"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" versus "Deathstroke Knights and Dragons: The Movie"


 

Welcome once again to MoVTie Critic's "Movie Versus" where I take two films with similar themes, actors or plots and have them go head to head for the best rating of Green Mountain Stars. Today we have two films from the DC Universe that are not your typical Superman, Batman or even Wonder Woman films because they look towards the darker side with heroes or in one case an anti-hero like Constantine and Deathstroke being the primary characters and stories not so black and white with good defeating evil. So suit up, cause here we go.

"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War"

Leaving off from last film "Justice League Dark" with the Justice League making the fateful decision to take the fight to the dangerous planet Apokolips to face is tyrant ruler Darkseid (Tony Todd) and his ruthless army. With the entire group of heroes on board and the Teen Titans being the last line of Earth's defense, they charge straight into battle when the most unthinkable thing happens, the heroes lose. 

Two years later, Darkseid has conquered Earth and is mining Earth's core which will soon lead to the planet's demise, most of the heroes are dead, have been brainwashed to become part of Darkseid's army like Batman (Jason O'Mara) or have gone underground and blame Clark Kent/Superman (Jerry O'Connell) for the outcome since it was his plan. Seeking out those left, Clark recruits Raven (Taissa Farminga) The Demon Etrigan (Ray Chase) and a reluctant John Constantine (Matt Ryan) who carries a lot of guilt and anger for fleeing the battle and the death of his love Zatanna (Camilla Luddington) he convinces them to seek out aid Damian Wayne/Robin (Stuart Allen) in the hopes of freeing the one hero from the control of the Morbius Chair that might turn the tides of Darkseid to take back Earth, his father Bruce Wayne. Heroes become villians and villians become allies in this upside down take on what would happen if the heroes lost and had nothing left to gain. 

"Deathstroke Knights and Dragons: The Movie"

In this film, we learn the backstory of the mercenary anti-hero Slade Wilsion/Deathstroke (Michael Chiklis) and how an experimental treatment done to him after being injured serving his country, he comes to develop abilities such as super-human strength, enhanced agility and regeneration allowing him to heal quickly from otherwise life-threatening wounds. With the help of his friend William Wintergreen (Colin Salmon) Slade travels the world as a hired mercenary but draws the line at working with those who would do more harm than good if left in power. All the while his wife Adeline "Addie" Kane (Sasha Alexander and their son Joseph (Asher Bishop) believe he travels for business and know nothing of what he does until Joseph is kidnapped by the leader of H.I.V.E. known as The Jackel (Chris Jai Alex) to force Deathstroke to join them. While he saves Joseph, it leaves him mute and destroys his relationship with his family. 

Ten years later, Slade has honored Addie's wishes to stay away from them until she contacts him to let him know that Joseph has gone missing from the private school he has been enrolled in since the incident and needs his help to find him. Using his skills, he traces Joseph's whereabouts to that of H.I.V.E. with Jackel still around and a new Queen with ties to Slade's past running the show with plans for a now teenage Joseph (Griffin Puatu) who has developed psychic powers as a result of the experiment Slade underwent passing traits on to any children he has. It will be Deathstroke's ultimate challenge as he fights not only to bring the villain down, but to become the hero in his own story. 


Now for the face off. JLD: Apokolips War is a Dark Realism the likes of which DC Comics has never done before. We so often see the hero triumph despite the odds that we come to expect they can't be defeated, yet we never stop to consider that they are just as flawed as the rest of us and actually can fail. That's what this film captures and the dark despair they can face and what it takes for them to find the will to get back up and fight. Though in the shadow of "Avengers: Endgame" which had a similar theme it makes it hard for this film to stand out, yet its dark disturbing nature and how even in victory there is loss does give it a four and a half G.M.Star rating. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐½

With the interest in the anti-heroes growing, Deathstroke is a welcomed edition because the character is so often overlooked and often just portrayed as the villain of the Teen Titans when there is more sides to the story that have never been featured until now. Often the heroes and villains are black or white, good or evil that its easy to tell. With Deathstroke we get the full part of the color wheel showing how many shades of gray there are and that no one in this story is full hero or full villain, it is a matter of the choices we make and who we choose to be, a question we often face ourselves. Yet there is no question that Deathstroke will come out on top with the full five G.M.Stars for is complexity and new chapter to the DC Universe that is just beginning to be told and will leave you asking, "What happens next?" 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Green Mountain Stars


Both "Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" and "Deathstroke Knights and Dragons: The Movie" are available at Redbox and where movies are sold/streamed. 

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