Movie Review – Justice League: Doom

Guest review by From The Booth‘s Madonna

Justice League: Doom is a visually stunning, action packed, animated film. Based on the “JLA: Tower of Babel” story, the Justice League is threatened as the Legion of Doom newly formed under Vandal Savage attempts to take them down. Epic fight scenes, exquisite visual character detail, and the return of classic character voices that fans have come to know and love are all evident in this production. The only major criticism of note is the lack of character development. For the casual viewer who doesn’t know the history of each character, the fight scenes though epic, lack motivation.

The visual character detail is truly impressive. From Green Lantern’s white gloves to Superman’s spit curl, every detail of our heroes is perfectly captured. You can almost feel the venom flowing through Bane’s tubes as you see him power up to fight Batman. The power radiates off of Star Sapphire as she makes her constructs. Vandal Savage is a commanding presence as he looms over the Legion. Watching him interact with the Legion bares witness to his age and knowledge.

Justice League: Doom brings back the classic voices of Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy as Batman and Superman. Their voices have become iconic in the DC animated features, and I personally love hearing them return to these roles. Nathan Fillion recaptures his role of Hal Jordan perfectly from his first outing in Emerald Knights, he understands the character and plays his part well. The only real problem I heard with the voice acting was in Bumber Robinson‘s portrayal of Cyborg. He sounded too young, visually Victor was drawn as an older character, but he sounded younger than the Cyborg from Teen Titans.

Justice League: Doom is an action packed story that constantly shifts focus from one member of the league to another. It showcases each individual fight with the corresponding Legion member, but it lacks motivation. If the viewer happens to know some back story each fight may be more meaningful. However, for the casual viewer knowing Mirror Master is a standard Flash rogue isn’t really enough. There is no “why” to each fight. The whole story feels rushed. It is understandable that in a 77 minute production there may not be time to show what Hal did to Carol Ferris to make her despise him enough to take up the Star Sapphire, or explain why the Martian Manhunter and Ma’alefa’ak hate each other, or any of the other pairings, but it would have been nice to see.  For the causal viewer there’s plenty here to keep you entertained, for the person who knows back stories they will have no complains.

I give this 4/5 stars, a must watch for both the hardcore fan and the newcomer.