Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One, 2024.
Directed by Jeff Wamester.
Featuring the voice talents of Matt Bomer, Darren Criss, Jensen Ackles, Stana Katic, Nolan North, Meg Donnelly, Jimmi Simpson, Zachary Quinto, Ike Amadi, Aldis Hodge, Jonathan Adams, Geoffrey Arend, Zack Callison, Alexandra Daddario, Alastair Duncan, Matt Lanter, Ato Essandoh, Cynthia Hamidi, Erika Ishii, David Kaye, Ashleigh LaThrop, Liam Mcintyre, Lou Diamond Phillips, Keesha Sharp and Harry Shum Jr.
SYNOPSIS
Death is coming. Worse than death: oblivion. Not just for our Earth, but for everyone, everywhere, in every universe! Against this ultimate destruction, the mysterious Monitor has gathered the greatest team of Super Heroes ever assembled. But what can the combined might of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and hundreds of Super Heroes from multiple Earths even do to save all of reality from an unstoppable antimatter armageddon?!
DC’s animated Tomorrowverse is coming to an end in an epic fashion with a three-part adaptation of the classic and groundbreaking event series Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolvman and the late great George Perez. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One is an entertaining film containing a lot of heart as it follows several characters, but most notably The Flash, as they must all come together to prevent a threat that could wipe out not just their universe but all of the multiverse.
Though this marks another adaptation of Crisis after the massive CW crossover of the Arrowverse series (not to mention another Flash-centric story to save the multiverse after last year’s The Flash) in the last few years, there is plenty different between the live-action and animated adaptations for fans to enjoy, especially since this is just the first of three animated films set on telling the sprawling multiversal adventure. Part one of Crisis tells a pretty character driven story amid the colossal peril the multiverse faces as Flash travels through various times and universes to prevent the end of all worlds, exploring Flash’s past and his connections to his fellow Justice Leaguers as well as his wife Iris West.
The film’s pacing takes a little bit to get going as Flash hops through different points of time in his life. While it’s clear there is something bigger going on, it seems more like a series of short, separate adventures from the Justice League’s early days that seemingly don’t connect. It’s not until around the halfway point the scope of the threat is described in greater detail and the multiverse comes together to prevent its destruction.
Despite that, it’s still engaging for exploring those early days as we get to fully see how the Justice League first formed, connecting back to the post-credits scene from Batman: The Long Halloween and how Flash, Superman, Batman and Green Arrow recruited their teammates. The non-linear structure of the story as Flash jumps back-and-forth between time points also adds to its intrigue into how certain events and characters are significant to the story’s potential conflict and resolution.
As for The Flash, he is the central character of Part One and carries the film. Much of the plot hinges on his actions and emotional arc, particularly in his relationship to Iris, and Matt Bomer does an excellent job reprising the role. The Flash has often been regarded as the heart of the DC Universe and Bomer captures this in many ways with Flash’s humour, intelligence and compassion. His performance is the standout of the film and he shares many heartfelt moments between Flash and Iris, played by Ashleigh LaThrop. The pair have great chemistry and its easy to see how and why Barry and Iris made such a great couple even with the limited amount we’ve seen of them throughout the Tomorrowverse.
Other cast members, of which there are many with Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One fittingly being the largest ensemble in a DC animated film yet, who stand out include Darren Criss playing two distinct versions of Superman, Liam McIntyre as both Aquaman and Earth-3’s Johnny Quick, and Nolan North as the android Amazo (as well as a brief reprisal of his Green Lantern: Beware My Power role of Hal Jordan).
Jensen Ackles returns as Batman, who remains largely closed off even from his fellow allies. There are a couple moments where Batman is exposed to the people he could have in his life and Ackles makes it clear in his performance, even as Batman keeps up his stoic demeanor, that it has greatly affected him. Criss again embodies everything great about Superman and he does well in his secondary role as the older and wiser Earth-2 Superman. Stana Katic does a great job as Wonder Woman again even if she’s not in quite as much as Part One as she likely will be in the next two parts.
The animation is well done and full of detail whether it’s from the emotions on the characters faces or just the sheer number of heroes included in a single shot as the multiverse finally comes together. Their movements are smooth and the action is very well choreographed and animated, giving each hero their time to shine when multiple members of the Justice League have to fight off Amazo and a surprise villain. The colours are vibrant and varied in each set piece, from Metropolis’ setting sun outside the Hall of Justice to the Monitor’s satellite that overlooks the multiverse. Its style is very nice to look at and fairly distinct from the previous films in the Tomorrowverse.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One is the beginning of an ambitious finale for the Tomorrowverse, but it meets its expectations well. While not a page-to-page adaptation of the comic the same spirit is there as room is found to fit this massive event in the context of this series’ continuity and keeping the focus on its characters. Fans of The Flash will be very pleased by Bomer’s portrayal and how significant the Scarlet Speedster is to the plot as well as this universe’s history.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One arrives on Blu-ray and 4K from January 23rd, 2024.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
