Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Justice League Dark Blu-ray Movie Review

Get Constantine

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 5, 2017

Justice League Dark (or "JLD") is the twenty-eighth entry in the animated DC Universe, and like its immediate predecessor, Batman: The Killing Joke, it has been stamped with a well-deserved R rating for extreme violence. But JLD is a far superior film, and not just because it features a bevy of lesser known DC characters in leading roles. As the live-action Suicide Squad effectively demonstrated, novelty alone doesn't make for an interesting story. Besides the novelty factor, JLD provides a well-told narrative with a clearly articulated "spine" around which to wrap its action set pieces and multiple origin stories. The achievement of director Jay Oliva (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) and writers J.M. DeMatteis (Batman vs. Robin) and Ernie Altbacker (Green Lantern: The Animated Series) is all the more impressive given the size of the cast they manage to keep in play.

The key to their success, and the linchpin of the whole enterprise, is the character of John Constantine: sorcerer, exorcist and insouciant rascal, whose general contempt for humanity doesn't stop him from trying to protect it from evil. Actor Matt Ryan, who played Constantine in the short-lived TV series, returns to voice the character in JLD, and now that he's been freed from the clunky "mythology" with which the series' creators weighed him down, Ryan tears into the role with a relish that is positively demonic. Both literally and figuratively, Ryan's Constantine floats gracefully above the helter-skelter events of JLD, and he carries the movie with him.

All over the world, people are being seized by a delusion that their friends, family and even random people on the street are horrific monsters that must be destroyed. As the death toll mounts, the Justice League convenes and considers the possibility of an occult causation. Batman, ever the rationalist, rejects any supernatural explanation, but he reconsiders after the spirit known as Deadman (a/k/a Boston Brand) invades Wayne Manor, possesses Batman's body and writes the name "Constantine" throughout the mansion. As Batman's guide to the mystic realm, Deadman leads the Caped Crusader to Zatanna, a stage magician whose dazzling Now You See Me-style illusions are, in fact, the product of real magic. Zatanna is also Constantine's ex-girlfriend. With Deadman invisibly accompanying them, she and Batman seek out Constantine's elusive House of Magic, to which the sorcerer has just returned after a contentious poker game with a trio of demons in Las Vegas. (The House of Magic has its own personality, which manifests as a purple figure called "Black Orchid".)

As this tentative confederation investigates the worldwide outbreak of madness, they are eventually led to a magic gem known as the Dreamstone, which was created centuries ago by an ancient sorcerer known as Destiny. Destiny is believed to have been rendered harmless in the Middle Ages by the wizard Merlin, but someone has revived the Dreamstone and its powers here in the present. Constantine's old friend, Ritchie Simpson, points the team toward a likely suspect, a powerful sorcerer named Felix Faust, but Constantine himself may share in the blame, because he currently holds a piece of the Dreamstone as part of his winnings from the poker-playing demons. Other key players in the adventure include Etrigan, the demon whom Merlin summoned to defeat Destiny all those years ago and who now inhabits the body of Jason Blood, one of Constantine's many frenemies; Swamp Thing, guardian of the earth's plant life, who here makes his first appearance in the animated DCU; and Batman's fellow Justice League members.

JLD is so stuffed with characters and outrageous incidents (including a stomach-turning attack by a giant monster made of excrement) that it routinely teeters on the edge of chaos, but director Oliva and his writers always manage to pull it back from the brink and maintain the narrative flow. Constantine remains the resourceful and sardonic center of this spiritual storm, while Zatanna and others continually bait and insult him. Meanwhile, a skeptical Batman stands on the sidelines, dispassionately observing. (His repeated one-syllable expression of doubt and disbelief—"Mmm!"—becomes a running joke.) By the end of the story, the threat has been neutralized, and the Justice League has a new member.

JLD surrounds Matt Ryan's Constantine with an impressive array of voice talent. Jason O'Mara, Jerry O'Connell and Rosario Dawson return as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, respectively. Zatanna is voiced by Grey's Anatomy's Camilla Luddington, and Deadman's wisecracks are delivered by NYPD Blue's Nicholas Turturro. The film's two evil sorcerer-villains are given appropriately theatrical intensity by veterans Alfred Molina ("Destiny") and Enrico Colantoni ("Felix Faust"), while Jeremy Davies, who has a knack for making small parts memorable, supplies the voice of Constantine's dying friend, Ritchie.

