Saturday, July 29, 2023

Justice Society World War II (2021)

Barry Allen is having a lunch date with Iris West in Metropolis.  While having a serious talk, an explosion happens.  The Flash rushes off and finds Superman in battle with Brainiac.  They decide to team up.  Brainiac loads a small missile with kryptonite and shoots it at Superman.  The Flash sees it, and runs faster than he ever has before, breaking an interdimensional barrier.  He ends up in WW 2, watching a battle between the Justice Society of America and ratzis.  Wonder Woman accosts him, but soon they realize he is not a ratzi.  Jay Garrick believes Barry is from the future.  They have to stop a plot from Atlantis from helping the ratzis conquer the US.  The adviser has tricked Aquaman into it.  Arthur brings up some undersea monsters to help.  In between all this, Barry realizes he is on a different Earth, not his own past.  Eventually, they free Aquaman from the control of the Psycho Pirate, and Barry returns to his world.

This was a good movie.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I am a little over Barry breaking through dimensions, but I guess he is pretty much the only one that can do it.  It was great to see different versions of the heroes, including Carter Hall and Clark Kent.  A very young Black Canary is present, and she is in love with Hawkman.  Steve Trevor is the liaison with the JSA, and ends up dead.  So does Hawkman, but he is not worried.  And Superman finally appears.

The acting is really good, the story flows well and the colors are beautiful.  The animation is good, though I would have liked the designs to be a little more "40s" the characters are well done.  Poor Kent Nelson, though.  The whole thing end with Barry asking Superman if they should form a team, a club or maybe a league to help fight larger menaces.  Barry says he has been the Flash for years already.

I liked that there was no Batman at all in this.  That was a pretty brave choice, and bold not to use him.  There are some fun extras, including a Kamandi short, which I would watch.  It was done in a Kirby style, and Kilk Klak was there!  The chat with the creators was interesting, but I was most intrigued by them wanting to do "A Flash of Two Worlds".  Now I really want to see that, done in Infantino style!
 

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