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Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part Two Review

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RWBY has returned!! It’s always good to see more RWBY content and you really have to savor this one while you can because we still don’t know when the next product is coming out. It could be years but hopefully not. Interestingly this film takes place after volume 9 which was a very interesting decision. I was definitely shocked when I first found this out but now at least if we don’t get Volume 10 we have some extra insight into what’s going on. This is a must watch for all RWBY fans as a result.

The movie starts with the Justice League waking up after the simulation in the first film and they’re ready to take care of business now. Unfortunately while they were gone the world has been overtaken by the Grimm. The Justice League may be powerful but they aren’t ready to take on the powerful legions of Grimm. Their only option is to call in Team RWBY once more. Can even the experts take down the Grimm army or is the world too far gone here?

I’d actually say that this film beats part 1 for me. I feel like this movie had more variety in the battles and also the fact that it takes place in the present really ups the tension. It was great seeing what Team RWBY was doing after the V9 events.. Note that there aren’t too many spoilers for volume 9 if you watch this one. I’d say one pretty big spoiler involving a big development in volume 9 if you somehow managed to avoid the social media trends and one other big spoiler just involving where the team is in the present. Both are things you could have guessed though so it’s not a huge thing but either way you should have seen Volume 9 by this point right?

I wish we could have spent more time in the RWBY world here though because the fight there is the best one in the film by far. Seeing Ruby take on two of the giant Grimm snakes with ease using her master level speed and athletics was great. It’s definitely clear that she is the most powerful member of Team RWBY at this point and her confidence is at an all time high. She’s really taking care of business here and is completely self assured as the leader. There’s a subplot here about her possibly being too confident…and naturally I disagreed with that. I thought her level of confidence was great and inspiring. Plus she has the power to back it up so it’s not like its empty bravado.

If there’s just one thing I’m not crazy about with this taking place after volume 9 is I’m not sure that the status quo makes any sense. I feel like there would be a much greater sense of urgency going on. In theory Salem should be dashing over any minute now with her forces to end the world right? How about finding Mercury and friends? Now this could take place midway through volume 9 after the initial fights and there are a lot of ways that you could explain this so it’s not a negative per say but I’m a little skeptical is all. Particularly with the team just jumping over to DC world when their allies are in such danger.

The film addresses the time difference which makes this even worse. So last time the film took place during volume 7 and for the Justice League this happens minutes later. So how did we jump to Volume 9? Well Flash points out that time moves differently here so a few days in Justice League time is a few weeks in RWBY time. So when team RWBY jumps over to help the League for around 2 days (Because they did have to rest for one night before the climax) around 2 weeks would have passed in RWBY world at which point the rest of the resistance may have fallen. It’s also a little funny how the League asks RWBY if they need any help and they’re just like “nah”. I guess they either figure the Justice League will hold them back in the fight against Salem or they just figure they can win regardless. Either way it’s not the biggest vote of confidence for them.

Okay these are all things around the movie but lets talk about the story itself. It’s a pretty fun story that is part mystery as the characters wonder who is the mastermind from the RWBY side. It was fun to see the main villain of the video game Grimm Eclipse get references and even get a whole new illustration. That guy always did seem like an interesting character in the mythos but since a lot of people never played the game I’m guessing the character was probably a big question mark for a lot of viewers. The answer of who the main villain is was pretty satisfying.

The film uses some voice filters for the two main villains for a while and admittedly they were a bit annoying since it was super hard to understand them. Fortunately that ended up being fixed as the film went on which was good. Hearing those voices the whole film would have really been rough. Unfortunately we don’t get a proper fight against the mastermind but Killgore shows up and we get some satisfying fights with him.

In general I feel like the fights were better around the board here than in part 1. It felt more like the classic RWBY fights with the high speed takedowns. I also think the animators got to flex a lot more with the classic designs so maybe there was some trouble getting into the new ones. The fights are noticeably better when Team RWBY are in their classic designs as opposed to their re-designs in Justice League world. I do tend to prefer all of the classic designs as well but Ruby and Weiss look good in their superhero modes. I wasn’t big on Yang or Blake there.

