Review: Justice League: Throne of Atlantis

One more DC related post before yet another Marvel theme week. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is the direct-to-DVD sequel to Justice League: War. It introduces us to the New 52 version of Aquaman. The most notable change being that now, instead of sharing a father, Aquaman and his half-brother Ocean Master share a mother. So, since Aquaman's mother was the always the royal one, Orm now has a legitimate reasons to complain about not getting the top spot. Without further ado, Throne of Atlantis.

What's a Flash got to do to get on the cover?

The movie opens simply enough, with a submarine being attack by a group of aquatic warriors. Hey, it’s simple for a comic book. After the entire crew were slaughtered by the Atlanteans, we jump to Victor having a pleasant dream about being completely organic again. He’s rudely awakened by his cybernetics, badly flirts with one of his technicians, and is tasked with checking out the sub being sunk. So, you know, a usual Tuesday for Cyborg. He also tells his superior, Colonel Steven Trevor, that despite what he and the world seem to hope, the Justice League really isn’t a thing. Way to be a Negative Nancy, Cyborg. We jump to Superman and Wonder Woman having a date in Greece and contemplating their similarities and differences to Gods. So, yeah, we’re wasting our limited Justice League hour on this again. We then jump again to Arthur Curry, future Aquaman, drinking heavily at a seaside pub. He’s chatting with a lobster in a tank about his woes, chiefly that his Dad had just passed away. When someone tries to buy and eat said lobster, Arthur kind of flips out and a bar brawl ensues. Arthur’s half Atlantean physiology helps him beat the snot out of the five guys he was fighting with relative ease. The entire time he’s observed first by a red headed woman at the bar and then a scientist on the street. The main thug tries to knife Arthur when his back was turned, but unfortunately for him the knife snapped on his body. Arthur frees the lobster, and as he walks away, the woman in the trench coat drops it, reveals her Atlantean garb then jumps into the ocean.

We then join Cyborg as he begins checking out the submarine. He hacks the system, learning that the missiles he was sent to retrieve are missing. He’s then attacked by several Atlantean warriors, just barely escaping the group. Back with Arthur, he enters the lighthouse, bemoans his father’s death again, and drunkenly walks past several photos of his father, including a shot of his parents. We jump again to Cyborg and the only two Justice League members to respond to his summons, Shazam and the Flash. Flash then quickly gathers the rest of the League, by ruining Green Lantern’s attempts to score a date, and interrupting Superman and Wonder Woman’s civilian date. GL flies off when he finds out Batman didn’t show up, and helps Batman capture a group of henchmen working for the Scarecrow. Batman’s less than thrilled, because he was planning to scare the urine out of the henchmen and threaten them for information. Batman’s kind of a jerk.

She and Aquaman have about three conversations with each other.
Which, obviously, leads to the two of them becoming a thing.
Just like in real life... Right?

We check back with Arthur again, who is rather bizarrely crying over the one picture of his parents that he has before the lighthouse light. It’s pretty dang weird. Back with the League, they’re investigating the sub that they somehow pulled out of the ocean. They’re rather shocked to learn that the fish people are involved. Wonder Woman explains the Amazon’s old legend of Atlantis, how the ancient city’s citizens were saved when the city sunk by their king’s magic trident. Shazam suggest they look into a Dr. Shin, who has some bizarre Atlantis  theories that Cyborg thinks could be helpful. Batman and Superman go to check it out, while the rest of the League is tasked by Batman with finding Atlantis. Dick move, Batman. We jump back to Atlantis, where Arthur’s half-brother Orm is plotting with Black Manta. The two villains reveal they preemptively struck the sub while going to an audience with Orm’s mother. Mommy dearest is less than thrilled with Orm attacking the sub. Orm angrily berates his mother for not getting payback for the death of his father. The previous King of Atlantis having been killed in a volcanic explosion, caused by Darkseid’s invasion. Queen Atlana won’t have it, and orders her son to sit down, shut up, and do as he’s told. But more politely. Atlana reveals to her chief guard, Mera (the red head from the bar) that Arthur is to be king and sends Mera to collect her first born.