Justice League Dark Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of Justice League Dark maintains the style and quality of its previous DCU animated features, with clean lines, solid blacks and reliable contrast. The "real world" scenes feature the familiar muted palette of the animated DCU, while manifestations of magic receive brighter, more saturated hues. As noted in the extras, director Oliva established specific color values to distinguish good magic from bad, with an additional variation for Constantine's spells, which fall somewhere in between. The result is some of the liveliest imagery yet seen in the animated DCU.

Warner's animation group continues to starve its bitrates, mastering JLD at an average rate of 16.99 Mbps. While I didn't notice any artifacts, not even the minor banding that has been a frequent, if fleeting, guest in the animated DCU, one cannot help but wonder how much better the Blu-ray presentation might look with higher rates that take full advantage of the available digital real estate. JLD and its extras occupy only 31.4 GB of a BD-50, leaving approximately 12 GB of unused, wasted space.

Justice League Dark Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Justice League Dark's 5.1 sound track, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, is an aggressive and active affair that takes full advantage of the story's supernatural landscape to create imaginative sound design. The film has far more rear-channel activity than is typically found in the animated DCU, with off-screen dialogue frequently emanating from the surround speakers, and effects both magical and superheroic panning from front to back and even between left and right rears. The dialogue is clearly rendered, and the energetic soundtrack by Robert J. Kral, who scored most of the episodes of Joss Whedon's vampire series, Angel, blends effectively with the mystical proceedings.

Justice League Dark Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras look more substantial than they are, because half of them are recycled from previous discs.

• A Sneak Peak at Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (1080p; 1.78:1; 11:41): Coming soon.



• The Story of Swamp Thing (1080p; 1.78:1; 18:02): Featuring Len Wein, co-creator of the character.



• Did You Know? (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:26): Constantine's origin; the color scheme of JLD's magic; Black Orchid's origin; how Nicholas Turturro was cast as the voice of Deadman.



• Justice League Dark at New York Comi Con 2016 (1080i; 1.78:1; 26:41): Moderated by Gary Miereanu, the panel consists of character designer Phillip Bourassa, director Jay Oliva, producer James Tucker, Matt Ryan ("Constantine") and Jason O'Mara ("Batman"). Highlights include Ryan's comments on switching from live action to animation and the challenges of reciting spells; and O'Mara's observations on the evolution of his Batman. The final portion is devoted to audience questions.



• A Sneak Peak at Justice League: Doom (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:17): This 2011 featurette is now more of a retrospective for the thirteenth feature in the animated DCU.



• A Sneak Peak at Justice League: Gods and Monsters (1080p; 1.78:1; 11:07): Another de facto retrospective, this time for the twenty-fourth feature in the animated DCU.



• From the DC Comics Vault: Batman: The Brave and the Bold, "Dawn of the Dead, Man!" (1080p; 1.78:1; 22:43): An episode from Season One, previously released on Blu-ray and reviewed here.



• From the DC Comics Vault: Batman: The Brave and the Bold, "Trials of the Demon!" (1080p; 1.78:1; 22:58): Another episode from Season One, also previously released.



• Trailers: Besides those listed below, at startup the disc plays a trailer for the upcoming live-action Wonder Woman.
• DC All Access App (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:16).
• Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:30).

Justice League Dark Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It took the DCU's animators to give Matt Ryan the episode of Constantine that his outstsanding portrayal deserves, something that the creators of the canceled TV show never managed to deliver. Constantine fans should snap up Justice League Dark at their first opportunity, and newcomers may find themselves inspired to discover Ryan's earlier incarnation of the character. With any luck, the overseers of the DCU will send the smart-aleck sorcerer on further animated adventures, preferably in another adversarial collaboration with the Justice League. Constantine's cynical banter is even more enjoyable with Batman standing nearby, dubiously surveying the supernatural proceedings and darkly muttering his disapproval under his breath. Highly recommended.