As is sometimes the case when you write a review, one does not have the fortune of doing everything in its exact order. I was extremely excited when I found out I was reviewing the second part of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earth. 4K steelbooks are pretty hard to come by for review copies, and I was quite elated. One little problem: I had not been able to watch the first part of this planned trilogy. As I racked my brain and started to flip through some streaming channels, I was very fortunate to come upon HBO Max, which had placed the first part on their service only a few days ago. Sometimes, it pays to be lucky more so than good. Let’s take a look at the second part and see if it can start to answer the questions left behind from the first.
Note: Since I found myself in the predicament of scrounging around to watch the first part of this trilogy (due to the short time between releases), there is the off chance that a few people who have not watched the first part might want to read the review of the second. Therefore, I will focus solely on the second part. Some minor spoilers will probably find their way into the review, but they will be far less numerous than in typical multi-part stories.
A man laughs hysterically. As we look around, it appears we are at a super top-secret site. In the shadows, we can see the outline of a bat-like human prowling the perimeter. All of a sudden, we recognize the man who was laughing to be dressed as the Joker. However, a couple of batarangs later put the cackling menace on his back with Batman (voiced by Jensen Ackles) standing over him. But upon closer observation, it’s not the Joker; it’s actually Jim Gordon. Batman tries to give him an antidote, but it’s too late as Jim laughs and fades away.
Batman realizes this trick was a diversion as a tank with the real Joker (voiced by Troy Baker) comes rumbling towards him. Joker pushes a button, and what’s left of Jim Gordon is rigged to blow. Batman is able to escape before the detonation goes off. Killer Croc emerges to take care of soldiers from the base who have joined the fight. The Joker has more help in the form of Solomon Grundy. These two muscleheads keep Batman at bay while Joker loads up a shot to take out the magnetic energy tower behind him. As Batman struggles to get past Grundy and Croc, he screams at his legendary foe to not do ,or else the planet will fall.
All of the sudden, a grenade drops into the tank of the Joker. He escapes from the tank only to find himself at the feet of Robin (voiced by Zach Callison) and the Huntress (voiced by Erika Ishii). But other members of the Bat family are here too, including Batgirl (voiced by Gideon Adlon), Damian Wayne (also voiced by Zach Callison), and none other than Batman Beyond (voiced by Will Friedle). They proceed to take care of Killer Croc and Solomon Grundy. As the members of the Bat family huddle around the hurt Batman, they ask what has happened to the Flash and whether he is missing. Batman does not know, and he fears that Flash might be dead.
Elsewhere, Psycho Pirate (voiced by Geoffrey Arend) talks to a bearded, shadowy figure he refers to as Doctor. He talks about his youth as Charles Halstead and how he was bullied by his classmates. He later discovered he was what he refers to as a “Hyper Empath”, one who feeds off the emotions of others and is able to manipulate them through those feelings. Eventually, he would take those powers and use them to enslave people.
Somewhere in the throes of space and reality, Monitor (voiced by Jonathan Adams) is seen looking over the universe in his ship. He sees the remains of a Kryptonian vessel with a girl inside that has become lodged to his own ship. He asks his onboard computer known as Satellite (voiced by David Kaye) to remove it at once. Satellite dislodges the ship, but brings the girl inside to safety. Monitor is frustrated with the fact that another sentient being has invaded his space but decides to let the girl stay with him for the time being. The girl is known as Kara Zor-el, or we will come to know her as Supergirl (voiced by Meg Donnelly).
Throughout this second part, we learn about the growing parental-type relationship between Monitor and Supergirl as well put together how Psycho Pirate fits into the overall plot. This is done against the backdrop of the Crisis with imminent danger affecting all Earths in the multi-verse. Many others from the DC pool of supers are featured in this part including John Stewart (voiced by Aldis Hodge) and Dr. Light (voiced by Erika Ishii). There is also an interesting subplot on a different Earth with Kamandi (voiced by Will Friedle) and Solovar (voiced by Darin De Paul).
