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"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" Review
"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" is the latest next entry in the popular series of DC Universe Movies and completes an animated storyline which began in 2014 with the release of "Justice League War".
The film kicks off with the Justice League learning of an impending attack on Earth by the ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid and devising a plan to stop the evil intergalactic tyrant which ultimately fails with devestating results.
Flashing forward two years, the planet has been decimated by Darkseid and his army of flying Doomsday clones referred to as "Paradooms". Only a rag-tag group of Justice League, Teen Titans, and Suicide Squad members remain while others have been mutated and brainwashed into serving Darkseid.
Realizing that they must regroup, strategize and take the war to Darkseid in order to save the planet and its surviving inhabitants, a now powerless Superman (who was infused with Kryptonite by Darkseid) along with Raven convince John Constantine and the demon Etrigan to join their cause.
Through the use of Constantine's magic, the group is able to track down Damian Wayne who has been hiding since the battle two years prior. Through flashbacks, he reveals the various fates and deaths of members of the Justice League and Teen Titans who attempted to battle Darkseid and his Paradoom army including Batman; now a brainwashed agent who oversees all the operations of Apokolips.
Ultimately, thanks to Lois Lane, the surviving members of the Suicide Squad including Harley Quinn, Captain Boomarang, and King Shark join the others in the hopes of taking down Darkseid once and for all.
From this point, the film really kicks into high gear with various interweaving storylines taking place while also mixing in a ton of action, humor, and a few surprises as well. The gore factor is also cranked up easily to a 10 thanks in huge part to every violent, blood-soaked kill carried out by the Paradooms and the Suicide Squad.
Also, if the gore factor wasn't enough to earn this film it's R-rating, the language certainly makes up for it with plenty of F-bombs sprinkled throughout the hour-and-a-half viewtime which, surprisingly, are not only iterated from the characters you would expect.
That being said, the language and violence does not detract from what is, from beginning to end, an absolutely amazing film with an inspriring and emotional storyline. The artistic style of the film features an amazing mix of light and darkness throughout to convey scenes of good versus evil while, as mentioned before, also packing quite the emotional punch at key moments of sorrow.
The voice cast is, as always, amazing with such actors returning to voice their iconic roles as Matt Ryan as John Constantine), Jerry O'Connell as Superman/Clark Kent, Taissa Farmiga as Raven, Stuart Allan as Robin/Damian, Jason O'Mara as Batman, Tony Todd as Darkseid, Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor, and Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane.
"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" also includes an all-new DC Showcase animated short, "Adam Strange" which tells the thrilling tale of the space adventurer's fascinating backstory, featuring actor Charlie Weber ("How To Get Away with Murder") as the voice of title character.
All-in-all, I can confidently state that "Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" is easily one of, if not the best animated movie in the DC Universe series thus far. The movie has all the character development and action that you can ask for and then some. The script, directing, animation, & voice acting definitely make this one title you will want to have in your DVD/Bluray collection.
"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" will be released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital starting May 5, 2020, and on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack on May 19, 2020.
