A Silver Age Justice League Movie!

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Director- Dave Bullock
Starring- David Boreanaz, Neil Patrick Harris, Kyle MacLachlan

Set in the 1950's, the Justice League is undergoing a change, what with the Korean War and all. Politics play more of a role here than in other DC cartoons, and some of the characters don't get along quite as well. Superman is something of a government patsy, while Wonderwoman helps out Vietnamese woman who were terrorised by guerilla fighters. Flash quits the biz after being relentlessly pursued by the government, J'onn J'onzz is trying to live a somewhat normal life as a human, and Batman is, as always, the Gotham Knight.

The team is more or less reunited by the surfacing of The Centre, a Lovecraftian being that appears to want to take over the world--standard Justice League material. J'onzz is also haunted by the U.S. government, which is aware of his existence and is planning a mission to Mars piloted by Korean vet Hal Jordan.

J'onzz is captured, Jordan's shuttle (which he discovers is equipped with nuclear weaponry in case of hostilities) malfunctions, and he gets saved by Superman while the shuttle explodes upon entering the atmosphere. He is later taken by a mysterious aircraft to a site where a figure lays dying on the ground. The figure is revealed to be a Green Lantern, who has deemed Jordan worthy of the Green Lantern ring and bestows him with the power of the Corps.

Superman takes on the beastly Centre and gets knocked into the sea, not to be seen again until close to the end of the movie, where he is saved by Aquaman, whose introduction in the movie is embarrassingly brief.

This movie seems to represent a change from the Golden Age to the Silver Age of comics, and of society as well, apparently. It was nice that I didn't recognize the voices of big named celebrities, even though many contributed. I liked that Batman was still a dark figure, but I didn't like the evolution of his look.

I also liked that it more or less remained faithful to the Darwyn Cooke comic it was based on. The political subject matter is toned down just a bit, some characters were still phased out, but all in all it turned out to be a great movie.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.