JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK [2016 / 2017] [Blu-ray + Digital Download] [UK Release] It is the First ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ D.C. Universe Animated Film Rated “R” Certificate! A Satisfying Dark Adventure!
A New Justice Emerges From The Dark! There are dark days ahead . . . as ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK,’ the newest D.C. Original Animated Movie! When innocent civilians begin committing unthinkable crimes across Metropolis, Gotham City and beyond, Batman must call upon mystical counterparts to eradicate this demonic threat to the planet.
Enter ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK,’ reluctantly led by the Hellblazer himself, John Constantine. Like Batman, Constantine is cunning, and often cynical loner who is the best at his chosen profession — but quickly realises the sinister forces plaguing the planet will require help from other supernatural alliances. Forming a new "league" with sorceress Zatanna, otherworldly Deadman, and Jason Blood and his powerful alter ego Etrigan the Demon, this team of Dark Arts specialists must unravel the mystery of Earth's supernatural plague and contend with the rising, powerful villainous forces behind the siege — before it's too late for all of mankind.
Voice Cast: Matt Ryan [John Constantine], Camilla Luddington [Zatanna], Jason O'Mara [Batman], JB Blanc [Abnegazar / Merlin], Ray Chase [Jason Blood / Etrigan], Enrico Colantoni [Felix Faust], Roger R. Cross [John Stewart / Swamp Thing], Jeremy Davies [Ritchie], Rosario Dawson [Wonder Woman], Brian T. Delaney [Husband / Shroud Leader], Alfred Molina [Destiny], Jerry O'Connell [Superman], Colleen O'Shaughnessey [Orchid], Jeffrey Vincent Parise [Policeman / Rath / Father], Laura Post [Business Woman], Fred Tatasciore [Ghast] and Nicholas Turturro [Boston Brand / Deadman]
Director: Jay Oliva
Producers: Alan Burnett, Amy McKenna, Benjamin Melniker, James Tucker, Michael E. Uslan and Sam Register
Screenplay: Ernie Altbacker (story), J.M. DeMatteis (story), Ernie Altbacker (teleplay), Jerry Siegel (character created by: Superman), Joe Shuster (character created by: Superman), Bill Finger (character created by: Batman), Bob Kane (character created by: Batman), William Moulton Marston (character created by: Wonder Woman), Jamie Delano (character created by: Constantine) John Ridgway (character created by: Constantine) John Totleben (character created by: Constantine) Steve Bissette (character created by: Constantine), Arnold Drake (character created by: Deadman), Jack Kirby (character created by: Jason Blood/Etrigan), Bernie Wrightson (character created by: Swamp Thing), Len Wein (character created by: Swamp Thing), Gardner Fox (character created by: Zatanna) and Murphy Anderson (character created by: Zatanna)
Composer: Robert J. Kral
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
German: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Spanish [Castilian]: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Spanish [Latin]: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Português [Brazilian]: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Spanish [Castilian], Spanish [Latin], Português [Brazilian], Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish
Running Time: 75 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation / Warner Home Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ [2016] is the latest original animated film from Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics, and, if you are counting, this is the 27th in the series. ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ brings a refreshing change from the Superman/Batman/Justice League animated films that have been released over the past few years and gives a fresh group of characters a chance to shine.
Citizens in Gotham, Metropolis, and other cities begin to have paranoid hallucinations, seeing other people, even family members as demons and causing them to go into murderous rages. The Justice League meets at the Hall of Justice to discuss the outbreak that is taking place worldwide, concluding that it must be caused by some magical/supernatural phenomena. Batman is sceptical, however, as Bruce Wayne, he is possessed by some force that scrawls the name “Constantine” on all of the walls of Wayne Manor and we later find out he was possessed by Deadman.
Batman enlists the aid of Zatanna to track down Constantine with Deadman in tow at the House of Mystery. They are soon joined by Jason Blood, aka The Demon Etrigan, and the mercurial Swamp Thing to track down the man they believe behind these magical attacks . . . the wizard Felix Faust! But the team soon learns that an even deadlier threat looms in the shadows.
