PLOT IN A NUTSHELL: When a heroic version of Lex Luthor arrives from another universe to ask the Justice League for help in battling the Crime Syndicate on his world, our favorite heroes find themselves locked in a life and death struggle against evil dopplegangers who'll stop at nothing to get what they want. But who is the greater threat - the thuggish Ultraman (an evil version of Superman) or the cold, cruel calculating Owlman (evil version of Batman)? This was originally planned as being part of the DCAU Justice League/JLU continuity, bridging a gap between the end of Justice League and the beginning of JLU, but for a variety of reasons it never quite came together as it was originally envisioned, so Dwayne McDuffie reworked his own script and turned it into a stand alone feature for the direct to DVD line that DC and Warner Brothers have been working on for the last few years.
For the most part it is an entertaining action adventure with some clever twists on familiar characters and a strong voice cast. James Woods of course is chillingly brilliant as the nihilistic Owlman, with Gina Torres complimenting him as a thoroughly unlikable and sadistic Super Woman (she was also Vixen on JLU). Chris Noth is equally good as the heroic Lex Luthor, and it's a shame he didn't get more recognition for his voice work in this (much like how Aaron Eckhart's work as Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight" was sadly overlooked in favor of the admittedly brilliant turn by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker). William Baldwin takes a little getting used to as the voice of Batman and probably won't make anyone forget fan favorite Kevin Conroy, but he throws out a decent enough performance. What I found interesting about Mark Harmon's Superman was that he gave the Man of Steel a more rural sounding voice, as opposed to previous voice actors such as Tim Daly (from the solo Superman series as well as Public Enemies and Apocalypse), George Newbern (Justice League/JLU), and Kyle MacLachlan (New Frontier) went for more neutral, region-less voices (though there are spots where he sounds a little like Newbern).
Non-celebrity voice actors Vanessa Marshall (Wonder Woman), Josh Keaton (Flash), Jonathan Adams (Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onnzz) and Nolan North (Green Lantern/Hal Jordan & Power Ring) all do solid work - Adams at times sounds uncannily similar to Carl Lumbly, who voiced the Martian Manhunter on Justice League & JLU, which makes one wonder if he was cast based on that. Nolan North though (better known for his voice work on video games and Marvel animation projects) is sadly underused in the double role of Green Lantern and Power Ring (the only actor in the cast to play both the heroic version and the evil doppleganger). While fans disappointed by the lack of Hal Jordan in the DCAU will probably enjoy seeing him for a third time after New Frontier and GL: First Flight, Hal is more of a special effect than a character this time around, which is unfortunate given that North has shown in past roles that he clearly has the ability to play Hal's characterization right on the mark, but I guess after NF & FF they felt it was Hal's turn to merely be 'present & accounted for'.
There were things that could have been done better, of course. They could have done more to show the Justice League being disturbed by their evil parallel selves - Superman in particular should have been shown to be appalled by his evil counterpart Ultraman. On that note, I was disappointed at not getting more of a smack-down between Sueprman and Ultraman during the climax, but I guess they felt Superman's fight had to take a backseat seeing as how they had just done "Public Enemies", which was basically an hour of Superman kicking all kinds of ass left and right. They also could have done more with the working relationship between Superman and the heroic Lex Luthor. Batman saving the day near the end was predictable, but I'll let it slide seeing as how he was mostly absent from the first act and he actually got beaten up quite a bit here by the super-villains and was shown needing to call for help, which is a nice change of pace from him triumphing over more powerful enemies by way of "prep time".
Overall, I give this a 7 out of 10.
For the most part it is an entertaining action adventure with some clever twists on familiar characters and a strong voice cast. James Woods of course is chillingly brilliant as the nihilistic Owlman, with Gina Torres complimenting him as a thoroughly unlikable and sadistic Super Woman (she was also Vixen on JLU). Chris Noth is equally good as the heroic Lex Luthor, and it's a shame he didn't get more recognition for his voice work in this (much like how Aaron Eckhart's work as Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight" was sadly overlooked in favor of the admittedly brilliant turn by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker). William Baldwin takes a little getting used to as the voice of Batman and probably won't make anyone forget fan favorite Kevin Conroy, but he throws out a decent enough performance. What I found interesting about Mark Harmon's Superman was that he gave the Man of Steel a more rural sounding voice, as opposed to previous voice actors such as Tim Daly (from the solo Superman series as well as Public Enemies and Apocalypse), George Newbern (Justice League/JLU), and Kyle MacLachlan (New Frontier) went for more neutral, region-less voices (though there are spots where he sounds a little like Newbern).
Non-celebrity voice actors Vanessa Marshall (Wonder Woman), Josh Keaton (Flash), Jonathan Adams (Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onnzz) and Nolan North (Green Lantern/Hal Jordan & Power Ring) all do solid work - Adams at times sounds uncannily similar to Carl Lumbly, who voiced the Martian Manhunter on Justice League & JLU, which makes one wonder if he was cast based on that. Nolan North though (better known for his voice work on video games and Marvel animation projects) is sadly underused in the double role of Green Lantern and Power Ring (the only actor in the cast to play both the heroic version and the evil doppleganger). While fans disappointed by the lack of Hal Jordan in the DCAU will probably enjoy seeing him for a third time after New Frontier and GL: First Flight, Hal is more of a special effect than a character this time around, which is unfortunate given that North has shown in past roles that he clearly has the ability to play Hal's characterization right on the mark, but I guess after NF & FF they felt it was Hal's turn to merely be 'present & accounted for'.
There were things that could have been done better, of course. They could have done more to show the Justice League being disturbed by their evil parallel selves - Superman in particular should have been shown to be appalled by his evil counterpart Ultraman. On that note, I was disappointed at not getting more of a smack-down between Sueprman and Ultraman during the climax, but I guess they felt Superman's fight had to take a backseat seeing as how they had just done "Public Enemies", which was basically an hour of Superman kicking all kinds of ass left and right. They also could have done more with the working relationship between Superman and the heroic Lex Luthor. Batman saving the day near the end was predictable, but I'll let it slide seeing as how he was mostly absent from the first act and he actually got beaten up quite a bit here by the super-villains and was shown needing to call for help, which is a nice change of pace from him triumphing over more powerful enemies by way of "prep time".
Overall, I give this a 7 out of 10.