Justice Society: World War II
review by Bobby Blakey
The DC Animated Universe continues to knock it out of the park with great films that cover all ends of the DC comic history. Their latest Batman: Soul of the Dragon has been one of my personal favorites and showcases they just keep getting better and better. Their next feature, Justice Society: World War II not only takes us back in time yet again, but I love that it doesn’t feature Batman or Superman in any of the primary roles that we know of. Could this be yet another great entry into the DC Animated filmography or will it fail to stop the war?
Justice Society: World War II follows modern-day Barry Allen – prior to the formation of the Justice League – discovering he can run even faster than he imagined, and that milestone results in his first encounter with the Speed Force. The Flash is promptly launched into the midst of a raging battle – primarily between Nazis and a team of Golden Age DC Super Heroes known as The Justice Society of America. Led by Wonder Woman, the group includes Hourman, Black Canary, Hawkman, Steve Trevor and the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. The Flash quickly volunteers to assist his fellow heroes in tipping the scales of war in their favor, while the team tries to figure out how to send him home. But it won’t be easy as complications and emotions run deep in this time-skipping World War II thriller.
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I was pretty excited about this one if for no other reason than it was getting to get some focus on some different characters especially one of my personal favorites Hawkman. Right out the gate I noticed that the art style was closer in tone to the Superman: Man of Tomorrow film that I wasn’t a big fan of, but still good. It’s not bad by any means, but there is just something about it that is off to me. Maybe I am just used to the style used more often in their previous films and I do applaud them for trying to keep it fresh. I will say despite not being my favorite it does seem to fit this film in tone better than the other as it gives it an old school classic feel.
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Stepping away from that I will say I dug the crap out of this film. I fully thought it was going in a different direction in the story which I always love when they switch things up. Yes there is the speedforce time travel aspect but it twists up so much more to make it even more interesting than just superhero’s fighting in the war. This setting offers up som great action that takes our heroes into real war as opposed to just fighting another supervillain, but have no fear there is so much more here than just that.
Every hero gets their chance to shine and bring the fun making for one of the more unique of the DC Animated films complete with a ton of twists and surprises that are sure to please the fans. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including featurettes, classic animated episodes from the vault, and a first look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.
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As if that wasn’t enough to get you excited about this it also includes the all-new animated short, DC Showcase – Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth!– Jack Kirby’s beloved DC comic creation features the last civilized teenage boy on a post-apocalyptic Earth ruled by talking animals. In this short, Kamandi and his friends Prince Tuftan of the Tiger Kingdom and humanoid mutant Ben Boxer are kidnapped by a gorilla cult dedicated to finding the reincarnation of their god, The Mighty One. Golgan, the cult’s leader, puts Kamandi’s team through a series of deadly tests to find if any of them know the secret of … The Mighty One.
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Step back in time and grab your copy of Justice Society” World War II available now on digital, 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.