In 2008, Warner Home Video released Justice League: The New Frontier – a feature-length animated movie from director Dave Bullock. The direct-to-video movie – starring the voice talents of David Boreanaz, Miguel Ferrer, Neil Patrick Harris, Phil Morris, and Lucy Lawless – was the second release under Warner Bros. Animation’s DC Universe Animated Original Movies banner.
Based on Darwyn Cooke’s celebrated comic, DC: The New Frontier, Justice League: The New Frontier featured an extensive cast of characters including Batman, Superman, The Flash, J’onn J’onzz, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. The film was set during the 1950s and explored the formation of the Justice League.
Today I am re-watching, Justice League: The New Frontier and talking about the movie in real time. Expect discussions on the plot, along with various comments and inside info about the film.
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Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
*Presses play*
10secs – Before the movie begins, I should note that Justice League: The New Frontier was granted a PG13 rating in the US for violent content and images. In the UK, the movie received a 12 certificate – meaning (as far as UK censors are concerned) it is not suitable for audiences below the age of 12.
Now of course, younger audiences will have watched this movie upon release, but I have to say, it really doesn’t play so well for younger DC fans. Not just because of any blood or violence (there’s a suicide within the first two minutes) but because it’s a slower moving film, which makes references to US history. I’m not sure the average 8-year-old would be that engrossed by what’s on offer.
2mins 30secs – In terms of the film’s historical setting, Justice League: The New Frontier is set during the Cold War, sometime after World War II. Fear, paranoia, and McCarthyism is very much the order of the day.
5mins – Hal Jordan is being introduced, and voiced by David Boreanaz. The actor voiced this role while he was working on the popular television series, Bones. Thought you might like to know that. Of course, to many, Boreanaz was and always will be Angel, the vampire-with-a-soul from hit TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
7mins 30secs – J’onn J’onzz is being introduced. For those unfamiliar with J’onzz, he is also known to comic book fans as the Martian Manhunter.
8mins – Superman and Wonder Woman appear for the first time. Supes is voiced by Kyle MacLachlan, while Wonder Woman is voiced by Lucy Lawless. Lawless is such a perfect bit of casting for Wonder Woman. In fact, ever since Lawless appeared on cult TV series, Xena: Warrior Princess, many fans said she should have been cast as Wonder Woman in a live-action film or series. OK, it never happened, but this animated voice role is the next best thing.
10mins – The animation style used in this movie is great. It is a mix of Darwyn Cooke and Bruce Timm.
15mins – A brilliant scene now. Iris West is at a club in Las Vegas, when all of a sudden the villainous Captain Cold shows up. Barry Allen is on the phone to Iris when Cold bursts in, so when he hears all the commotion he instantly transforms into the Flash and super-speeds to the club to take on Cold!
15mins 45secs – Captain Cold has planted six bombs around the city. He anticipated the Flash would show up and get in his way, so he created this distraction to aid his escape. Clever guy.
17mins – The Flash has foiled Cold’s plan, but what’s this? It looks like Captain Cold has temporarily had his mind taken over by someone… or something.
21mins – You know, visually speaking, Justice League: The New Frontier is gorgeous to look at. However, in terms of the story, it is all over the place. The narrative has spent 20 minutes jumping from one character to another and it is difficult to connect with anyone. The comic book this movie is based on works much better.
21mins 45secs – Enter: The Batman!
22mins – Batman looks very much like he did during his initial comic book appearance in 1939. Pretty menacing, except for this purple gloves.
23mins 20secs – OK, so another character has had his mind taken over by something which is calling itself ‘The Centre’. The Centre was mentioned during the opening sequence of the film, and is the same thing that took over the mind of Captain Cold.
27mins 30secs – The plot is starting to kick in. There is something extra-terrestrial on Earth and Hal Jordan is recruited to pilot a ship to Mars!
29mins – Meanwhile… Batman is investigating who or what The Centre is, and has approached J’onn J’onnz for information.