Director Jay Oliva wisely doesn’t take it for granted that everyone knows who characters like Deadman and The Demon are and provides short, but valuable origin vignettes for the characters, giving them some depth that they would otherwise lack. In fact, along with Ryan, Nicholas Turturro steals the show as Deadman, who with his Brooklyn accent and playful demeanour provides a fair bit of comic relief. And that comic relief is needed as the film takes the “dark” part of its title quite seriously.
There is a fair bit of gruesome imagery and one man who has driven man is found to have a shed full of his neighbour’s rotting corpses whom he killed believing they were demons. Later, while checking on one of the victims in the hospital the team is attacked by a creature composed of raw sewage that rampages through the hospital leaving Deadman to remark that “the raw sewage has really hit the fan.”
The animated film has a couple of fantastic, knockdown, drag them out magical battles that have some of the best effects yet in any D.C. animated film. It was nice to actually see Batman relegated to a supporting role as Zatanna, Constantine, Faust, and The Demon engaged in war of spells and magical weaponry. As to Constantine’s voice, it is really nice to have the lead man with a British accent and especially doing typical British expletives and especially typical British swearing with great aplomb and felt very natural in an D.C. animated film.
A majority of the animated films plot is steered by Constantine, Zatanna, Batman, Deadman and Etrigan the demon and for those who are not familiar with Etrigan, he is a fun Demon character that quotes really rubbish poetry before going into battle and gets a majority of the films funny lines, though Constantine pretty much gets his moments throughout the animated film. There is a fantastic magic fight in the animated film, which sees Zatanna take on Felix Faust. This is worth the price of admission alone and makes the final awesome battle between the team in ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ is totally well worth viewing.
Matt Ryan is brilliant as ever as John Constantine and really seems to relish the one liner he is given with newfound glee; despite NBC decision to cancel ‘Constantine,’ then this D.C. animated film with Matt Ryan’s participation in it will go a small way to making it up to the fans of this genre. With a smidgen running time of just over 75 minutes, this D.C. animated film ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ is the business, and especially highly recommend that younger viewers watch with their parents given some of the colourful metaphor language that fly about, because it is over the top swearing expletives on the British angle wording, that could find some people potentially taking offence, that is why this D.C. animated film has been given an adult “R” rating, so parents be warned!
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Blu-ray Video Quality – Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video presents you this stunning 1080p encoded image and an equally 1.78:1 aspect ratio. If you’ve seen one of the many D.C. animated films from others Warner Bros. Animation then you have a good idea of what you’re getting yourself into here. Colours are very strong, with deep primaries and all sorts of purples, reds, greens and the likes with the neon coloured magical blasts, or flame burst from Etrigan. The animated film takes place primarily in the darkness, thus black levels are paramount here. They tend to show good shadow detail, but do suffer from intermittent banding and a strange sort of softness to the image. Lines are solid and very crisp, but that softness seems to keep it from looking as sharp as it should. Clarity of detail and image are quite nice, with no jaggiest or other major artefacts to mar up the film. It is a good-looking image transfer, and as I said. If you’ve seen any of the other D.C. animated films universe, you’ll be quite familiar with the animation style and strange softness.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video brings you the main 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is more than capable of handling the action oriented film rather nicely. The dialog is strong and cleanly replicated at all times, while the surrounds get a workout with all the magical energy sizzling overhead and the sounds of city folk rumbling in the background. Vocals tend to shift a bit in the front soundstage due to the use of magic, but that’s something that’s not encode related, but more design oriented, and the I have to say that the surrounds are not as powerful as I might have imagined. The audio is deep and guttural, accentuating the blasts and explosion that speckle the sound stage, and adds some nice weight in other pertinent areas as well and listen to the Batmobile roar and the rumble of the horse Destiny is riding at one point.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: A Sneek Peak at ‘Teen Titans: The Judas Contract’ [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:41] Here we get an advance look at the next D.C. Universe Original Movie. What we also get to hear is how they used the actual 1984 comic book storyline by Marv Wolfman and George Perez of One of the most popular Teen Titans story arcs is coming to life as an animated film, and thanks to Warner Brothers Animation, we have one of the first looks at the teams as they’ll appear in ‘Teen Titans: The Judas Contract’ D.C. animated film. We also get to and see the people involved in the animated film explaining what the outline of the story is and how they went about transferring all this information into producing the actual DC Comic animated film. Contributors include: Mike Carlin [Creative Director of Animation at D.C. Entertainment], James Tucker [Producer], Wes Gleason [Voice Director], Ernie J. Altbacker [Screenwriter], Sean Maher [Nightwing], Brando Soo Hoo [Beast Boy], Kari Wahlgren [Starfire], Miguel Ferrer [Deahtstroke], Gregg Henry [Brother Blood], Kevin Smith [Himself/ Filmmaker] and Christina Ricci [Terra].
