Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)

To me, the worst thing about JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER was its enemy, "the Center"-- more of a "what" than a "who" and a little too vague for the average filmgoer, especially given the typical villains in superhero films.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed this one, mostly because I'm a huge Green Lantern fan and enjoyed the backstory here of how Hal Jordan became the Green Lantern. With this film, you get to see some in-depth psychology for Lantern, Flash and Martian Manhunter, which is a nice change of pace from Superman, Wonderwoman and Batman, who are always the focus. They are largely on the periphery here, but who cares? We know their stories already.
This film has a very conspicous political message. It's set during the McCarthy era and we are blatantly reminded that "it's time for the U.S. goverment and its people to stop judging people for what they look like and come together." The analogy is directed towards superheros (a classic theme for them) but applies to a broader issue. It's not subtle at all, but still effective.
The retro animation compliments the time period in which it's set. I'd love to see more feature animated films like this, even if they are straight to DVD.

3.0 out of 4

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