehard DC animation fan then
there’s very little, if anything, that you’ll find worth
checking out here.
But first the most important thing on a Blu-ray—the transfer.
The film arrives with a VC-1 encoded video transfer and it being
all-digital animation, it’s easy to call this one flawless.
Colors are vibrant, detail is sharp and just about everything
with this transfer is immaculate. There are the usual issues
with animation (aliasing and banding) when it comes to this
transfer, but overall you’ll be jaw-dropping then you will be
complaining about the tiny flaws that are rarely apparent with
this transfer.
The other important thing about Blu-ray is the audio and, once
again, Warner blows it. Warner Bros. once again tosses a DD5.1
track as the sole source of entertainment on this film. For
whatever idiotic and stupid reason they had, this production
features no lossless audio and like the DC Universe titles that
are plagued with the same fate I find myself lamenting the giant
wasted opportunity that the lack of a TrueHD track has brought
upon this title. Why they would slap this movie on Blu-ray and
leave out the second most important component of the format out,
I don’t know. Nor do I know why they continue to do this on
their animated releases that come straight to DVD/Blu-ray. As is
the DD5.1 track is good, with a decent surround spread coming
early on in the film and lasting for its duration, but the LFE
output is sorely lacking. Only occasionally does it vibrate the
walls and even when it does it’s because of some major
event—smaller moments such as a weapon shot or punch/kick being
delivered doesn’t make much of a dent in the air. I also found
the audio to be really low, as well as a few minor issues where
the score overshadows the rest of the sound effects/dialogue
(particularly in the final scenes with Batman and Owlman).
With the disappointment of the audio out of the way we can now
focus on the absolutely abysmal extras. Hooray! The full list:
The Spectre (11:51, 1080p)
Bruce Timm Presents - Four Bonus Episodes ("A Better World,"
"Twilight") (1:31:00, SD)
Live-Action Pilots ("Aquaman," "Wonder Woman") (1:55:25,
SD)
DCU: The New World (33:14, SD)
A First Look at Batman: Under the Red Hood (13:46, SD)
A First Look at Green Lantern
A First Look at Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
A First Look at Wonder Woman
First off I’ll say that the Spectre short is really quite
fantastic. It appears to take place in the 70s and features the
same kind of old film effects that Grindhouse boasted. It
also reminded me a lot of Spawn: TAS, both in terms of
the violence as well as just the general animation style (the
animation of which was handled by Moi). It’s barely over 11
minutes long so there’s not much to talk about, but it was
definitely a nice little bonus for this set, especially since
there isn’t a whole lot of anything else to watch. The story
definitely was well worth checking out, however, and anyone who
picks up the two-disc or Blu-ray editions should make that their
first priority after checking out the film itself.
The rest of the extras? Color me disappointed. Not just
disappointed, but rather ticked off. I got a chance to review
the Halo Legends Blu-ray and not only does it have
genuinely worthwhile extras to watch, but it also includes a
full-length commentary as well as a nearly hour-long documentary
on the making of the production itself. What do we get here on
this Crisis disc that boasts that it has “four hours” of
extras? Honestly, very little. There are absolutely zero extras
that deal with the film itself (nor is the “First Look” of it
included, so what little behind-the-scenes insight that offered
cannot even be found on here either), so if anyone wanted to
know more about its production and how it came to be…tough.
You’ll get nothing.
But what do you get? Why you get four episodes of Justice
League that you probably own already (although they’re
awesome so they’re worth watching again regardless) in
non-anamorphic widescreen and nearly two hours worth of
live-action pilots from the 70’s Wonder Woman show and
the aborted Mercy Reef Aquaman pilot that never made it
to air. Very, very odd choices to throw on this release and it
makes me wonder what Warner’s even bothering to try with these
“extras” if all they’re going to do is copy and paste old crap
that we already own on DVD.
DCU: The New World looks at the Crisis mythos that
has been around in comics for decades now and interviews the
usual roster of comic book talent (both the old and the new).
It’s a solid recap of everything, but if anyone’s read and
attempted to live through the recent Crisis storyline in
the comics, you’ll know that it all gets very stupid very fast.