Special Feature: The Story of Swamp Thing [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [18:02] Here we get a look at the history of the character Swamp Thing with comments from the co-creators. Here we get to find out the origins of Swamp Thing and how it was born out of the imagination of Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, Justice League Dark's Swamp Thing had his own solo adventures throughout the history of D.C. Universe Animated Films. This documentary reveals the rich history of the D.C. Comic fans favourite and we also get clips from the ‘Swamp Thing’ [1982] D.C. Animated Film. Contributors include: Len Wein [Co-Creator “Swamp Thing”], Mike Carlin [Creative Director at Animation of D.C. Entertainment], Kelley Jones [Comic Book Artist], James Tucker [Producer of ‘Justice League: Dark’] and Jay Oliva [Director ‘Justice League: Dark’].
Special Feature: Did You Know? [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [3:26] Here you get to view four special features segments with interesting details that are related to the ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ D.C. animated film and the people behind the animated film talk about how all the characters evolved from the comic book strip to eventually evolve into the D.C. Animated film and the following items is a close up of the characters which consist of “Constantine Origin” [0:30]; “Color of Magic” [1:00]; “Black Orchid” [1:00] and “Deadman Casting” [0:30]. As usual you can either watch them separately or Play All.
Special Feature: ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ New York Comic-Con Panel [2016] [1080i] [1.78:1] [26:31] Here we get to view highlights from the 2016 Comic Con panel for the film ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK.’ The panel is moderated by Gary Miereanu. But the line-up on the stage consist of the following people involved in the D.C. Animated film and they are Phil Bourassa [Character Designer], Jay Oliva [Director], James Tucker [Producer], Matt Ryan [Constantine] and Jason O’Mara [Batman]. We also get a ‘Justice League: Dark’ Q&A Session from the audiences and the people on the stage get asked the following questions:
For Matt Ryan: Will we see Constantine Return to “ARROW”?
For Jason O’Mara: What was your favourite movie to play Batman, and why?
For Matt Ryan: What was the audition process for the role of Constantine on the original TV series?
For James Tucker: Now that we have seen Deadman and Constantine in the D.C. Animated Universe, when do we get to see Lucifer?
For Matt Ryan: What character elements did you feel were important to bring over from the Live-Action Constantine? Have you ever had any personal experience with the Occult? If given the opportunity would you shoot more episodes of the series “Constantine”?
For Jay Oliva: What made you want to direct a Superhero movie with such an unconventional group of characters?
For Matt Ryan and Jason O’Mara: What characters in the D.C. Universe would you want to play, if you were not cast as Constantine and Batman?
For The Group: What kind of relationship can we expect to see between Constantine and Zantanna in ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’?
For Jay Oliva: If “Young Justice” continues, are there any elements of ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ that you want to incorporate?
For Matt Ryan: What other projects do you have in the works? I want to know because I love you and kinda stalking you. Your performance has been recognized as the one true Constantine? Did you expect this?
Finally, this was quite a nice special feature and all up on the stage answering the questions to the audience was very engaging, but what I hate and detest with these American Comic-Con is these obsessive nerdy idiot Americans who whoop and holler all the time, and is very off putting and these idiots should control their emotions, as the general public hate this sort of thing, as these nerd are far to obsessive and possessive of this comic strip genre.