Naturally the Justice League all look a lot better here since I didn’t really like any of their designs in the RWBY world. Also Batman is much more improved here as he actually feels like a detective mastermind this time around. That’s the kind of character development you love to see. He still does end up going down rather quickly which hurts the prep time part but at least the villains acknowledge that he was the greatest threat from the heroes so he had to be taken down.

Superman mainly gets clowned on the whole film as every single Grimm seems to have Kryptonite at the ready. It’s the rough part about having such an easily accessible weakness. Once you’re up against villains with it then this is game over. The Flash is mostly getting wrecked by his confidence issues in this film so don’t expect him to be doing a whole lot here either. It’s a really bad appearance for him here. Cyborg mostly gets styled on the whole time as he’s outhacked but at least by the end he gets his moment.

Wonder Woman, Vixen, and Black Canary are mainly consistent as they go about their business and take care of Grimm although the most satisfying moment was when Wonder Woman throws a punch but Yang catches it and physically overpowers her. Yang is absolutely crushing Wonder Woman in a 1 v 1 and the film seemed to get the drift here. I’d argue the Justice League don’t look very impressive at all here and mainly had to get saved by Team RWBY a whole lot. Works for me of course since those heroines are great.

This also has to be one of Ruby’s best portrayals which is great since of course she hit a rough patch in Volume 9. Here we see her making plans, using quick attack combos, and she was the first to figure out her powers in this new world. All Ruby fans should be particularly pleased at her top level performance here.

The soundtrack doesn’t have any of those iconic vocal songs from the RWBY series. I guess since it’s a crossover they kept the music more generic and non memorable for the Justice League side of things but it would have been cool to have had a big theme for the climax. It’s always a bit odd how the movies just don’t seem to be able to keep up in terms of action or visuals with the RWBY TV show but if you had to allocate more budget one way or the other of course it’s worth it to throw that at volume 9.

Either way this film is a blast and I was really satisfied with what we got. If needed we can always end the franchise with a movie rather than volume 10 so we at least wrap things up. I definitely think you could pull it off. Sure it would be rushed because of how many plots there are but I definitely don’t think that it would be impossible. Just have Salem show up, we get a bunch of nonstop fights and when the gods are summoned they get solo’d by Ruby. Then that’s the ultimate game over and the conclusion to the greatest series of all time.

Overall, This is definitely a film that you want to check out as soon as possible. The whole first part is quickly recapped here so you don’t even need to watch that one and can jump right into this part without any issue. That said, I would recommend watching both of course to get those extra RWBY sales and speed up the production of volume 10. We need that in order to keep on moving forward. And if you somehow haven’t watched RWBY yet and are coming in from the Justice League side, get ready for the greatest show to binge of all time!

Overall 8/10

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part One Review

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The RWBY reviews continue with the new movie! I had to buy this one immediately on day 1 because the hype was too real. After all these years RWBY was finally getting the movie it deserves. After completing the movie I can definitely confirm that it is a great title and hopefully this gets more people into the fandom. Automatically there are a lot of DC fans who will watch this one even though they haven’t seen RWBY and so it’s a good introduction there. I will say that it doesn’t quite feel like the movie budget but just seeing the characters is cool.

The movie starts off with Superman waking up in a different world and for some reason he’s a teenager. He remembers fighting someone but can’t remember anything beyond that. He’s quickly saved from danger by a pair of superheroines known as Ruby and Yang who defeat the Grim monsters in the area. There is something off about their world too though as the Grimm are now able to absorb all dust related abilities which means that Weiss and Blake are going to have a tough time but it won’t affect Yang and Ruby quite as much once they adapt. Superman knows that he needs to find the rest of the League and quickly but why are everyone’s memories off?

Now amnesia is not exactly my favorite trope. I’d always choose to have the crossover with both verses at their peak in terms of strength and ability but hey at least it is the real characters as opposed to the comics which went in a very different direction. Mainly part 1 is about solving the mystery of why everyone’s memories are spotty and why things just don’t line up. For example why are all of the RWBY characters in their volume 1 outfits yet they have things that they shouldn’t yet. (Ex: Yang’s metallic arm) I remember people pointing that out immediately in the trailer which helped to build up the suspense of what was going on here. The mystery is very engaging and of course you’ll have a lot of theories right off the bat. They’re trapped in a dream, a simulation, time travel’s at work, visual illusion, just an AU, etc. The reveal definitely works pretty well with this in mind.

