Today’s quick review: Justice League: The New Frontier. In the 1950s, heroes like Superman (Kyle MacLachlan), Wonder Woman (Lucy Lawless), and Batman (Jeremy Sisto) contend with a public that distrusts them and a government that keeps them on a short leash. As a new generation of heroes searches for its place in an increasingly hostile world, a series of cryptic clues point to the arrival of an immensely powerful being known as the Center.
Justice League: The New Frontier is an animated superhero movie that reimagines the DC Universe against the backdrop of the 1950s. Characters like Hal Jordan (David Boreanaz), Barry Allen (Neil Patrick Harris), and John Jones (Miguel Ferrer) wrestle with the scars of war, government secrets, and the barbs of a skeptical public. This ambitious premise yields rich characters and a broad world but comes at the cost of a fragmented plot.
The New Frontier has a few points in its favor. The historical setting opens up some interesting conflicts, testing the characters in ways that they rarely have been. The selection of characters complements the themes of the movie nicely; the origins of Green Lantern, Flash, and Martian Manhunter play into the tensions between idealism and disappointing reality. All of this gives the movie a deeper set of ideas than many superhero adventures.
However, these elements come with a price. The New Frontier has a loosely connected story that has a hard time balancing its large cast. Mainstays like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman dip in and out, while the new crop of heroes takes a long time to see any action. To make matters worse, the central mystery is a weak one. There is little the heroes can do to prepare for the Center, and when it arrives, it ends up being a blunt instrument.
How much you get out of Justice League: The New Frontier will depend on how willing you are to follow it down winding paths. The number of characters and the odd way the movie uses them can make the story difficult to follow, even for dedicated DC fans, and the movie has trouble weaving its ideas into a satisfying whole. But viewers willing to overlook these issues will get something out of its themes and character work.
For a somewhat darker superhero movie with a 20th-century setting and similar themes, try Watchmen or Superman: Red Son. For a family superhero adventure that looks at the relationship between superheroes and the people they protect, check out The Incredibles.
[6.9 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0902272/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for engaging ideas attached to a peculiar plot.