This leaves the only remaining (new) extra: A First Look at
Batman: Under the Red Hood. Yes it’s the next DC Universe
film and…this may officially be the first one I’m not excited
about in the least. Voice cast looks awesome, character designs
and backdrops look great and I’m sure it’ll be a gritty animated
film but as anyone who knows the identity of Red Hood knows, the
whole concept is more annoying than anything. Plus the “First
Look” seems intent on discussing Jason Todd and Red Hood as if
they were separate entities...I mean I guess it’s supposed to be
some big surprise, but it’s straight up adapted from the graphic
novel of the same name so why bother try to hide that? It just
seems like such a very un-ambitious story to tackle. I’m sure
it’ll be entertaining in its own right, but from the way the
production looks so far I was reminded more of Mystery of the
Batwoman than anything with the whole “mystery vigilante
comes to Gotham” angle. Though I guess the same could be said
for Mask of the Phantasm…
So long story short this Blu-ray (and, I imagine, the two-disc
DVD edition) are completely worthless. I mean the film looks
absolutely fantastic on Blu-ray and for that matter this is the
preferred edition to pick up. But between the lack of lossless
TrueHD audio and absolutely zero extras that have anything to do
with the film itself, I’ve just about had it with hoping for
anything worthwhile other than the film itself from these
releases. Repeat viewings of Crisis have definitely made
it even more enjoyable for me, but I’m really disappointed that
there was nothing worthwhile to check out on this release aside
from the film (well, and The Spectre). Recommended
on Blu-ray just for the video transfer, but if you aren’t a
die-hard fan of DC animation then you’ll be more than set with
the single-disc edition (unless you’re dying to see The
Spectre, which, admittedly, is probably one of the more
adult DC animated productions to date…even if it was just 11
minutes long). If you’re just the casual animation fan, however,
then it truly is just a Rental as there isn’t a single
“extra” on here (again, Spectre aside) that you’ll even
care the least amount about to watch.
Review (James Harvey)
There’s something about this new animated feature from the DC Universe
Animated Original Movie line that feels like slipping on a familiar pair
comfortable shoes. There’s a sense of warmth that comes from it. To see the
Justice League back in action, in a great world-hopping thriller, is
exhilarating. We get the big ones, too. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green
Lantern, and so on. In addition, we get to see their twisted counterparts from
an alternate earth, criminal overlords who use fear to dominate the populace. As
you can probably already guess, the Justice League and their evil counterparts
collide and, well, as exciting as this movie manages to make that tired concept
seem, it gets much better from there.
For many, it will be difficult to view this movie without thinking of what could
have been. Originally planned as a direct-to-video animated feature to bridge
the gap between the classic Justice League and Justice League
Unlimited animated series that aired a few years ago on Cartoon Network, Justice
League: Crisis on Two Earths is a riveting adventure with the Leaguers
facing off against their evil doppelgangers from an alternate reality.
Personally, I’m not going to review this feature as “what could have been” but
instead “what is.” And just “what is” Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths?
Well, likely the most enjoyable direct-to-video animated feature to come out of
the “DC Universe Animation Original Movie” line since Wonder Woman.
Right away, before I go any further, I need to acknowledge the writing for this
feature. Writer Dwayne McDuffie, a familiar name to animation fans thanks to his
work on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, among other
series, brings a touch to the dialogue that adds such a flare to the movie. The
dialogue here has such smoothness to it, such a casual, comfortable feeling to
it. Straight dialogue scenes come off just as engaging as the fisticuffs. Never
feeling stilted or stiff, it all plays out rather natural. Sure, some of the
expository dialogue can feel a bit clunky, but those instances are few and far
in-between. Executive Producer Bruce Timm calls McDuffie one of the best
dialogue writers in the business and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
definitely reminds us of that.
I suppose, to continue with a general overview of the film, I have to say I
found it incredibly satisfying. The story works on many different levels,
there's a more-than-satisfying conclusion, some nice winks toward the audience,
and boatloads of action and satisfying character work. Everything is already
established when the film starts, allowing Justice League: Crisis on Two
Earths to just dive into the story without having to spend time filling
viewers in on characters they likely already know about. And true, it is a
pretty straight-forward story, but giving it room to breathe and naturally
expand does this feature a world of difference.
And, since we have room to breathe, we get plenty of action. And, boy, there’s
some brutal action. The Owlman/Wonder Woman plane fight stands out to me as one
of my favorites. It’s not the biggest, brutal, most complex sequence, but it’s
so wonderfully animated and the voice acting from Woods (“Get off my plane.”) is
golden. There’s a fair amount of face smashing, pummeling, and fisticuffs to
keep action-lovers engaged. It’s amped up above the usual television standards,
resulting more than a few instances of bloodletting from both sides. Again, the
fluidity of the Wonder Woman/Owlman fight just really catches my eye. There’s a
handful of iffy moments here and there, but those are quickly lost in some
genuinely beautiful action choreography. It's no Green Lantern: First
Flight, but it's still looks sharp.
