Review of Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) by Todd L — 24 Aug 2008

In a way, I was a bit letdown by this, mainly because of the short running time. A lot of shit was cut from the comics and a really important part that they should've kept was the thoughts that went through all of the characters heads.

Reading how Hal Jordan felt when he was experimenting with the ring made it that much more fun and made you like the character even more. There were also a couple of one-liners (courtesy of Hal) that could've easily been kept in.

There was a part in the comics where Hal has just saved Ace using the ring and he's keeping them in the air via a protective green orb. Hal realizes that he has to contain the blast so he tells Ace to say "Hi" to the rescue team and drops Ace into the water.

It's a small but funny moment that made Hal ten times more badass in the comics as opposed to him just dropping Ace and saying "Sorry" like in the movie. Little shit like that and the fact they could've put the time and place of the action happening onscreen would've made it stay true to the comic while still maintaining a level of coherence in regards to moving the plot forward.

If I hadn't read the comics, it would've been a bitch to try and figure out all the jumps forward through time. One minute, Martian Manhunter's watching TV, he sees a noir film and changes his form into that of a detective.

Next time you see him, he's in a car with another detective and they act like they're old pals. Shit like that could've been extended to make it flow better and let the audience be aware of the time jump.

Now the animation was great for the most part but it seems like they blew their load hiring the voice actors and ran out of money for the animation by the end. As awesome as it was to hear Angel, Agent Cooper, Xena, NPH and the many others that all rocked equally as their respective characters, a few of them seemed kind of wasted.

Reading the comics, the big three (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) didn't have many lines and so it didn't seem necessary to have Jeremy SIsto (who was surprisingly good as Batman), Kyle MacLachlan (who is always awesome) and Lucy Lawless (again, always awesome) come in for a part that just had a few lines for them.

I know they were trying to stick close to the comics but the caliber of the cast mixed with the need for more of the awesome animation they had just screamed for a longer running time. I wanted this movie to last forever.

The actors, the animation, the story, I loved every minute of it. Luckily, they kept the amazing speech by JFK so that was a nice touch but still, I wanted more, damn it. Overall, I totally dug this flick and think it's a helluva lot better than the Marvel straight to DVD movies, I just wish there was more time to enjoy it.