The Movie
On an alternate world, diabolical counterparts to our heroic Justice League--Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter--have formed an unstoppable organization known as The Crime Syndicate. The Syndicate has grown so powerful that they threaten to take over their entire planet, and so good guy Lex Luthor (what the...?) transports between dimensions to enlist the aid of The Man of Steel, The Dark Knight et. al. It's a tough sell, but soon the most powerful beings on two different worlds collide in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
That title is a vague riff on the "Crisis" buzzword immortalized by the 1980s comic book miniseries and crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, and later revisited in print for storylines such as Identity Crisis and Final Crisis. This direct-to-video movie is actually an original tale, although it draws its multidimensional stakes and a key character sacrifice from the comic pages. Seems that Batman's shadowy doppelganger, Owlman, is not satisfied to join his fellow crime bosses in merely blackmailing their entire Earth into ultimate submission. He's discovered a way to obliterate every Earth, and therefore the universe as we know it. Buckle up and check that PG-13 rating: This could get messy....
The Picture
The 1.78:1 image does display ringing, most notably in gently textured backgrounds, but the level of detail is impressive, such as it is: the animation is solid, and represents a more elaborate design and execution than a typical episode of the old weekly Justice League TV series, but it is clearly intended to play best on the small screen. The comic book colors really pop in high-def, and the line art is sharp and precise. Occasional soft glows of sunlight and electrical energy also reproduce well here.
The Sound
This Blu-ray continues the Warner Premiere label's mounting trend of supplying Dolby Digital 5.1 as the only audio option, as on Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, a step back from the high-resolution Dolby TrueHD standard of the Green Lantern: First Flight and Wonder Woman Blu-rays. A pity, since the sound design is actually fairly awesome, with active rears as when the alternate Hall of Justice is being trashed by the villains, or the many smaller touches that make the soundtrack sparkle amid all of the bigger-than-life action. Whizzing Batarangs and a few new weapons are especially lively; echoes, thunder and sonic booms add requisite low-end; and at one point Wonder Woman throws her golden lasso around the "camera"! Fun stuff but again, not in high-def.
The Extras
The new 12-minute animated short, "DC Showcase: The Spectre" in Dolby Digital 5.1 introduces a new audience to the popular crimefighter in a similarly edgy style. A pair of two-part Justice League series episodes (versus a single two-parter on the special edition Crisis DVD) highlights crossovers with other super-teams, 91 minutes total and four-corner windowboxed. The live-action pilots for Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) and the recent Aquaman (74 and 41 minutes respectively) are also included here. These pilots aren't listed on the packaging and might have been a late addition to round out the feature set. The excellent new documentary "DCU: The New World" (33 minutes) traces the origins of the "DC Universe" through its evolution in the post-9/11 world, revealing the modern sense of danger that has taken hold across the Justice League and all related characters.
"The Spectre" is true HD, all other extras are presented in low-bitrate VC-1 format. A redeemable code is provided in the package for a Digital Copy download of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths for Windows Media only. This is now the third consecutive DC Direct release lacking both a dedicated Digital Copy disc as well as an iTunes-compatible version, another lamentable trend.
Final Thoughts
There's a certain sameness to proceedings, from the music to the knock-down, drag-out, mass-destruction fight scenes, especially for fans like me who have seen most of the DC Comics animated adventures of the past 20 years. The story does cast the familiar heroes in an interesting new light, and fairly reeks of adrenaline, but the overriding high-definition/special edition luster of these "event" releases might be starting to fade.
Product Details
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