While there’s some heavy, heavy violence, it doesn’t seem gratuitous. Rather, it
feels appropriate for the adult tone the creative team is striving for. The
story itself can be considered pretty heavy, too, especially Owlman’s ultimate
plan. Sure, the film does look pretty colorful, but that helps to deftly balance
what’s actually a real weighty tale. We also get some comedic relief, which
provides the odd break from some of the more stunningly dark moments we see
here. Some moments, especially when Owlman and Superwoman are discussing
Owlman’s real agenda, give off a definite sense of unease and general creepiness
(with major props the voice talents of James Woods as Owlman). Compared to the
previous efforts under this line, Justice League: Crisis Under on Two
Earths is definitely darker than what we’ve seen before.
As I mentioned in the previous email, James Woods does a spectacular job as
Owlman here, bringing a sense of controlled insanity, unhinged but an absolute
ingenuity to his character, and will likely be considered a favorite by many
here, and with good reason. While Woods did an absolutely phenomenal job as
Owlman, I thought the majority of the voice cast turned in strong performances.
To lightly touch upon a few here, I found Gina Torres was suitably twisted as
Superwoman, Vanessa Marshall really impressed me as Wonder Woman, and Mark
Harmon sounded almost identical to George Newbern. And, the biggest surprise to
me, was William Baldwin as Batman. Once again, Andrea Romano really, really
knows how to cast that role. We saw it with Jeremy Sisto in Justice League:
New Frontier and now here with Baldwin as the Dark Knight. Baldwin just
pulls it off without a hitch. Even Chris Noth as a very respectable Lex Luthor
nails it on every turn. Not once did I find any of the voice work distracting,
nor was I ever pulled out of the picture when I recognized the face behind the
voice, another strong sign of great casting on Romano’s part.
The movie brings a sense of likeability to each of the main Justice Leaguers,
even a “love to hate” vibe to the villainous Crime Syndicate. Each has their own
quirks, allowing each of them to stand out in the crowd, despite the relative
small screen time some of them receive. And, believe me, what will come in handy
since viewers are essentially flung into a story that offers little background
fill-in. However, based on who this animated feature is geared towards, I doubt
that will be an issue.
For all the positives found here, there are a couple shortcoming here and there.
While the 75 minute running time really allowed for the story to breathe, I
found there was some material that felt unnecessary and slow, particularly a
subplot with Martian Manhunter. Despite giving him a more human side,
Manhunter's romantic subplot with the President’s daughter felt underdeveloped
and superfluous. The absolutely sublime third act makes up for it, though. Once
the film rolls toward its endgame, it becomes a tightly-paced, perfectly
executed thriller. Additionally, I found there were a handful of moments where
the use of CGI, along with some noticeable glitches or jerky movements in the
animation, were distracting. There are only a few, that’s true, but some are
particularly jarring. There’s one action sequence, where we see the Justice
League duke it out with the villainous Crime Syndicate in the clouds, the
background seems to change between painted backgrounds, line art, and CGI at
random.
I can’t help but take pause for a moment, though. Since the crew behind this
animated DTV dusted off an old treatment to bring this movie about, I wonder if
any other abandoned episode of movie scripts will be resuscitated and given a
second life. I can think of quite a few abandoned stories and ideas that would
find a suitable second life under the “DC Universe Animated Original Movie”
banner.
To get this review back on the topic at hand, Justice League: Crisis on Two
Earths is a grand adventure for sure, one fans of both the beloved animated
series and popular comic series can easily enjoy. Sure, it kind of felt like a
three-part Justice League episode, it was still a rollicking’ ride from
start to finish. The sublime score is worth noting, as is the nifty directing.
The animation was good, though a noticeable step down from the likes of Green
Lantern: First Flight, but the story is compelling and the characters
engaging. McDuffie hits nearly all the right notes here, and what we’re given is
a solid Justice League adventure that fans of the comics or previous
animated adventures can enjoy. As you can likely guess, this film easily
deserves the Recommended stamp. Go out and give Justice League: Crisis
on Two Earths a spin, and I guarantee you will find a wrenching
world-hopping adventure.
And now, to the Blu-ray…
The Blu-ray:
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Home
Video, the disc placed in a standard Blu-ray Elite case which itself is housed
in a foil cardboard slipcover. Once again, a nice, shiny package that will help
the release stand out on shelves.
Diving in, Warner Home Video has provided the main feature with a good, though
somewhat lopsided, audio and video presentation. Let’s start with the good – the
video transfer. Colors are full and vibrant, the detail is sharp and crystal
clear and there is barely a fault to be found. There is some compression and
color banding, but those are hardly noticeable. The same can’t be said
concerning the audio transfer, which again is a disappointment. The sole audio
track is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid audio
track, but where is the TrueHD track? This format is about presenting the best
possible audio and video, and we’re lacking one of those here. Like I said, the
Dolby Digital 5.1 track is good, but it lacks the full punch of a TrueHD track.