We flashback to Arthur’s childhood, where he remembers seeing his mother in the ocean. With her trident. Scary awesome mom. She gives him a loving kiss on the forehead before casting him back to the lighthouse. Thomas Curry is less than thrilled to hear this, but assures Arthur he’ll always be there for him. A hung over Arthur wakes up, and depressingly shaves. Such a sad sack. Well, we jump to Dr. Shin, who is excitedly discussing his work with his assistant, whom is revealed to be Black Manta. Manta loads up his sub with the stolen missiles, cloaks it to look like an American sub, and sends some Atlanteans to kill Shin and Arthur. While that’s going on, Black Manta attacks Atlantis in the cloaked sub. Jerk. Arthur holds his own against the Atlantean hit squad, but Atlantis doesn’t fare so well against the “attack.” Arthur is overwhelmed by the Atlanteans, but he’s saved at the last second by Mera. Can you guess where this is going? Bow chica wow wow.

Sigh... is there a fictional royal family that doesn't try to kill
each other?

Jump again, I'm starting to feel like some sort of flea or jumping bean, we see Batman and Superman enter Shin’s home. Together they learn that Shin’s work was centered on Arthur. Dun Dun DUUAAA! In Atlantis, Queen Atlana works to keep the peace, while Orm keeps trying to start a war. Atlana shuts them up using the magic trident, and decrees that she’ll broker a peace with the Justice League. In the ocean, Mera explained a bit more of Arthur’s background. Apparently Atlana was forced to leave Thomas and Arthur, princesses can’t marry peasants regardless of realm I guess. She outfits Arthur in some old Atlantean armor. Meanwhile, the Justice League searches for Atlantis, before being sent to find Arthur. Arthur tries to run from his destiny, before being attacked by sea-beasts. The two are able to hold off long enough for the Justice League to show up and even the odds. Arthur and Mera have moment, and then the Justice League agree to help them save Atlantis.

In the throne room Orm and Black Manta have an argument, and then try to again convince Atlana to attacking the surface. Atlana reveals she knew that Manta and Orm were behind the attack on Atlantis, and Orm stabs his mother in the back. Dick move, Orm. The Justice League is attacked in Atlantis, and meet Orm, now in his Ocean Master gear. He boasts about murdering his mother, sick weirdo, and about his plans to conquer the surface. The race is on to stop the insane Orm and his plans for conquest.

The good first, as always. The animation on this movie is beautiful. Stuff moves in the water like it’s supposed to, and the various energy/magic bolts are really well done. They throw in some CGI animation towards the end, for some of the troops marching and the Atlantean war machines, but it doesn’t look that out of place. Voice acting is top notch, with just about all of the JL members being returning cast members. Arthur is also pretty well done as the depressed hero, being forced to not only deal with the loss of the only family he’d ever known, as well as the pretty big shocker that he’s only half human. Kind of a lot to deal with in a week.

Team gets a bit bigger. Now they have TWO magic guys.

The bad is pretty minimal, again. I really don’t understand why they seem to insist that these movies are only a little over an hour. It really forces them to rush a lot of plot and character development. Particularly with Orm, who starts off as an evil whiner and really doesn’t go anywhere.  Adding another fifteen-twenty minutes to these movies would really clean up that particular problem, among others. Again, I felt that Superman and Wonder Woman’s relationship is kind of stuffed in there. Doesn’t really add anything, other than to give the two of them more screen time. Guy’s like Green Lantern and the Flash could have used a little more screen time, but since they weren’t a huge part of the comic story, I can’t be too mad about it.

I give this one a B+. I dropped the grade down a bit from the last time, chiefly because that short run time still really makes it hard to cover everything in the timeframe. You can only do so much in an hour, and it's hardly enough time for a movie. Heck, it's more of a two part episode of a very short lived TV show. It's still an enjoyable introduction to one of DC’s most powerful heroes, Aquaman, and a good continuation of the story started in Justice League: War. Next time, we start another theme week, for the Fantastic Four. Whoopee. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League:_Throne_of_Atlantis#/media/File:Justice_League_-_Throne_of_Atlantis.jpg

 http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150114141534/marvel_dc/images/4/4d/Mera_Throne_of_Atlantis_0001.jpg

 http://dcmovies.wikia.com/wiki/File:Justice_League_Throne_of_Atlantis_-_14_Queen_Atlanna.png

 http://www.comicvine.com/reviews/justice-league-throne-of-atlantis/1900-3799/