JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: APOKOLIPS WAR

RELEASED OUT NOW! 2020 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD/download

Directors Matt Peters,

Christina Sotta

Cast Jerry O’Connell, Matt Ryan, Taissa Farmiga, Rebecca Romjin

DC’s line of animated superhero movies have been doing their own interconnected shared universe thing since 2013’s Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. But despite the title – and the presence of Matt Ryan as JLD leader John Constantine – this isn’t really a sequel to 2017’s Justice League Dark animation. Instead, it’s a sprawling Endgame-style team-up between pretty much every DC character you can think of, all set off after Darkseid defeats the Justice League and invades Earth.

While the apocalyptic smackdown that follows is frequently dumb and sometimes needlessly excessive, the film’s overblown, anythinggoes approach is weirdly entertaining, and the sky-high stakes combined with a high body-count mean it’s difficult to predict which familiar hero might cark it next.

This fast-paced finale doesn’t capture the storytelling sharpness and creativity of the best superhero titles, but as comic-book spectacles go, it’s a surprising amount of fun.

Extras An enjoyable short featuring Adam Strange (10 minutes); directors/writer/ producer commentary; three classic animated DC episodes; three featurettes; preview of the next DCU movie. Saxon Bullock