Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie Review

Warner Brothers re-released 'Justice League: The New Frontier' mere weeks before the live action Justice League hit theaters back in October 2017. Dubbed the 'Commemorative Edition" (joining Wonder Woman with that label) this release adds a few new extras, loses a few from the 2008 release, and features new video and audio encodes. DVD and digital copies are also included this time around.

Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For its "Commemorative Edition" Blu-ray release, Warner Brothers has shaken things up a bit for Justice League: The New Frontier, ditching the 2008 Blu-ray's antiquated VC1-encoded presentation in favor of the more efficient AVC encode. If there's a significant difference I cannot say without access to a copy of the original, but this 1080p presentation largely falls in-line with other DC animated ventures, largely satisfying beyond the frequent and oftentimes heavy banding that appears almost anywhere and everywhere, predominately across skies and other solid swaths of color but even extended into character models on a couple of occasions. The random jagged edge is apparent here and there, too, but it's the banding that is the image's real drawback. On the plus side, colors are extremely well saturated. Take a look in a casino in chapter three. Intense greens, well defined purples, and deep blues are amongst the highlights in the scene, and the positive color presentation carries through the whole film on superhero uniforms and across various environments. Image clarity is additionally a strength, and the film benefits from the added definition the 1080p resolution affords the material and the stability it further affords the material. Crisp character renditions and well defined environments, whether bleak interiors or well lit exteriors, are the norm. This is a very enjoyable image beyond the problematic banding, though even that is not quite enough to entirely sour an otherwise very agreeable presentation.

Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Justice League: The New Frontier's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is new for this Commemorative Edition and replaces the previous release's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Again, this review is based on this presentation only and is not a compare-and-contrast with the previous issue, though it's doubtful much, if anything, has changed over the last decade or so. The musical presentation is excellent. Clarity is strong with individual instruments detailed within the orchestra. Spacing is large, particularly along the front, and a solid low end accompaniment lends critical weight to the presentation. There is some positive zip through the stage as two jet fighters zoom over Korea at film's start and the gunfire and the explosion to follow are impressively weighty. Likewise, Flash's rapid maneuverings allow for some enjoyable zip throughout the stage, with positive and seamless surround integration. Action scenes continue to deliver similar sound elements, with large-scale stage involvement that draws the listener into the on-screen action. Ambient effects are more limited, but the main end music and action details, along with polished and perfectly position dialogue, make this track a winner.

Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Justice League: The New Frontier contains a few new extras but also subtracts a few, including the preview look at Batman Gotham Knight and the trio of Justice League bonus episodes. For review of carryover content, please click here. New material is marked and reviewed below. This set also ships with DVD and digital copies.

• NEW! Retro Action Cool: The Story of Darwyn Cooke (1080p, 20:38): Another typically excellent look inside DC comics, this time an exploration of the late Cooke's writing and artistic style, his comic evolution as they were influenced by his life stages, his fame, his rise in the industry, integrating real world social issues into his comics, story themes, and more. The piece is constructed of knowing and passionate interviews and plenty of examples of his work.
• Super Heroes United: The Complete Justice League History (480i, 41:07).
• The Legion of Doom: The Pathology of the Super Villain (480i, 34:00).
• Comic Book Commentary: Homage to The New Frontier (480i, 10:16).
• Audio Commentary: With Darwyn Cooke.
• Audio Commentary: With Director David Bullock, Executive Producer Bruce Timm, Writer Stan Berkowitz, Voice Director Andrea Romano, DC Comics' Gregory Noveck, and Supervising Producer Mike Goguen.
• NEW! Trailers: Trailers for the video game Injustice 2 (1080i, 2:22) and the movies Wonder Woman (1080p, 2:34), and Justice League (1080p, 4:03).
• NEW! A Sneak Peek at DC Universe's Next Animated Movie (1080p, 8:30): A preview for Gotham by Gaslight.

Justice League: The New Frontier Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Justice League: The New Frontier is a complex and enjoyable Superhero film that, even at 75 minutes in length, is unafraid of deliberate pacing in both story construction and character development. Action shapes the final act, but the build-up is a rewarding study of the culture and politics of the post-war era within the context of superhero-dom, aliens, and human interactions and relationships. The film sees hero origins and the origins of the title consortium that culminates in a violent final act that pits humans and heroes against "The Center." It's good stuff, though the film could've probably benefited from a modest increase in runtime to flesh out its various storylines with a little more substance and clarity, particularly for those new for relatively new to the DC Universe. Warner Brothers' "Commemorative Edition" re-release gains a few new extras, loses a few more, and bolsters its tech credentials with MPEG-4 video and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless audio. Highly recommended, particularly in the very attractive SteelBook variant.