Justice Society: World War II - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Justice Society: World War II



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
In DC’s growing animated film base, the elseworlds stories that are “non canon” to the main over arching plot lines of the conglomerated films have become a lot more fun than the main films in the DCAU. Time travel is also not an uncommon feature in the films, but in this little jaunt through time we get to go punch some ACTUAL Nazis, and meet some classic Golden Age characters in the time spent.

The film opens up with Golden age characters Wonder Woman (Stana Katic), Steve Trevor, The Flash (Jay Garrick variant), Hawkman, Hourman and Black Canary are ordered by President Roosevelt to take on the Nazis of Hitler and stop the impending Germanic invasion. The film immediately segues to modern times where The Flash (Barry Allen) and Superman are teaming up to defeat Brainiac. However, The Flash accidentally opens up a rift in space time by going a bit TOO fast in an effort to grab a kryptonite bullet out of mid-air and ends up back in World War II times, where he comes face to face with the opening scene’s heroes.

Turns out that the Flash didn’t just jump through time in his little oopsie. He jumped through the multiverse and ending up on Earth-2, and this Earth has some slight changes to it. Not only has Roosevelt created the Justice Society of America (a nice throwback to the golden age characters of DC), but a few other characters in the world exist slightly “differently” than they would in Earth-1’s timeline.

Growing the Justice Society by 1, Barry Allen teams up with the Justice Society of America to beat back the growing forces of Hitler, and stop him from using the Atlanteans beneath the sea to defeat the surface dwellers fro him, AND get Barry back to his own time line.

Justice Society: World War II is a fun little jaunt with a lot of flair to it. Teaming up Jay Garrick and Barry Allen in the same room is a lot of fun, as is the inclusion of Superman before he BECOMES Superman, but the film also suffers from what I would consider too many soups in the kitchen. The film really feels like it was a bunch of different writers coming up with their own sub plots, and the director just allowing 3-4 of them to be included in the movie and loosely time them together. The whole “lets fight Hitler” theme works on it’s own, but once the Atlanteans come into play it feels like a completely different movie. Even Superman (as fun as it is to see him become his own character) is shoehorned in at the last minute.

That being said, the action is amazingly done, with some really sucker punch hitting scenes that leave the audience a bit winded. Being that we’re on Earth-2, there is also quite a bit of loss that’s acceptable (which would have been met with a lot of resistance if it was in Earth-1 Canon), and some of the losses really hit you in the feels. The downside is that most of the supporting characters just don’t feel that compelling. Sure, Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor and Barry Allen do great, but the rest of the cast like Hourman and Black Canary feel side lined and nothing more than bit characters. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, and while the fun outweighs the mediocre in my opinion, it still has it’s fair share of baggage.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some bloody images




4K Video: Video:

Justice Society: World War II follow the traditions of many WWII movies and use muted colors as it’s main palette hues, which doesn’t exactly lend itself towards massive HDR pop and pomp. However, the film is really amazingly detailed in 4K UHD, foregoing all of the digital artifacts that pop up on DCAU Blu-rays (such as banding, crush, and the infamous delineation problems), making for one great looking disc. The animation STYLE is a bit choppy in it’s movements, but the stills are incredible, with razor sharp detail and picture perfect colors (as muted as they can sometimes be). I honesty was shocked at how great it looked, even considering the lack of major HDR color pop. That being said, the colors are still solidly enhanced by the use of HDR, showcasing some really great black level depth and some richer blues and reds that stand out much better than the Blu-ray edition. Great disc all in all, and shows that Warner/DC has really grown since the early days of the format when their 4K UHD discs barely looked any better than the Blu-ray editions.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (found on both the 4K UHD and the Blu-ray disc) is a predictably strong contender track that does everything well, but doesn’t push itself into greatness by any large means. The voices are distinctly front heavy during the conversations, and the mains get quite a goodly amount of panning effects due to Flash’s speed force movements, and the surrounds get a really nice warmup during the battle with Aquaman’s forces (and Steve’s speed force movements are used with great aplomb in the rear channels). Subwoofer frequencies are GOOD, but never really extends too deep or too aggressively, leaving us with a satisfied feeling, but one that never really wows you. Solid all around mix, and right on par for most of the DCAU films.






Extras:

• DC Showcase – Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! (New Animated Short) – 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.
• Adventures in Storytelling: Justice Society: World War II (New Featurette) – The film's creative minds chat about the methods used to produce the touchstone sequences in Justice Society: World War II.
• A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie – An advance look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.
• Look Back – Justice League vs. Teen Titans (Featurette) – A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Justice League vs. Teen Titans, a 2016 thriller that follows Damian Wayne's induction into the Teen Titans. Complicating his training is the growing presence of Raven's satanic, world-conquering father Trigon, whose escape plan from his inter-dimensional prison includes spreading his demonic forces across the globe, infiltrating the minds and bodies of the Justice League to do his bidding. To save the universe and prevent a literal hell on Earth, the Teen Titans must rescue – or defeat – the Justice League, and intern Trigon for all eternity.
• Look Back – Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (Featurette) – An intriguing glance into the production behind 2019's Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, which finds Amazon Princess Diana helping a troubled young girl enlisted by a deadly organization known as Villainy, Inc., whose criminal members have their sights set on invading Themyscira. The expansive adventure is packed with brutal battles, mysterious mythology, and endless wonder!
• From the DC Vault: Justice League: "Legends, Part One"
• From the DC Vault: Justice League: "Legends, Part Two"

Final Score: ​

According to the special features, Justice Society: World War II was created from multiple different sources, including a scrapped WWII Wonder Woman series that never came to fruition. Thus the rather “patch work” nature of the film makes a lot of sense. It’s fun, even more fun than a lot of the newer canon films in the DCAU, but still has it’s burdensome share of flaws due to the patched together stories. The 4K UHD itself is quite nice though, with much upgraded video and some very impressive extras. Worth a watch if you’re invested in the DCAU film set.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Stana Katic, Matt Bomer, Omid Abtahi, Geoffrey Arend, DArren Criss, Darin De Paul, Chris Diamantopoulos
Directed by: Jeff Wamester
Written by: Jeremy Adams, Meghan Fitzmartin
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 85 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 11th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch