Justice League:
Throne of Atlantis (2015) – As the title might suggest, there are two
things going on in this film. On the one hand, we have a sequel to Justice League: War, inspired by the New
52 incarnation of the world’s greatest superhero team, while on the other we
have the introduction of Aquaman to this animated universe. Here’s the thing
about Throne of Atlantis, based on a
recent popular storyline by DC’s resident blockbuster writer Geoff Johns: only
one of these plotlines is terribly interesting, and unfortunately for fans of
underwater mythology it isn’t the one where the guy talks to fish. The Justice
League bits and the character interactions are spot-on brilliant, particularly
the scenes before the big battles and action setpieces; there’s a wonderful
first date between Superman (Jerry O’Connell) and Wonder Woman (Rosario
Dawson), and there’s a lovely internecine clash of personalities when Green
Lantern (Nathan Fillion) tries to help Batman (Jason O’Mara) on a police chase
through Gotham City. And the creative team does a strong job juggling a League
of seven disparate personalities. The Aquaman parts, sadly, are much less
compelling; this iteration of Aquaman is part depressive alcoholic, part
reticent heir to throne but only with nothing better to do. Sam Witwer is a
strong choice for the voice of the film’s villain, Ocean Master, but this
character is actually terribly dull, as is (sadly) Harry Lennix’s rendition of
Black Manta. It’s not a terrible film by most stretches of the imagination, but
there are parts of it that are more boring than they ought to be. Throne of Atlantis should have taken
more cues from Johns’s more engaging reinvention of Aquaman than they have,
because this Aquaman is fairly boilerplate and a little too stuffy for his own
good.
Batman vs. Robin (2015)
– Maybe I’m just a sucker for the Caped Crusader, because there are things
about this movie that ought to be unforgivable to a true believer like myself,
but I kind of liked this one, maybe even more than its predecessor Son of Batman. This animated film
stitches together plotlines from two distinct comics – Grant Morrison’s Batman vs. Robin (in which Damian Wayne
tries to prove himself) and Scott Snyder’s Court
of Owls (in which a shadowy conspiracy makes its bid for Gotham) – and
basically waters both down to make for a more coherent 80 minutes than the sum
of the parts might suggest. Here’s what works: the film looks very good,
especially the Court of Owls iconography, and I’m still a fan of the chemistry
between Jason O’Mara’s Batman and Stuart Allen’s Damian. I did feel that the
Owls plotline was shortchanged by (without spoiling too much) putting too many
faces to what should be by definition a faceless organization, but I
appreciated the way it allowed Damian to fall under the Court’s sway while he
bristles against his father’s training. And the film’s concluding battle, taken
mostly from the comics, is a crackling good fight between Batman and the Owls
in the former’s gadget-laden Batcave. It’s actually quite remarkable that a
storyline from 2012 has already been adapted – kudos to Snyder and artist Greg Capullo
for crafting a modern-day classic – but a more faithful adaptation would have
earned two enthusiastic thumbs up rather than my usual review of “Hey, it’s
Batman, so not bad.”That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you here next week; I hear there’s some big movie coming out this Friday... something-vengers. Might review that one next.
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