For what we do get, it’s a good mix. The mix seems a shade lower than usual, but
it does deliver for the most part. Sure, we don’t get the full effect, but the
results are still acceptable. Still, if Lionsgate Home Entertainment can give
every single one of the Marvel Animated Features Blu-ray releases a full
lossless track, on top of other language tracks, then Warner Home Video should
be able to as well.
Moving to the bonus features on this release, we get a mix of new and repeated
content, sadly more repeated content than new. First up is the utterly excellent
DC Showcase: The Spectre animated short, the first in an ongoing series
of animated shorts slated for inclusion on all forthcoming DC Universe Animated
Original Movie home video releases, in addition to other venues. Presented as a
creepy 70s supernatural thriller, DC Showcase: The Spectre is a
short-but-sweet affair that’s fairly predictable but hard to turn away from.
Every little aspect of the animated short – the music, the dialogue, the
voice-over, the fonts, all of it – are all used to successfully mimic the era
it’s placed in. The short even uses special effects to make the film look ragged
and over-exposed. All in all, it’s a solid start to what should be a thrilling
line of animated shorts. I’m already looking forward to the next installment.
Next up is the “DCU: The New World” featurette, looking at the long-established
“Crisis” events that plague the DC universe. Starting with “Crisis on Infinite
Earths” and running to “Final Crisis,” this featurette looks at the
ever-changing landscape of the universe and how these monstrous events affected
those characters. Creators old and new, including Paul Levitz and Geoff Johns
among others, share their two cents on these comic stories and the real-life
events that shaped them. All in all, it’s really interesting, with some of the
more compelling discussion coming from Dan DiDio’s memory of the events of
September 11th and how that eventually played in a role in DC’s current
landscape.
The last of the new content is the “A First Look at Batman: Under the Red
Hood” featurette, which has definitely caught my interest. The featurette
takes a quick look at two popular Batman storylines that serve as inspiration
for this flick and provide a nice helping of behind-the-scenes details. It’s
your standard fluff piece, yes, but there’s plenty of artwork and production
content to look at. Sure, the featurette makes no real attempt to hide the
mystery behind the film’s antagonist, but I doubt that will deter anyone’s
interest.
The rest of the content here is made up of four episodes from the Justice
League animated series, the first episode of the 1970s Wonder Woman
series, the abandoned Aquaman: Mercy Reef pilot, and a collection of
“First Look” featurettes for previous releases under the DC Universe Animated
Original Movie line. That adds up to over three more hours, roughly, of content,
though the majority of which is repeated from previous home video releases.
Still, outside of the “First Look” featurettes, they are worth checking out once
again.
Now, I’m of two minds with the bonus features for this release. On the one hand,
I really enjoyed the”DCU: The New World” featurette, especially as a
long-time comic book reader. It serves as a nice look into the world of DC
Comics that is both entertaining to those who are long-time readers, like
myself, or those interested in checking out the four-color adventures of DC’s
best. Sure, the featurette could have actually delved a bit further into what
these events were actually about, deeper than the broad comments made about
each, but there should be enough there to whet anyone’s appetite. The inclusion
of animated shorts under the “DC Showcase” banner is also a great addition to
the bonus content for these releases. It’s a great idea on Warner Home Video’s
part, and I hope these remain a permanent fixture on these releases for years to
come. And, like all fans, getting a look at the next animated feature is always
a major plus.
However, I feel that there’s not enough bonus content directed toward the main
feature. Why isn’t there a new featurette for the main feature? Maybe a look at
the voice cast? What about deleted scenes or outtakes? More thoughts from the
cast and crew, perhaps? Given the rather colorful history of Justice League:
Crisis on Two Earths, there is plenty of meat here for a solid featurette or
even a commentary. I just cannot help but feel a little let down that we do not
get to see a look at the production behind this animated feature. Hopefully
we’ll see this change in future releases.
Overall, for those looking to pick up the best possible release for Justice
League: Crisis on Two Earths, go for the Blu-ray. Even if the bonus features
aren’t as satisfying as they should be, you still get a wealth of content worth
checking out, specifically the new DC Showcase: The Spectre short and the
interesting “DCU: The New World” featurette. And, hey, the movie itself looks
gorgeous in Blu-ray. Once again Warner Home Video has just knocked it out of the
park with the video transfer here, looking absolutely gorgeous. While the audio
is, once again, disappointing, this release still represents the best
presentation of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths available and that
in itself warrants the Highly Recommend stamp. We just need to start
seeing more bonus content focused on the actual movie itself. Thankfully, the
main feature is easily worth the price of (high-definition) admission alone.
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