I’ve enjoyed the Justice League movies that Warner Bros Animation have put out thus far, so naturally I wanted to check out what Justice League Dark was all about. But unlike most of the recent movies, this one was Rated R which made me curious and excited to see what was different about this movie. Let’s find out if the rating paid off.
Justice League Dark starts out with innocent citizens committing nightmarish acts and crimes. The Justice League begins investigating leading several in the league to thinking something magical in nature is going on. Batman isn’t convinced, until one night after taking a shower and seemingly blacking out, the word Constantine is written all over the walls. This leads Batman to reach out to an old friend Zatanna (voiced by Camilla Luddington) to find Constantine and see if he can help determine why people are doing these things. The problem is, Constantine isn’t much of a team player. Will Batman and Zatanna be able to convince the loner to lend his unique set of skills to their investigation and will such an unorthodox team be able to get to stop whatever is twisting the minds of the populace? Get you copy today of Justice League Dark and find out.
Is Justice League Dark worth the watch? Yes it is. In fact, in my opinion, this has been one of DC Comic’s best animated movies that have come out recently. The cast is excellent, lead by Jason O’Mara as Batman, Matt Ryan as Constantine, and Camilla Luddington who I already mentioned plays Zatanna. Speaking of Zatanna, one thing that makes this movie stand out is the strong performance by Camilla. You don’t always see that in a DC Comics movie and it’s a welcome change. Matt Ryan reprises the role of Constantine from the live action series. Enough said. No wonder Constantine is getting an animated series. His performance is once again excellent in this movie. The storyline of this movie is engaging as well. So far in this series of Justice League movies, we haven’t seen them go above a PG-13 rating. In this movie, DC Comics decided to push the envelope and really bring the Justice League Dark story to life. Why is it Rated R? Well watch the beginning and you will know instantly why. Parents be advised, this isn’t for kids but it’s not all dark. The story also includes some humor, mostly surrounding Batman who almost becomes a third wheel so to speak. He doesn’t believe in magic and his reactions to everything can be quite amusing. It’s refreshing for Batman to be more of a bit player this time around. There are several other underutilized characters that get a chance to shine in this story. On a personal note, I am so pleased to see Swamp Thing being used again. I hope this is not the last time we get to see him.
This movie does have a couple negatives. Character development seems to be lacking a little here. We don’t really get a back story on Swamp Thing or even Zatanna especially when it comes to Constantine and their relationship. I would have liked to have seen more about that in this movie, but it doesn’t take away or distract from this movie. Also Destiny, the villain in this movie, should have gotten more of a back story to show how he got the power to do the despicable things he made people do. It would explain some things in the story. One other negative that distracted me is the Green Lantern. I feel like revealing this takes away nothing from the movie so here is a spoiler: The Green Lantern is now John Stewart. The reason this is a negative is because why introduce a character like that in this movie? Why not save him for the next Justice League movie? It makes no sense. Also at least explain what happened to Hal Jordon before introducing such an important character of the Justice League.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie from beginning to end and I encourage you to not only watch this movie, but add it to your collection as well. That’s why I give Justice League Dark a well deserved 8.5 out of 10.