Today’s quick review: Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Superman (Benjamin Bratt), Batman (Michael C. Hall), and Wonder Woman (Tamara Taylor) are the Justice League, the Earth’s greatest protectors, but their violent tactics and lack of official oversight have earned the distrust of the public. When someone frames the Justice League for a series of murders, Batman leads the investigation to find the real murderer and clear their names.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is an animated superhero movie from DC Comics. Gods and Monsters takes place in an alternate universe where the Justice League is less idealistic and openly uses violence to keep the peace. The story is a superpowered murder mystery that shows off alternate takes on classic DC characters. Solid plotting, interesting characters, and a fair amount of action make Gods and Monsters a worthwhile pick.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters gets most of its appeal from its setting and its story. The world strikes a nice balance between the optimism of the regular DC Universe and the violence of its darker incarnations. The result is a world where the heroes are still ultimately good, but their actions are more forceful. The challenges this produces for the League are a reliable source of tension for the movie.
The plot is a nicely constructed murder mystery where Batman takes point. The murder of several scientists kicks off a winding investigation that unearths old conspiracies and runs up against new threats, including a trio of robots that can copy the League’s powers. The mystery also has a personal angle for Batman: The victims are his colleagues from back in university, before the experiment that gave him his vampiric powers.
The one major caveat is that Gods and Monsters is not a movie about Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, or Diana Prince. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman bear a superficial resemblance to their namesakes, but their civilian personas are cut from whole cloth. Fans who go in looking for direct variants on the familiar stories will be disappointed, but those who go in with an open mind will find that the movie does interesting things with its cast.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a solid pick for DC fans looking for a change of pace. The movie keeps the expansive world and large-scale action of the classic DC Universe, but it experiments with new characters, increased violence, and an original mystery. Anyone familiar with the DC mythos should give it a shot. New fans would be better off with one of the other Justice League movies.
For another animated superhero movie about a darker version of the Justice League, try Superman: Red Son, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, or Injustice. For a more conventional tale of superheroics, try Justice League: War, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, or Reign of the Supermen. For another superhero murder mystery, try Batman: Hush, Batman: The Long Halloween, or Watchmen.
[7.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4324302/). I give it the same for an interesting variation on the DC Universe.