{"id":14147,"date":"2017-02-04T11:56:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-04T19:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=14147"},"modified":"2017-02-04T11:57:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-04T19:57:05","slug":"review-justiceleaguedark-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/02\/review-justiceleaguedark-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Justice League Dark – Limited Edition Gift Set BD + Screen Caps"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Justice League Dark<\/em><\/strong> is a middle-of-the-road entry into the DC Animated Universe. It\u2019s also a bit inside baseball in that probably die-hard fans of the comics will get something out if it while others will find it crowded and the magical elements even made it harder to follow.<\/p>\n

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Justice League Dark
\n— Limited Edition Gift Set —<\/span><\/span>
\n(2017)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Animation, Fantasy, Supernatural
\nWarner Home Video | R \u2013 76 min. \u2013 $39.99 | February 7, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 02\/04\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u>Directed by: <\/strong>Jay Oliva
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>J.M. DeMatteis & Ernie Altbacker (story), Ernie Altbacker (teleplay)
\nVoice Cast: <\/strong>Matt Ryan, Camilla Luddington, Jason O\u2019Mara, JB Blanc, Ray Chase, Enrico Colantoni, Jeremy Davies, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Jerry O\u2019Connell, Nicholas Turturro<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u>Features: <\/strong>Featurettes
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray, DVD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), German (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>31.4 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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The newest entry in the DC Animated Universe, Justice League Dark<\/em><\/strong> was a middle-of-road affair mainly due to numerous new characters, at least to a laymen, and the introduction to magic, it became a bit hard to follow. It was also unusual or odd to see Batman be a secondary character, and sometimes utterly useless, with two others taking the lead.<\/p>\n

The plot opens from Washington D.C. to Metropolis and Gotham when ordinary, law-abiding citizens go bizzurke believing they\u2019re seeing monsters and killing innocents, before being nabbed by Wonder Woman (ROSARIO DAWSON), Superman (JERRY O\u2019CONNELL) and Batman (JASON O\u2019MARA) respectively.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s clear this is beyond the prevue of the Justice League and when Bruce finds the name \u201cConstantine\u201d scribbled on his walls, he visits old friend and magician Zatanna (CAMILLA LUDDINGTON) to make contact with old flame John Constantine (MATT RYAN), and with the insistence of Deadman (NICHOLAS TUTURRO), whom Batman obviously can\u2019t see, she agrees though finding him will be difficult as he roams around in a traveling cloaked house (kind of like Dr. Who\u2019s TARDIS), call the House of Mystery.<\/p>\n

Constantine, being a loner, reluctantly agrees to help find the source of the madness that is sweeping the world and, along with Jason Blood and his inner demon Etrigan (RAY CHASE), they must follow the clues to find the culprit: Destiny (ALFRED MOLINA), an ancient demon set to, I guess, rule the planet… or something. Along the way we also get to meet the big green, Swamp Thing who\u2019s not exactly willing to help…<\/p>\n

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The story behind Justice League Dark<\/em><\/strong> is rather simple and not different from any other superhero movie \u2013 live action or animated. The appeal, however, is with these characters and a new world which to me was a detriment to the film. The problem I had was not only are they throwing in several characters, many of which never seen before in the DCAU and you have so much going on, it\u2019s tough to follow, or even care about, then you toss in the magical elements, and the rules behind it, and it was difficult to be invested in either the story or characters.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, I did enjoy the voice talents of Matt Ryan, reprising his live action role on the TV series (as well as guest appearance on Arrow<\/em>), and Camilla Luddington (Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>) voicing Zatanna while Jason O\u2019Mara is back as Batman and while I\u2019m still not in love with it, he\u2019s bearable this go around being very much a secondary character and a real bat out of the cave concept, though he\u2019s a pretty much superfluous character only there to sell the movie. All of this crammed into a 70-plus minute running time.<\/p>\n

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Comparing Justice League Dark<\/em><\/strong> with the others in the DC Animated Universe films, it\u2019s far and away better than the god-awful Batman: The Killing Joke<\/em> and probably in line with Justice League vs. Teen Titans<\/em>, if not a hair better, however it\u2019s nowhere near the likes of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns<\/em> or Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox<\/em>; it\u2019s middle-of-the-road but worthy of a viewing especially for fans of DC.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This \u201cLimited Edition Gift Set\u201d comes with a Constantine figurine. The Blu-ray inside the box comes has an embossed slip cover<\/strong> and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD<\/u><\/strong> copy.<\/p>\n

A Sneak Peek at Teen Titans: The Judas Contract<\/em> (11:41; HD)<\/u><\/strong> is a look at DC\u2019s next animated film with and the voice acting casting, many from Teen Titans vs. Justice League<\/em> (including the late Miguel Ferrer as Deathstroke, and has interview footage) and a few newcomers (Gregg Henry, Christina Ricci), and their respective characters.<\/p>\n

The Story of Swamp Thing (18:02; HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Here we get a primer on the classic character from the comics right and includes interviews with various members from DC as well as the creator himself, Len Wein.<\/p>\n

Did You Know? (HD)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n