Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Review

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Review

By Dov Smiley

Full Disclosure. I love DC Animated movies more than any live action movie. They get to me as a comic book fan like nothing else can and I love watching every new movie that comes out. This month, the newest installment of these films, Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis came out marking the 22^nd consecutive DC Direct animation movie. This movie is the first, long form telling of Aquaman’s origin and is clever in incorporating the cool new aspects of the New 52 Aquaman story by writer Geoff Johns.

Comic Art by Ivan Reis 

A bit of context before the review:

Since 2007, DC Comics has released three different animated films based on their comic book properties a year. All of these movies are between one hour to ninety minutes long and in their eight-year lifespan; they have varied in approach and attempt. Now, after maintaining less than stellar sales numbers (if you’ve ever watched these movies illegally, for shame good sir or madam, for shame), the new approach has been to create movies that continue the same story with the Justice League. Throne of Atlantis is special since it is the first direct continuation of a past standalone film entitled Justice League: War. This means that the relationships and story beats carry over, in ways past movies never needed to.

Personally, I am less a fan of this continuity than when the movies stood by themselves. Any added value in evolving the characters means that any weakness from past movies comes with the new movies. War was one of my least favorites of these movies, and the same flaws are in Atlantis. It is the same writer who has very distinct ways of writing these characters, often missing the mark for me. The plot does not have enough heart seen in past movies. Ultimately I do wish that Throne of Atlantis could be it’s own Aquaman story, and try to tell the story it wanted instead of taking the good and bad of past movies.

Granted I do not blame the creators of the movie for this. For over 8 years, this group has created wonderful DC Comics movies and taken exciting challenges with some of comic’s greatest stories. Low sales have determined that only Batman, Superman and Justice League movies sell in home video markets. This means for a character like Aquaman, the creators are not allowed to market anything other than these three, without using the entire Justice League. These films started before Netflix and other streaming services. After so long with such inconsistent sales numbers, they had to change the way that they used this medium. DC currently does not have the TV network support it needs to launch an animated TV show right now. In past years, great DC cartoons like Young Justice and Green Lantern were canceled because they did not meet the needs of their network’s young demographics. That means DC’s only current way to tell these tales and expand their cartoon library with new characters is through these direct market movies. I really think that is the world these stories live in, and that is how I am judging these stories moving forward.

But for the review: The movie itself is a fun, if safe way to explore the world of Aquaman. The Aquaman legend and the various characters from the comic are shown in the entire splendor they deserve. The animation as always is top of the line beautiful and this film features true panoramic beauty. Once we see Atlantic politics in action (Personified by the great Sam Witwer as Orm) this becomes a world I want to visit more. Hearing Aquaman being called a “Bastard King” rings too close to Game Of Thrones, but I really had fun in those scenes. The Atlantis of the DC Universe is violent and dangerous, and this movie shows that without the heroic Arthur Curry the world is in great danger from this underwater civilization. And that is the most interesting lesson of the movie. Aquaman is pretending to be a king, which in some ways might make him a great leader in time.

The best parts of the story are the growing relationships between the characters. Watching Mera, Arthurs future wife defend a young and oblivious Arthur is a wonder to behold. The best part of these movies has been the creative ways the female superheroes fight, and Mera is in a league of her own. She is the original “Water-Bender” and seeing her creatively battle and dispatch soldiers with different moves never gets old. The best thing recurring from War is watching Cyborg grow into a more realized character. It is great matching him with the youthful Shazam who warns him to stay human, unlike Cyborg’s overbearing father from the first movie. I really enjoyed the Superman- Wonder Woman date in this movie. I do not think that the writer really nails Superman’s voice, but I thought his Wonder Woman was a huge improvement from War (Helped hugely by the great Rosario Dawson this time around).

Hands down the weakest characterization here is Batman. Now lots of people out there are blasting Jason O’Mara’s voiceover for the sin of not being Kevin Conroy (a sin all future Batmen will have to bare). I personally do not mind the voice, but I don’t think that O’Mara can do anything as long as his dialogue is written so badly. Remember half the reason Conroy is the perfect Batman is because the man got to say the greatest Batman lines ever (I Am Vengeance, I Am The Night! Comes to mind…), and as long as O’Mara keeps getting lines like this he won’t be winning over many fans. His opening scene where he tries to yell at Green Lantern is cringe-worthily bad. I am okay with him being my Batman for the next few movies but the screenwriter has to say some of these lines out loud himself before he throws them on the poor actor.

The movie opens far stronger than it closes. Until the final battle I was on board with everything, but the final fight against Atlantis falls flat. There are cool moves but there is nothing about the final battle worthy of remembrance. The biggest moment where the film lost me was when it deviates from the source material. In the original comic book, the Atlantians can destroy the city by creating massive title waves. This almost happens in the film, but the waves never crash and the finale is a far more generic fight scene between the League and faceless Atlantian soldiers. This leaves the most negative feeling of the whole movie.

I re-watching the film and was surprised how much I enjoyed everything up until the finally. The way the League defeats the villain feels especially anti-climactic. This makes the whole experience feel more like a solid Justice League episode, rather than the movies we have grown to appreciate in this series. Hopefully, the team will push for greater spectacle in the future.

Overall, Throne of Atlantis is definitely a fun way to check out Aquaman, and besides a lackluster finale is a fun ride into the DC Universe. Now that these movies are tied together like never before, the hope is that the weaknesses can be improved upon rather than carried over. I am hopeful this will happen, until DC’s success in animation can find the newer distribution platforms out there it deserves.

Dov Smiley is an independent comic book publisher and founder of the Smiley Spot. His current works can be found at jonahcomic.com, as well as amazon under the same name. His full portfolio can be found at dovsmiley.blogspot.com

My take on Aquaman's Throne Room