[Kiwami]

Unrelated to SDCC, but I just watched Justice League: Gods and Monsters and I really enjoyed it. The whole misfit/anti-hero Justice League is no new concept, but it worked well here. The overall plot is rather weak, but it gets the development for the characters and the world very well without feeling too forced and it has some very nice ideas. To be honest this might be a movie telling three good origin stories for three different characters without being to cramped, and I haven’t seen one of those in a good while.

I enjoyed the alternate universe Kirk Langstrom as Batman the most, I'm happy they didn’t went with an alternate Bruce Wayne. I haven’t read much about Manbat in the last years, honestly the origin story of this Dr. Langstrom feels more like Morbius the Living Vampire to me. At least the recent incarnation of the character. Not a bad thing, I think the vampire Batman was one of the best things this movie had to offer.

Superman as General Zod's son is interesting, for one because none of his character feels too much like Zod since he was still raised by humans and for two because he isn’t evil. Just an alternate character done right. Wonder Woman I have no idea who she's supposed to be, I don't know much about DC's space adventures.

The only thing I have to criticize is the forceful inclusion of known names. I get that Victor Fries is still an important scientist even in this universe, but do we really need all these Easter-eggs? It was rather painful seeing a scientist getting killed in the arctic, then his ID-card falls out of his pocket and it reads “Victor Fries”. Really? Come on. Same with Silas Stone.

As I said the overall plot is weak, especially when it turns out who the bad guy behind it all is, but I enjoyed the story around it. Animation and action-wise it's Bruce Timm, just awesome animation done right. The cost-cutting 3D-models that pop up here and there are bad, but not overused.

If you're interested in a good animated flick and if you don't hate alternate universe stories I would give it a shot.