Greetings,
Remember how I said how much I loved the voice actors for the Justice League cartoon series? Yeah, well, we're not getting any of that today. In Justice League: The New Frontier, things are done a bit differently than some of the other films that I love so much. For example, they hired a bunch of well-known actors (not exactly voice actors) to play the roles that have been done so well by actors who are mainly known for voice over work. Not that they haven't done this before, but there are just so many characters in this thing, which will eventually lead me to another complaint. I guess I should begin with a quick plot synopsis.
I will choose to begin this a bit of a compliment. This film is set in, not present day as many of the others are, but 1953 to 1960, starting right after the Korean War and going into Kennedy's presidency. I found that aspect kind of intriguing since that was around the major heyday of comic books. Or perhaps slightly after it. I'm never sure about these things, but I think I'm close. And, though this may seem like a negative to some people, I like the way it throws in some tidbits about history. There you go, kids. Now you don't have to go to school today. Moving on.
So the movie starts with a voice over by something called The Centre, who claims to have witnessed the evolution of everything on Earth and how everything would be better if all the humans were gone. Or something to that effect. Hmm? Where have I heard this plan before? So The Centre does this whole monologue about this, and it's being written and then someone shoots himself. Now that's what I call an opening.
Cut to the end of the Korean War where we find Hal Jordan (a.ka.a Green Lantern) having some issues about killing people, which leads him to a mental ward. Then, we have J'onn J'onzz, our resident Martian Manhunter, coming to Earth and doing his shape shifting thing. A year later, Superman runs into Wonder Woman in Vietnam where she just rescued some women and then proceeded to let them have some bloody justice. He tells her that this is the kind of things that made the government and everyone else distrust the heroes, leading to the Justice Society's disbanding and Batman becoming a fugitive. And she's like, "Whatever!" Oh, and The Flash shows up eventually, too. Soon they find out that there is this bad thing called The Centre coming, and, of course, they must defeat it.
Okay, I have to be totally honest here. If I tried to go into any more detail about the plot, I don't think I would succeed. I'm not saying that the plot isn't good, or that it's necessarily complicated, but for some reason, in my head, I just felt like there was so much going on. While you watch it, I think it might be not too hard to follow, but it's not something that can be explained very well. Or maybe it's just me. I have no problem with movies that require you to pay attention a bit. I welcome that actually. But here I just felt as though they were requiring that of me too much. Again, this could just be me not being able to click my brain with what was happening in the story. Others may not have this problem at all. And, like I said, that didn't make it bad. When I focused, I did like the story. And there was this great montage sort of thing at the end which I enjoyed quite a bit.
So I guess, since I mentioned it before, I should discuss the voice acting. Who do we have here? Well, we get a lot of actors whose voices are fairly recognizable. We get Kyle MacLachalan as Superman, Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, Kyra Sedgewick as Lois Lane, David Boreanaz as Green Lantern, Miguel Ferrar as J'onn J'onzz, Neil Patrick Harris as The Flash and Jeremy Sisto as Batman. Really? Jeremy Sisto? He has, in my opinion, one of the most distinct voices I have ever heard. Not to say that he, or anyone else, did a bad job, but it's hard to separate these well-known people from the characters they are portraying.
Well, I know I gave some criticisms to this movie, but, really, I think it's worth a watch. And I think it's especially good for those comic fans who like might that old school, period piece feel to it. Like I said, that was something I thought was very appealing. Still, if your brain can take a holiday, as mine sometimes can, be prepared to pay attention.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
