About the Soundtrack: Available from the iTunes catalogue is the entertaining soundtrack, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, by James Venable and Christopher Drake. Much like Drake's work on Wonder Woman and Public Enemies, there was a budget available to utilize an orchestra for the score, which really does make a world of difference, especially when dealing with straight-to-DVD releases (the overall impact and production value is heightened tremendously when there is an orchestral backing). At $7.99, with nearly an hour's worth of music, and given the quality of score material featured on the soundtrack, this really is a great value for listeners of this genre (both live action and animated incarnations).
What You Need to Know: To everyone who complains that the majority of commercial films seem to produce lackluster scores, then I invite you to turn your attention to another market to fulfill your needs, which is the arena of DVD releases from both Marvel and DC Animation. In this case,the Justice League takes flight and is backed by an impressive score from Venable and Drake. Musically speaking, this is no small screen castoff; Crisis on Two Earths has all the trimmings one would hope to hear from an epic superhero saga.
As the advent of game music increases as a popular alternative for soundtrack aficionados, I foresee an even greater potential in these animated features, especially if the orchestral resources continue to be embraced. Venable, Drake, and Guy Michelmore, respectably, have each delivered substantial contributions recently that fans should take note of. In Justice League, there is an epic scope in which the action music ascends to and the thematic attributes also resonate in a positive manner. The Main and End Titles provides a fusion of sci-fi and the superhero genres, which comes together to create a rather unique presence. It also helps one's imagination to fly. I appreciated that the writing didn't drift to traditional background cues that seemed to have been so prevalent in this genre. Instead, there is a fairly original direction assigned to the music and it's reflected quite well in how the story develops through these notes.
While the steady flow of action music might be a bit of inbalance to some listeners, others will find it to be impressive. It all depends on the "type" of soundtracks you go for. For me, it took a couple of listens to find my confort zone with the material but I knew it was an above average outing just from my first listen. And so will you. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths has the capacity to impress and surprise, which is saying a lot if you're from the camp that is unaware of such qualities in this DVD market. I encourage you to explore, there are gems waiting to be discovered.
And this is one such gem.
Final Score: James Venable adds his name to mix of composers who are delivering high-end scores for Marvel and DC Animation. Saturday afternoons have nevered sounded better!
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