Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths 022310

A super-powered Lex Luthor arrives in metropolis and tells the Justice League that he’s from an alternate earth (standard comic procedure) where his justice league has been killed by a supervillain crime syndicate. He asks the Justice League to return to his dimension with him to help save his world from the dark versions of themselves.

DC has really come up with a clever idea in recent years. Open their own animation department and release straight to video versions of their comic book stories for fans. Not only that, but most of them (exception: Batman/Superman: Public Enemies) have been very entertaining. This one is no exception. The story is clever and I was strangely interested in finding out the antithesis of each character. Consequently I felt bad when I couldn’t figure it out. If anyone knows who the president was supposed to be please tell me. I will tell you one thing that most critics would complain about, but not me; I found it amusing. There’s a bizarre racist and sexist undertone through the story. The deciding split into the different worlds seems to be that Super WOMAN rather than Super Man crashed to earth. This apparently led to other ethnicities gaining powers. All the dark versions either have a darker skin tone or an obvious accent. Some might be offended but I found it funny and ballsy.

The negative starts with one of my constant complaints involving the DC world. Superman’s an enormous wuss and we all know it. Another small thing is I’ve been watching Batman, Superman and Justice League shows since I was four and the same voice actors have always done the same characters. In this one they didn’t and while that’s not exactly bad it was strangely disheartening. Another problem was comic book logic. For example, initially Batman refuses to help so he doesn’t help until later. It’s a known fact that after the formation of the Justice League Batman figured out how to kill each member in the off chance that they turned evil and this intel wasn’t applied after he joined. There was also a romance that I found odd and out of place. I feel this actually would have been better if it was longer.

I’d say this deserves a C+. Nothing’s too overtly wrong with it but it doesn’t do anything new or great. However, it is easily accessible for both die hard and casual comic fans.

Dante's Inferno 020910

Dante, a knight, returns from the crusades gripped by fear because of a sense of foreboding that overtakes him in a forest. He rushes home to find his servants and father slaughtered and his betrothed, Beatrice, dying. She asks him if he remained faithful to her. He says yes and she dies. Her spirit then departs for heaven. Halfway there, demons rise out of the ground and block her before Satan grabs her. He informs Dante that Beatrice promised Satan her soul if he returned safely but didn’t stay true to her. Dante swears he did nothing wrong. Satan laughs and drags Beatrice to hell where he plans to make her his queen and make him more powerful by making a union with a pure soul. To save her Dante must navigate the nine circles of hell and come to terms with his own sin.

This movie is very clever. It takes the story of Dante’s Inferno and transforms it from a passive allegorical poem to an engaging allegorical epic. The entire movie is the story of salvation. Dante begins the story in complete denial of his transgressions but as he traverses each level of hell he is reminded of a new sin that corresponds with those damned to that circle. It’s very violent and bloody but it works with the story and it’s nice to see a Christian story that’s exciting and violent.

The weakest point is also one of the things that makes it cool: the animation. Like the Gotham Knight of 2007 this was made by a couple of different directors so the animation changes every two or three circles, and in some extreme ways; like adding a full foot to Dante’s hair length. I think the nationality of the art changes as well because while the first set of dialogue seemed fine the last set seemed to have the lip-synching completely off. Not unexpectedly some humanism slipped into the story and while it’s expected it’s still a little disappointing all the same.

The movie achieves a B-. I enjoyed it but it’s not for everyone and while I liked it, I don’t really care if I see it again.