Now this is still a part 1 so don’t expect the full answers to be revealed. I won’t say where this takes place in the RWBY series yet but from the ending you can narrow it down to the volume and come pretty close to the exact episode that makes the most sense. If the ending just went on for an extra minute or two that would have been great to confirm exactly where the cast is. I’m also really intrigued on who the big villain for part 2 will be. I’ve got really high hopes for that one and so I hope part 2 comes out soon. My understanding is that both parts were animated back to back in the middle of Volume 9’s production so it should already be all done. Summer release would be nice as opposed to waiting for the Fall.

So lets jump onto the good stuff first. It’s super nostalgic to see Ruby and the gang in their original forms dealing with classic Grimm. It’s a very nostalgic return to form for their classic days and the environments look very clear. We get to see a lot of interactions between the cast in a fun setting that wouldn’t really be possible currently with how high the stakes are. It’s always nice to see the characters have some downtime to just talk and this movie has a lot of that with the various interactions.

I also liked the emphasis on using dust again since it’s been a while. In the main series the heroes always use dust like Weiss with her rapier, Raven’s attacks, etc. but it’s all just used silently and it’s nice to discuss the specifics of dust some more. Beyond it being an energy source we’ve never gone too far into it and you always wonder what the upper limits are. In theory you figure more fighters should be able to make super powered weapons powered by dust to fight the Grimm. Perhaps they wouldn’t be as advanced as a huntress but it would still be very useful in war efforts.

The crossover aspect itself is great as well of course. Seeing the heroes interact was fun and Team Jaune taking on the Justice League’s B team was fun. The fact that they basically won that fight was also excellent. While Team RWBY may typically overshadow them, it’s important to remember that this team is still very skilled and has a lot of powerhouses on their side. They aren’t the type of fighters to just roll over and take a loss. By this point in the series they are full fledged hunters and huntresses after all.

There is a ton of action here as well so if you missed that in volume 9, there is no shortage here. Now granted I would have liked more human type fights like the earlier battle I mentioned. Most of it is against the Grimm and since the monsters can barely fight back it’s not like you can have as much fun with the choreography. Of course you see all of the super attacks being used but when things are too one sided it just won’t have the same impact as a true fight. In a power levels sense I also have some doubts on how well they do against the larger Grimm but I think given the situation and context I can overlook those power level moments because it’s not quite as if it happened in a normal setting. Otherwise I thought the power levels were good and the RWBY verse looks real impressive here. They have homefield advantage of course but it still counts. (I hope Part 2 takes place in DC’s world because that would make a lot of sense as a parallel although given that we’re probably sticking to the RWBY animation style, maybe they’ll just keep home court. It would also be interesting if the League just doesn’t appear and part 2 is purely RWBY but that would be an odd choice given the title)

Now for the animation, it’s classic RWBY style so it looks great. I would just say there is a bit of a noticeable downgrade compared to the RWBY show which is a bit ironic. Typically you expect the movie to blow the show away after all but that’s not what happened this time. It’s very clear and the attacks look good but the animation itself is a bit choppy. Now from what I heard, this happened fairly last second as between episodes 7 and 8 in production the animators were all pulled off of the show to work on Justice League and that’s why the volume was pushed back. Not sure how much of this was confirmed but if they did have to rush through the two movies to get back to the show then it does make sense that this one’s a bit choppier.

Still, even a weaker RWBY style is still great and I enjoyed the visuals. The DC character designs were more of a miss for me but that’s not strictly speaking animation. It feels like they were trying too hard to make the League look like RWBY characters and they come across more like NPCs or fanfic characters. Batman’s design is easily the weakest although Flash would be in second there. They just don’t look much like the characters and I think they really could have done a better job there. Reminds me of when I would create a character in Soul Caliber and you could see the resemblance but it just wasn’t right.

The film is fairly short but makes the most of every moment so you do feel like this was a complete adventure at all times. The heroes are always rushing from place to place and with how often you switch from plot to plot, it never reaches a slow point. That’s probably one of the most impressive parts of the movie really. The amount of content it covers is impressive and whenever we’d get a flash into the RWBY memories that was a lot of fun. We even see a new angle to the big Adam scene from Volume 5 which was intense. No matter what that guy always find a way to return.

