JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK (2017)

Studio:       DC/Warner Bros. Animation
Director:    Jay Oliva
Writer:       Ernie Altbacker, J.M. DeMatteis
Producer:  Sam Register, James Tucker
Stars:     Matt Ryan, Camilla Luddington, Jason O’Mara, Ray Chase, Enrico Colantoni, Roger R. Cross, Jeremy Davies, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Jerry O’Connell, Nicholas Turturro

Review Score:

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Summary:

Batman assembles a team of supernatural superheroes whose magic powers are needed to stop a string of nightmarish crimes.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Washington, D.C. – Wonder Woman stops a crazed driver who plows over pedestrians she suddenly sees as demonic creatures.

Metropolis – Although too late to stop the man from murdering his neighbors, Superman intervenes when Steven prepares to kill his wife Gloria, whom he thinks is a monster.

Gotham – Batman saves a baby thrown from a rooftop by his mother, who thought she birthed a beast. The mother jumps to her death.

Hall of Justice – The Justice League concludes that dark magic is responsible for the recent rash of homicides. Batman returns to Wayne Manor where, in ethereal form, Deadman leaves messages for Batman to find conjurer John Constantine.

Las Vegas, Five Days Ago – Constantine and Jason Blood play poker with Abnegazar and the Demons Three. Constantine out cheats Abnegazar to win a dreamstone. When the upset demons attack, Constantine forces Jason Blood to transform into Etrigan the Demon. Etrigan defeats the demons. Constantine collects the dreamstone and disappears into the House of Mystery.

Gotham Square Garden, Now – After her magic show performance, Batman asks Zatanna for help locating Constantine. Boston Brand also appeals to Zatanna in Deadman form, although Batman is unable to see him.

On their way to find the House of Mystery, Zatanna recounts Deadman’s origin. The Batmobile then outraces tornados summoned remotely by Felix Faust from his invisible observatory. Batman and Zatanna make it to the house, where Constantine casts a spell to make Deadman visible and introduces everyone to Orchid, the House of Mystery’s magic embodied in human form.

Constantine takes Batman, Zatanna, and Deadman to see Ritchie Simpson, a collector of arcane and supernatural artifacts. Because Ritchie is in a near death state, the quartet has to go through a gathering of spectral shrouds outside first. Despite their troubled past as former partners, Constantine is able to obtain a talisman key from Ritchie.

Constantine, Batman, Zatanna, and Deadman go to the Metropolis Health Center. While Constantine and Zatanna enter the memories of bedridden Steven, the man who tried murdering his wife, to find out what caused his visions, Deadman and Batman battle a sewage monster summoned by Felix Faust. Before the creature takes over Steven’s body and forces them out, Constantine and Zatanna are able to extract an image of a magic ring.

Everyone returns to Ritchie only to find him lying dead. Batman revives Ritchie before the shrouds can take his spirit. Constantine captures Jason Blood before he can flee from the scene.

Everyone regroups at the House of Mystery. While Orchid tends to Ritchie, Jason Blood explains that he went to see Ritchie because he wanted to gain entrance to the House of Mystery and retrieve the dreamstone Constantine took from the poker game. Jason recounts his origin as a knight in Camelot. Jason explains that he was mortally wounded by a magician named Destiny, who forged the dreamstone with black magic to conjure nightmares he used to feed off his victims’ torment. The wizard Merlin summoned Etrigan to destroy Destiny, and ultimately bonded Etrigan and Jason together, which saved Jason’s life.

Batman theorizes that the recent reappearance of the dreamstone is related to the current crimes. Ritchie sees the image of the ring Constantine took from Steven’s mind and implicates Felix Faust as his attacker.

Swamp Thing helps the heroes find Felix Faust’s secret lair, but refuses to help further. Jason Blood willingly transforms into Etrigan to lead the assault on Faust in his hideout. To turn the tide of battle, Zatanna summons magic that nearly consumes her self-control. Constantine is able to stop her before she kills Faust.

With Faust under control, the heroes show him the ring, but he claims he does not recognize it. Jason Blood discovers Faust isn’t behind the nightmare crimes because he was the one who conjured the Demons Three, meaning he could have accessed the dreamstone at any time. Batman realizes that Ritchie lied.

Ritchie assumes control over the House of Mystery, compels Orchid to immolate herself in the fireplace, and takes possession of the dreamstone. Constantine, Zatanna, Jason Blood, Batman, and Deadman return to confront him.

Ritchie explains how he concocted his plan to obtain the dreamstone from the Demons Three while also framing Faust. Constantine tries telling Ritchie that he is being used by Destiny, who is plotting to return his soul to the mortal plane. The stone suddenly transforms Ritchie into Destiny’s demon form. Destiny destroys the house with magic and flies away.

Zatanna collapses from overusing her abilities. Constantine, Batman, Deadman, and Jason Blood set off to find Destiny, leaving Zatanna behind to recover.

Destiny uses nightmarish visions to turn the people of the city against each other. The Justice League arrives to help Batman and the magic heroes battle Destiny.

Visions compel Green Lantern John Stewart to attack Batman. Batman gets Green Lantern under control, but he is attacked by Wonder Woman and Superman. Zatanna arrives to stop Superman and Wonder Woman with her magic.

Etrigan attacks Destiny. Destiny retaliates with force so powerful, Etrigan and Jason Blood become separated and collapse on the ground.

Constantine summons Swamp Thing to fight Destiny. Destiny rips Alec Holland’s essence from Swamp Thing's body and forces Swamp Thing back into the ground.

Constantine distracts Destiny so that Deadman can temporarily possess Destiny’s body and break his protective barrier. Jason Blood recovers and puts a sword through Destiny that dislodges the dreamstone from his chest. Batman destroys the dreamstone with a batarang. Constantine casts a spell that turns Destiny back into Ritchie. The shrouds appear and take Ritchie’s soul.

