{"id":36592,"date":"2022-01-20T23:14:35","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T04:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=36592"},"modified":"2022-01-20T23:14:35","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T04:14:35","slug":"justice-league-dark-apokolips-war-2020-4k-uhd-blu-ray-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/20\/justice-league-dark-apokolips-war-2020-4k-uhd-blu-ray-digital\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020) [4K UHD\/Blu-Ray\/Digital]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s disappointing that this is where we\u2019ve arrived with the DC Warner animated movies. We went from stellar to \u201cIts fine, I guess.\u201d That\u2019s exactly what \u201cApokolips War,\u201d the sequel (?) to \u201cJustice League Dark<\/a>\u201d is. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s okay. It has all the ingredients to be a damn good epic, but instead chooses gruesome pointless violence, over heart and substance. I\u2019m not one to complain about violence in more mature aimed films, but \u201cApokolips War\u201d often watches like it\u2019s compensating for the lack of any real substance or entertainment value by splashing the screen with ridiculous violence and gore.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Justice League have gotten word that Darkseid might be planning an all out assault on Earth for one final attempt to conquer it. Led by Superman, the Justice League, JL Dark, and the Teen Titans plan a first strike. After that plan proves utterly disastrous, two years later Earth is a wasteland under invasion by Darkseid and his new breed of Parademons. Now with a depowered Kal El and Raven leading the charge, they recruit John Constantine, Etrigan (and various members from Teen Titans and Suicide Squad) to help them bring down Darkseid (and his new second in command, Batman) before he completes his ultimate plan to absorb Earth\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing that keeps \u201cApokolips War\u201d from being a great finisher to what\u2019s been an overall mediocre animated universe is the pointless violence that the animators enact. They almost seem to relish in delivering gruesome endings to beloved heroes; People like Batgirl and Swamp Thing are eaten alive by Parademons, while heroes like Robin and John Stewart are literally ripped in two. \u201cApokolips War\u201d is well animated but problematic in that it tries to deal with the initial storyline\/maguffin (e.g. Darkseid) while resolving storylines from the other spin offs of this animated universe. That means Robin coming to grips with Batman, Raven trying to conquer her father, Harley Quinn realizing her leadership role as the Suicide Squad.<\/p>\n

As for our pal Superman, he realizes that he\u2019s kind of a moron\u2014while facing a new form of Doomsday. Seriously, I am a true blue Superman fan, but in \u201cApokolips War\u201d he\u2019s a grade A moron who acts recklessly, charges in head first without an actual plan, and never seems to learn from his mistakes. That said there are redeeming qualities including the supporting turns from Harley Quinn and Lois Lane, as well as John Constantine becoming the inadvertent hero who helps to stop Darkseid. Star Matt Ryan does a great job in the role, and as Constantine, you can\u2019t help but root for him, even when he\u2019s reluctant to go in to battle. I also quite enjoyed Tony Todd as Darkseid; he\u2019s absolutely creepy in the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cApokolips War\u201d is a suitable ending to the DCAMU. Like most of the movies in this universe, it\u2019s mediocre, passable entertainment suitable for background noise on a lazy day.<\/p>\n

The Release from Warner includes DC Showcase: Adam Strange a sixteen minutes animated short that follows the titular space adventurer — now a drunken bum — during his extended stay on an asteroid mining colony, while his much more heroic earlier life is revealed during a few flashbacks. Voices includes of Charlie Weber, Kimberly Brooks, Fred Tatasciore, and more, with a story by J.M. DeMatteis (Constantine: City of Dreams) and direction by Butch Lukie (Batman: Unlimited franchise). The fifteen minutes Darkseid: New God \/ Evil Classic, is an enjoyable featurette exploring the infamous supervillain, the New Gods, Jack Kirby, and a general overview of godlike beings and ruthless conquerors present in classic and modern fiction.<\/p>\n

Featured are directors Matt Peters and Christine Sotta, writer\/comic historian Mark Evanier, DC Daily host Hector Navarro, executive producer James Tucker, and others. There\u2019s an Audio Commentary with Directors Matt Peters and Christine Sotta, executive producer James Tucker, and screenwriter Ernie Altbacker, all of whom sit down for a full-length track full of candid insight and trivia. Finally, there\u2019s the always reliable From the DC Vault, which features Three related adventures are included “Zombie King” and “Abate and Switch” from the first volume of Justice League Action (only available on DVD), as well as “Nevermore” from the first season of Teen Titans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s disappointing that this is where we\u2019ve arrived with the DC Warner animated movies. We went from stellar to \u201cIts fine, I guess.\u201d That\u2019s exactly what \u201cApokolips War,\u201d the sequel (?) to \u201cJustice League Dark\u201d is. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s okay. It has all the ingredients to be a damn good epic, but instead chooses gruesome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[58,64,71,99,125,268,349,568,906,922,1007,1008,1087,1173],"class_list":["post-36592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adaptation","tag-adventure","tag-animation","tag-batman","tag-dc-comics","tag-fantasy","tag-justice-league","tag-science-fiction","tag-sequel","tag-superman","tag-supernatural","tag-thriller","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36594,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36592\/revisions\/36594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}