One of the things I had trouble with in the first part was the constant shifting of time periods, since it was primarily a Flash story. In this second story, that quiets down considerably, and while there are subplots, I had zero trouble following the story and on-screen action. It’s exciting, interesting, and made me jump out of my seat at a couple of points. There is real drama here, and it moves well without sacrificing the action that many traditional DC animation junkies crave for these features. The film leads to an explosive and gripping finale that makes me wish the third part was already available.
Video
The video is in 1.78:1 widescreen in HEVC / H.265 in a native 4K Presentation with HDR10. It’s housed on a BD-66. Mbps averages about the mid-fifties, but due to the short length of the film (and very short extras), it doesn’t even come close to using all of the available space. Despite that fact, though, the film has a nice crystal-clear picture with detail as necessary. The colors are well done, and even though the story changes in pace from the first film, the animation does not.
In particular, this film is set a lot at night or in very dark situations. I never felt the detail or brightness suffered in this situation, as each Earth had its own distinct flavor despite being the same planet. Saturation was on point, and I felt the quality of the black levels was on point or better than that of similar animated features.
Audio
The primary audio for this one is Dolby DTS HD MA 5.1 (English). There are also French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are provided in English SDH, Dutch, Spanish, and French. Dialog is very important here, and there were no issues that I could find in hearing the various members of the Justice League or any of the other characters. Heck, for the last half hour I forgot to turn back on subtitles and had no issues at all, which is extremely rare for me.
Surrounds are used quite frequently here with hums of a helicopter, a submarine taking on water, or the evil shadowy creatures as examples of great and detailed effects. I felt very immersed during the course of the picture, and your sub should get some workout as well. Could we have benefited from the rear channels a little more? Sure, but honestly, given the nature of the story, this is a very fun track to listen to.
Special Features
- Voices in Crisis 8:19: In this featurette, we talk to Aldis Hodge (John Stewart (Green Lantern)), Meg Donnelly (Super Girl), and Jonathan Adams (Monitor) on the way they approached their voice work for Crisis on Infinite Earths. As a personal note, I was very impressed with Hodge’s work during Green Lantern: Beware My Power as well as this film. Nice featurette, but could have been longer and maybe included others from the voice cast.
- The Bat-Family of the Multiverse 8:25: One of the main stories from the second part of Crisis on Infinite Earths is the history of the Bat Family. They go into each character (Robin (Dick Grayson), Huntress, Batwing, Batgirl, Batman Beyond, and Damian Wayne) in their relation to the Crisis story and how they fit based on their comic history. Some such as Batwing or Damian Wayne weren’t around during the original Crisis story from the comics, but they were able to be integrated here. Can I just say, I would be first in line for an actual animated movie of the Bat Family? Book it, Warner Bros!
- Part Three Sneak Peak 1:19: A scene involving Aquaman and Lois Lane from the third part. It spoils nothing, to be honest, and can be watched at any time.
- NOTE: As had been the norm lately, this does not come with a Blu-ray, but the 4Kdisc does have the special features. The steelbook looks great, and there is a Movies Anywhere Digital Code (pay attention to the expiration date though; most Warner DC’s are expiring on the due date now).
Final Thoughts
The first part of this film dropped on January 23rd, the second on the same day of April. One has to think that come late July 2024, we will have the third part on our doorsteps (which I honestly hope I am able to review). The second part of this story really takes the overall plot in a slightly different direction and delivery. We jump from the time travel loops to a more balanced and thought-out story. This is still faithful to the original production even though we have more questions than perhaps even The Question himself could communicate by the closing credits. I really hope that confusion is cleared up in the third act and we get a satisfying conclusion.
The steelbook itself is quite nice to look at, and the disc technically is one of the better ones I have seen from Warner Bros animation. The video and audio are fantastic. However, I would be lying if I didn’t wish for more expansive featurettes and perhaps a commentary or two from either the voice cast or production crew (or both). Maybe part three will remedy that. I certainly recommend this one to fans of DC animation as long as they have viewed the first part (though it’s not 100% required). See you in July, hopefully. Enjoy.