Although Merlin’s binding spell is broken, without Etrigan’s strength, Jason Blood collapses from the battle wound suffered centuries earlier. However, Jason willingly welcomes death since it means he is finally free of the demon.

Some time later, Constantine and Zatanna observe Etrigan as he mourns at Jason Blood’s grave. Zatanna reveals that Batman invited her and Constantine to join the Justice League. While Zatanna indicates acceptance, Constantine dismisses the idea. However, Constantine suggests that he and Zatanna discuss the subject over a drink. Although wary he wants to rekindle their former romance, Zatanna agrees and the duo returns to a reformed House of Mystery where Orchid greets them. Shortly after, Orchid also welcomes Deadman into the mansion.

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Review:

The world of live-action superhero movies has a fairly fascinating graveyard of projects that never made it to the screen.  Something such as Tim Burton and Nicolas Cage’s aborted “Superman Lives” is already common knowledge among comic book cinephiles.  But dig up some dirt on Quentin Tarantino’s “Silver Surfer,” Michael Jackson’s “X-Men,” or Oliver Stone’s “Elektra” if you really want to scratch your head with wonder over a “what if?”

Guillermo del Toro’s “Justice League Dark” has a tombstone not far from those plots.  Point of order, del Toro has at least four cancelled titles to his name for each one actually produced (seriously, take a look at the long list of might-have-beens on his parallel universe résumé).  Still, for several years the visionary filmmaker and “Hellboy” helmer couldn’t escape a Comic-Con Q&A without someone asking after his hotly anticipated adaptation.

Although del Toro’s live-action “Justice League Dark” died on the vine before making a lateral move in development limbo, there is an excellent consolation prize in R-rated cartoon form.  “Justice League Dark” is Warner Bros. Animation’s most enjoyably escapist feature film in ages, packed with plenty of prime moments for fans of DC’s lesser-known subset of occult characters.

Batman may be the headline draw for mainstream appeal, but if anyone can be considered the standout in this ensemble, it’s cynical conjurer John Constantine.  Diehard devotees of the short-lived television series can finally rejoice.  While dreams of a second season may be dashed, actor Matt Ryan triumphantly returns to voice Constantine and it couldn’t be better.  From his persistent personality and snarky one-liners to his unlikely heroics and fractured friendships, Constantine is the true glue holding “Justice League Dark” together, and much of that is to Matt Ryan’s credit.

Brief background for the unfamiliar, “Justice League Dark” in its initial comic book form was an assembly of DC’s magic-wielding and monster-like heroes.  Nearly twenty team members rotated through the roll call over the course of 40+ issues, while the animated movie properly pares that down to only a necessary nucleus of Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Deadman, and Etrigan.  Don’t worry if you just said, “who?”  “Justice League Dark” ensures entertainment for seasoned vets and newcomers alike.

Everyday citizens are inexplicably becoming convinced that friends, neighbors, and family members are actually demons in disguise.  In Washington, a woman drives through pedestrians she thinks are craven creatures.  Believing she birthed a beast, a mother in Gotham drops her baby from a rooftop.  In Metropolis, Superman saves a frightened father from slaughtering his family, but not before next-door neighbors are murdered first.

Nightmare crimes based in black arts are outside the Justice League’s jurisdiction.  So when Deadman drops in with the trail’s first clue, Batman starts collecting a misfit mob of magicians and monsters who might manage to unravel the mystery.

“Justice League Dark” is a packed 75-minutes, feeling neither rushed nor as if developmental seeds are dropped and not sown.  Tons of terrific content plays perfectly into an overall arc, including a flashback to Deadman’s circus daredevil origin, Jason Blood’s sword and sorcery one, the Batmobile outracing tornados, and a supernaturally summoned creature created from a hospital’s sewer system.  Yes, that’s right.  Deadman and Batman actually battle a ‘poop monster’ and it is surprisingly cool.

What’s fun about formatting the story in this fashion is how different styles are explored in singular scenes.  Not in animation, which is consistent, but in energy.  Some setups are despairingly grim, such as the prologue of ordinary people driven to horrible homicides, while others are playful, like Constantine and Jason Blood playing poker with the Demons Three.

Something is always happening whether it is wry humor (a David Copperfield goof is less than timely, but jokes redeem themselves when Constantine blames a sudoku error for setting off a suburbanite and Deadman wishes the overweight body he possesses would eat more fruit), high stakes fights, even flirtations with romance.  Coming across in this balance is a sense of Saturday morning sass as well as after school action.  Basically, “Justice League Dark” is everything I loved about animated adventures as a kid, but with a dark edge of horror appealing to more mature tastes.

“Justice League Dark” could scale back to PG-13 territory without losing that edge.  Outside of a singular utterance of “sh*t,” and some admittedly bleak themes of violence, I don’t recall any material that felt unnecessarily adult or overtly objectionable.  The movie certainly isn’t as dourly draining as the disappointing “The Killing Joke” adaptation (review here), at any rate.

Picking nits is the only way to fill out the ‘Con’ column.  Some of the voice work is tonally out of synch.  Superman doesn’t have enough screentime for Jerry O’Connell’s milquetoast delivery to grate too much, however.  And although Enrico Colantoni overplays Felix Faust, it’s clear he is having as much fun as everyone else appears to be having, including the viewer.

The only way “Justice League Dark” could be cooler is if Aquaman, Hawkman, Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, and Flash had speaking roles instead of a collective cameo.  Otherwise, what’s not to like?  I’ll simply say it again so it isn’t forgotten, “Justice League Dark” does not disappoint with its supernatural superheroics and easily stands in the top tier of all-time most satisfying DC animated movies.

Review Score:  90

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