The RWBY characters are mainly all in character as you’d expect so I’ll keep their sections brief. There really isn’t much to talk about in terms of Yang and Blake. They go in and do their job as needed. Yang’s maybe a bit overprotective of Blake the whole time which I feel is retroactively setting things up for volume 9 unless the writers are trying to acknowledge Blake as the weakest but otherwise the film does her a lot of justice. This is easily the most powerful Blake has looked in years and I was glad to see it.

Ruby is struggling to be an effective leader here as everyone shouts her down and holds her back but ultimately she proves that she has the right stuff. She was good when it counts. Meanwhile Weiss showed off her expertise in using computers which was cool and in general she was in command of the situation. I would actually say she looks the best from all the RWBY characters. Jaune is in competition for that title though as he helps out Green Lantern quite a lot in this one. He gives her multiple pep talks and shows her what it means to be brave even when you don’t have powers. He was just really patient the whole time and very genuine. You can see why he is a good leader.

Ren looks pretty bad the whole time though. He gets jealous about Nora way too quickly to the point where he is always bickering with Cyborg. They could have toned that down somewhat as he is usually supposed to be the emotionless one so why he is blowing a fuse in every other scene? It just didn’t feel like the usual him at all. Meanwhile Nora was definitely more on the aggressive side here and taking things personal. Definitely not the really chill and goofy Nora you may expect but at least she does a ton of damage in every fight so you can cut her some slack.

On the DC side of things, Superman looks solid. He’s a natural leader as always and is someone you can count on. He gets a lot of great scenes and consistently thinks things through before making a move. Then you have Batman who in comparison is one of the worst members here. (Not the worst though, that’s coming up) Now in part I would say the voice is to blame a bit as he just doesn’t sound like any version of Batman and lacks the power or charisma behind him. But most of it is just how he’s written here. He’s a bit sloppier, has no prep time, and tends to get humiliated a lot. He’s lacking in confidence and apparently has always wished he could have powers. He gets outbrained by Weiss in the computer room and just wasn’t the decisive, capable vigilante that we’ve always known. This guy is truly Batman in name only. They really should have just kept him as being super in control the whole time around and that would have went over perfectly.

He may have stolen the show a bit but that’s what Batman does so it would have been worth it. Not much to say about Vixen, I’d say she seemed in character and was about what I expected. She has a good amount of confidence and is always ready to fight which is good. Then you have the Flash who is definitely on the goofier side but his character is ultimately handled well and the movie even has a great reason for why with his speed he isn’t just ending the movie in one second. Leave it to RWBY to come up with a solid way and not let this turn into the usual power level hax that happens with the Flash.

Cyborg definitely looks rather disgraceful here though and even worse than Batman. Yes this guy is the worst. He yells at Ruby for basically no reason and I was really hoping Yang or someone would slug him at some point. Sure he apologizes and says he was stressed out but really? Eh I didn’t think that was a great excuse. Then he also does seem to be overtly flirting with Nora at times which seems very much like a wrong place kind of moment. They’re trying to save the world right now so there’s no time for that. Yeah this was definitely not his best moment.

So in some ways I do think the writing could have been a little better to really maximize the effectiveness of the crossover. With the characters not being fully in character, it makes the meetup not work quite as well as it could have. I’d also have liked more in-fighting but that’s a fairly small thing. Either way this is still a great film and one I would definitely recommend checking out. It also holds up well as a stand alone film so you don’t have to worry about watching the sequel per say. Watching it as soon as possible is good to help with the sales and views then maybe we can keep getting more films in the future. Crossovers with the Teen Titans, Avengers, TMNT, and more would all work really well. The possibilities are endless to be honest.

Overall, It’s really nice seeing RWBY in a movie. They deserve a theatrical movie one of these days to really show off the budget but right now this will definitely work. It has been fun going on this little RWBY review marathon but all things must come to an end and unfortunately there probably aren’t going to be many other RWBY reviews for a while because there aren’t many other products out right now. Hopefully that will change sooner than later but in the meantime you need to enjoy this adventure while you can. It has a lot of replay value because of all the fights so you can enjoy watching it a lot.

Overall 8/10