Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two

I gave "Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two" a go after not really enjoying the first. To be honest, I was hoping for a rebound because I want to like the concept. About ten minutes in, I started wishing that I hadn't turned it on. Stubbornly, I persisted but I'm done now. Won't bother with the third one. A great cast of voices (including Jensen Ackles and Darren Criss) are not given all that much to work with, unfortunately. Like with the first instalment, the plot is disjointed and convoluted, and although it features a lot of great DC characters, they really don't have all that much to do. A huge missed opportunity.

Now the first part of the movie is great. Kara, Psycho Pirate, Harbinger, Monitor were essential to the Crisis Saga. It is great to see them fleshed out in this reimagination. The new harbinger twist is great and connects the story better than the original version.

Then as the movie progresses it gets mired in the shadow demon arc in a bad way. Instead of focusing on telling a good story and trusting in it, you notice how DC falls back to it's safe space, pandering to its base by fanservicing popular characters like the Batfamily and Wonder Woman despite their irrelevance at the point in the story. An endless boring fightscene is only rarely interrupted for plot progression. Now strategically, DC probably know what they are doing. They know their fanbase well and if Batman is here they will come. But from a storytelling perspective and for the quality of the movie, it is a terrible decision.

Also, the animation quality needs to step into this millenia.

Just 90 minutes of continuously boring and incompetent writing. It's true when reviewers state that spoilers can't be posted because nothing actually happens to be spoiled.

Just one of the many examples of the incompetence in the writing is Superman needs Supergirl's help to simply blow out a fire while he needs to just weld one wire connection to fix the problem. When he can move at the speed of The Flash. A task that could have been completed by him in less time than it took him to say "Ok, Kara. Hit it." The 90 minutes are just full of shamefully written scenes like these by James Krieg.

It's absolutely inconceivable why this "project" requires a 3 movie set. Let alone got the production of just 1 movie approved.

Shame on you, Krieg, for accepting a paycheck for this stuff. 3 out of 10 is being generous.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Tomorrowverse saga, but each film that's come out thus far has been relatively decent. Until Warworld. Just like that film, is this a long episode or an actual movie? Personally, I like long story arcs that continues across separate entries, but this continuation can't be so much of the focus that it hurts the individual film itself. While parts one, two and eventually three are in the actual title, each release needs to be able to stand on its own. They failed at that here.

The entire thing kind of drags. While the parts containing Kara, Psycho Pirate and the Monitor are interesting, the way these events are put together hinders momentum. That, along with the monotonous color palette combines to create a sense of meandering and stagnation. At one point I actually paused the film just to see how much of it was left, something I never do for any film worth watching and the first time I've done so for a DC animated one. By the time the lukewarm cliffhanger hits, you simply feel nothing about it.

There have been a lot of criticism about the art style for Tomorrowverse, and while I can confidently say style is subjective and not indicative of true quality, some of the scenes in this film and the ones prior appear to have been rather hastily or even lazily done. A fight happening in the background put there with the absolute minimum effort because, who's going to stare at that? Or someone wiping their face simply with a hand motion sans any of the facial mannerisms to match. Things like this scream budget, effort, or time issues and it absolutely hurts the final product.

I love DC Comics and the animated films/series that have come from them, but this film and a few before it have been disappointing. Even if part three turns out to be amazing, it won't save this one nor justify the time spent to get there.

The premise of Crisis Part 1 was intriguing enough to wait for this sequel, but I was mislead. Part 2 is dry, convoluted, disjointed and just plain subpar for DC. Disposal characters come and go. Storylines are hinted at and then left unfinished. Overstuffed and bloated theatrics that leaves the viewer starving for real substance. Such a disappointment as there was so much material to work with and work from. I stopped caring about plot points and character development within the first 30 minutes. I suffered through the entirety to make sure it didn't uptick in the final waning moments. Trust me. It just didn't stick the landing.