Justice League Dark Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

3. It Sure Is Dark

In fairness, the movie sure does live up to the "dark" in its title, with an immensely grim opening sequence in which citizens begin to hallucinate monsters roaming the streets, causing one woman to mow down a bunch of innocent people in her car, a man to murder his entire family, and a young mother to attempt to hurl her baby to its doom after envisioning it as a beast (Batman saves the baby, but the mother not so much).

Though the film doesn't quite make the most of its R-rating, at least there's no gratuitous sex this time (unlike The Killing Joke), and the adult content is mostly pointed towards violence and disturbing concepts. Seeing Batman apologise to the baby he just rescued because its mother took a plunge onto the sidewalk is nothing if not memorable.

It could've taken the darkness further, sure, but it definitely didn't rest on its laurels in this regard either.