Special Feature: Sneak Peek: ‘Justice League: Doom’ [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [10:17] Here is your chance to catch up with this 2012 Blu-ray release if you missed it the first time round and here we are given a good in-depth insight into this D.C. Comic Animation. Contributions include: Alan Burnett [Co-producer], Bruce Timm [Executive Producer], Andrea Romano [Voice Director], Lauren Montgomery [Director], Phil Bourassa [Lead Character Designer], Mel Zwyer [Storyboard Artist], Tim Daly [Superman], Susan Eisenberg [Wonder Woman], Carlos Alazraqui [Bane], Carl Lumbly [John Jones], Nathan Fillion [Green Lantern] and Michael Rosenbaum [Flash].
Special Feature: Sneak Peek: ‘Justice League: Gods and Monsters’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:07] Here we have one of the BEST Justice League franchise animated film and this is a brief look at the creation of this D.C. animated film release. Contributors include: Bruce Timm [Producer], Sam Liu [Director], Mike Carlin [Creative Director of Animation at D.C. Entertainment] and Andrea Romano [Voice Director].
Special Feature: From the D.C. Comics Vault: ‘BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD’ American Animated Series: An updated animated series centres around the Caped Crusader himself as he partners and deals with his fellow superheroes in the D.C. Comics universe. Here we get to view two classic animated episodes and they are as follows:
Season 1: Episode 7: Dawn of the Dead Man! [2008] [1080p] [1.78:1] [22:43] Batman ends up buried alive by Gentleman Ghost, so Batman uses a special meditation to leave his body and has an encounter with Deadman. With some tricks learned by Deadman, Batman has Green Arrow and Speedy dig out his body before it runs out of air so they can stop Gentleman Ghost from raising an army of the dead. Once again, the Batman/Green Arrow dynamic makes for amusing comedy, especially when Green Arrow mistakenly thinks Speedy is doing a Batman impersonation when in reality the young hero is being possessed by the Caped Crusader. Add in the inherent fun of seeing a ghostly Batman and Deadman use weapons to defeat the Gentleman Ghost's army of undead criminals, a killer soundtrack, and serviceable animation, especially Batman partnering-up with a Tarzan-like superhero in the post-apocalyptic future sounds ridiculous, but somehow works thanks to the brilliant folks behind this series and it works, and one of the most entertaining episode yet.
Season 1: Episode 15: Trials of the Demon! [2009] [1080p] [1.78:1] [22:58] Magically transported to 19th century London, Batman aids Etrigan the Demon and Sherlock Holmes in battling Gentleman Jim Craddock, the future Gentleman Ghost. The two must stop a man who wants to become immortal, even if a mighty demon is brought to the world! And to top that, Sherlock Holmes tags along and tries to save the day instead of the two, to show Batman who really is the world’s greatest detective! ‘Trials of the Demon!’ is fuelled by a ton of big ideas, humorous moments, and lots of kinetic energy. Most importantly, it made me smile for a good twenty minutes, and I think that's the easiest way to judge the success of any instalment of “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” franchise series.
Trailers: Here we get to view two separate trailers and they are as follows:
D.C. All Access App [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:16] Here we get to view those two obnoxious nerdy American presenters on promoting a special D.C. Comic App for your mobile phone.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:30] This is a DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD Download promotion for the latest release of the D.C. Comic Animated film. Batman and Robin are back in action to take down their fiendish foes once again with original actors Adam West voicing Batman, Burt Ward voicing Robin, and Julie Newmar voicing Catwoman.
Theatrical Trailer [2017] [1080p] [2.35:1] [2:34] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the live action film ‘Wonder Woman.’
Finally, ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK’ is one of the best of the D.C. Comics animated films that is not only a good animated film, but also because it steps outside of the usual Batman/Superman safe space scenario and gives viewers to see different characters in lead roles that they typically wound only see in bit parts. ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK’ is a welcome chance to shine the spotlight on some of the under-served but nonetheless popular characters of the DC Comics mythos. Those familiar with the “Constantine” show will find a lot to appreciate in the character’s return here, and fans that haven’t yet seen the show will hopefully be motivated to check it out on Warner Archive’s recent Blu-ray. Warner Bros. Animation once again brings us another stunning good looking and sounding Blu-ray and the extras are just what the doctor ordered. It is definitely well worth a watch. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