30mins – Back with The Flash, and the US Government wants to capture the Scarlet Speedster in order to study him. This all fits into the general paranoia/Cold War theme of the story, but I can’t help but feel this all falls a little flat. Something is just not connecting in the way it should.
32mins – Anyway… The Centre has infiltrated the US!
34mins – After all that business with the US Government trying to capture the Flash, he has made the decision to quit being a super hero. Flash doesn’t want to be seen as the enemy, so is walking away.
36mins – And now J’onn J’onnz wants to leave the planet because he’s fed up. Oh, dear.
41mins – I’m going to reiterate what I said earlier – the story is all over the place. There are far too many characters in this movie, with no real focus and while I can see all the great ideas in play, they are all jumbled around.
I appreciate this is a Justice League picture, so it is an ensemble piece, but even so, this film needs a central character, such as Batman or Superman to lead the way. Hal Jordan or J’onn J’onzz are the closest the film comes to central characters, but this is largely because they have the most screen time.
43mins – Speaking of Jordan, he is now on a journey to becoming the Green Lantern.
47mins – Meanwhile… back in the Batcave, Batman has ditched the purple gloves and is now joined by Robin, the Boy Wonder!
48mins – Over in Metropolis, a pterodactyl has attacked the city… and Wonder Woman has just crashed landed her invisible jet. Jeez… a lot seems to have been thrown at the screen in a short space of time. The film is trying to cram in as many ideas from the comic as possible.
53mins – Over two thirds of the way through and finally things are starting to come together. The mysterious entity known as The Centre – which is an island of sorts that gives birth to monsters – is killing people. All of the heroes are getting ready to fight it, including Green Arrow, Adam Strange, the Black Hawks and Superman!
56mins – And… Superman has been killed.
1hr – Batman is kicking monster butt with his Batplane!
1hr 2mins 30secs – Wonder Woman gets another scene, which means Lucy Lawless gets a little more dialogue. It’s great to hear Lawless in this role, but she doesn’t get as much dialogue as she should.
1hr 7mins 30secs – Having worked together, the heroes have almost defeated The Centre. But it is up to Hal Jordan to finish off the creature/entity/island-thingy.
1hr 9mins 30secs – The Centre has been defeated! Hurrah! Aquaman has arrived with Superman (he didn’t die, he was merely lost at sea), and all is well.
1hr 11mins 45secs – As the movie draws to a close, super heroes are being celebrated and a new era is on the horizon. Enter: The Justice League of America!
*Presses stop*
Back during the mid-‘00s, around 2004 or 2005, I read DC: The New Frontier. I liked the story; I didn’t love it. I thought it looked great and worked well enough as a comic book tale, but it wasn’t entirely to my taste.
My feelings on Justice League: The New Frontier is kind of similar. While it maintains the look and feel of the original source material, the movie falls somewhat short.
In attempting to retain many of the comic book ideas and plot line, the movie rushes through the themes associated with the time period; jumps too often and too quickly between characters; and becomes quite patchy in the process. It also takes far too long for the plot to really kick in.
By the time the story does get going, it is almost over. A rewrite, or a rejig of the original story would have really helped here, because so much of the story seems pointless unless you are a die-hard fan.
On a side note, which has nothing to do with the plot of this film, when Justice League: The New Frontier was released it made around $5.7 million in sales. This is about half the money its predecessor Superman: Doomsday made, which possibly demonstrates its appeal.
Now, all that said, the animation is fantastic, and once Justice League: The New Frontier hits its stride it becomes clear what the film is trying to achieve. I just wonder if maybe it would work better as two movies, so the characters would have more room to breathe?
In terms of how well it shapes up alongside other DC animated movies that have been released over the years (of which there are many), I would say this one isn’t bad, it just feels like a missed opportunity. The film works better if you are a long-time comic book reader, rather than someone who only dips in and out of DC movies.
Seeing the likes of the Black Hawks and King Faraday on screen probably mean more to you if you have a history with these characters. If you don’t read comics then a lot of this movie is likely to go over your head, or make little to no impression, which is a shame.
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