"Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two" Animated Release Talkback (Spoilers)

[Heeroyuy_Batman]

Wow, did I actually like something you guys didn't? Neat! What you guys always gotta be so negative?

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part Two

I liked it. Probably not as much as the first part, but keep in mind the first part has a different dynamic than this one will, and the next part will have a different dynamic than them both. The first part is the beginning. The next part is the ending. This part is an awkward middle child, starting with a half-hour of back-and-forths between quiet scenes of Kara on Monitor's ship, and Psycho-Pirate relating his life story to Dr. Fate. It is by design less satisfying than the last part and the next. It has no beginning and it has no ending. And it's a little hard to judge it fairly because of that. What I will do is not judge it harshly. Not take out my frustrations with the cliffhanger on the movie itself. Maybe I should. But I won't.

I was kind of hoping for more explicit Multiverse cameos, but Will Friedle as Batman Beyond and Matt Ryan being revealed as John Constantine are still pretty big gets. Still furious over how dirty DC did John on Legends Of Tomorrow. Hopefully the next part will give Matt Ryan a more satisfying final performance to go out on.

Not loving that Amazon world. It struck me as fascist and genocidal fascism at that.

Speaking of which, I love Psycho-Pirate calmly, and in a rational tone of voice saying he loves Nazis. The brainwashing is already done, you see. That guy has a great and creepy voice, and they hired an actor I don't know to do it. I love whenever a project gets an A-grade performance out of a scale actor, She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power were infamous for famously having better and more believably dramatic performances from the lower paid Canadian actors than just about any American animated drama ensemble cast you can think of. I love when that stuff works out. The last Legion Of Super Heroes movie has an amazingly cast Brainiac I had never heard of too.

I love that the tone is not too vulgar or too violent. It doesn't draw attention to itself the way other adult DC projects invariably do. I'm sort of sitting back riveted instead, which is the proper reaction they want to wring out of me.

I very much thought it was a great connector between the first and last parts. The last part has a lot to live up to. ****1/2.

Part Three Sneak Peek:

It's of a scene of the Justice League fighting dinosaurs, because Jim Krieg knows what the people want to see. ****.

Edit:

It's the structure that's throwing you guys. Everything in a middle part of a three part film feels out of balance for not having a beginning or an ending, and it's less exciting for drama and pathos, and more focused on setting up the pieces of the big finale. It's not an easy movie to enjoy or grade on its own. If the last part is as good as I think it will be, your views on it will change.

I gave it a positive review because it was structurally putting the right pieces in place for a satisfying finale. It was doing it's job as the unloved and unheralded middle child / part properly. But nobody will thank Krieg for it until the entire thing is over.

Edit 2

The job of the second part of a three part film is not to narratively satisfy you. By definition it cannot. Make peace with that.

I totally agree with you. I really liked the movie. I loved the parts with Psycho-Pirate, the Monitor, and Supergirl/Harbinger. I love the changes made to the lore. IMO, these changes make these characters better than they were in the original CoIE. I really love what they've done with John Constantine and how they are using Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (and Constantine: House of Mystery) to set up the Crisis. I also like the connections to the other Tomorrowverse movies and the Kamandi and Blue Beetle shorts. Not only is this movie a part of a trilogy, but it's part of a much larger arc. The Tomorrowverse should really be considered a ten episode miniseries with some shorts which are connected into the storyline. I liked the Kamandi scenes. The Bat Family and the Wonder Woman scenes were okay, but disappointing to me.

Okay, I guess those hyped for Terry's return will be very disappointed as it sound like it just a very brief cameo. So, I guess the Conroy Batman/Hammill Joker in part 3 will be just as disappointing?

Me too. Not only that, the Bat Family bonus feature seems to suggest that Batman Beyond is not from the DCAU, but is rather from a world based on the comic books. Another thing that disappointed me is that it was never said which universes Batgirl, Robin V (Damian), Batwing, or Batman Beyond came from.

 

[#TeamMike]

Okay, I guess those hyped for Terry's return will be very disappointed as it sound like it just a very brief cameo. So, I guess the Conroy Batman/Hammill Joker in part 3 will be just as disappointing?

He has exactly 3 lines of dialogue, so yes.

It did make me smile when he said "they were about to slag the whole planet." Appreciated the BB slang term.

 

[Medinnus]

I found it pretty, but tediously slow-paced.

(deleted non-part 2 comments and speculation)

 

[RoyalRubble]

Pretty good movie though not quite as entertaining as Part One. Even once the action really kicks in, it's not quite as exciting. But it's not like this was a complete waste of time. There were some good bits in there, like exploring more character backgrounds, connecting more dots between the previous movies, and setting the stage for the grand finale. It's a good thing this is a trilogy, otherwise the other parts would have probably turned out worse (well, I presume Part Three will be better).

I don't have a lot to comment but among the things I liked the most were Constantine regaining (part of) his memories, Psycho Pirate revealed to have been Doctor Spectro, and Batman Beyond/Terry. Though the latter didn't do or say much, and when he did it was mostly arguing and fighting the rest of the Bat-Family assembled here. But it was pretty cool seeing him again.

All things considered, this was a decent interlude until Part Three comes out. Looking forward to that one.

 

[Yojimbo]

One of the special features Voices in Crisis was officially posted:

 

[Frontier]

One of the special features Voices in Crisis was officially posted:

At least the voice cast enjoyed making it and put their all in their performances .

 

[wonderfly]

The News Teams' Christopher Glennon has a new review on the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Review: Justice League – Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two: A Crisis of Character"​

"Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths is a trilogy, which is a rarity when it comes to animated superhero movies. The first movie did a lot to set the stage. In a non-linear story, we followed the Flash as he learns about an anti-matter wave making its way through multiple Earths and ends up working with the Monitor and his multiversal think tank of heroes trying to combat the wave. Flash gives his life constructing a tower to phase his Earth safely through the wave, but the threats to all Earths isn’t over.

Part One left us with questions like where did the anti-matter wave come from? What’s up with Harbinger actually being Supergirl? Who is Pariah? Who are some of these people and what other Earths are at stake? Depending on how important these questions are to you will determine how much you enjoy Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two.

You’d expect that with the scope of something like Crisis, we would get to know loads of characters. However, these movies have been focusing on the stories of selected individuals. The last movie was about the Flash and his heroic career. The bulk of this movie goes to Supergirl, expanding her story even beyond the Legion of Super Heroes movie, and Psycho-Pirate, an Earth-hopping villain."

Read the full review here.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Part Two will be added to Max on July 15th.