Justice League Review
Oh boy! Justice League. Is it good? Not really. Is it bad? Not really.
Zach Snyder’s Justice League sits smack bang in the middle between the better DCEU films and the bad. The fifth film in this universe brings together the mainstay heroes that we have come to know and love... oh wait, we haven’t had the chance to do that yet.
Over the course of the previous four films we have learnt that: Superman is dead, Batman is angry, Wonder Woman believes that love conquers all and that world wars can be stopped by bashing twiggy Englishmen – while the rest of the League have only been shown in minor cameos.
This film has a much lighter tone than the previous films, most likely due to the re-shoots helmed by Joss Whedon after Snyder had to leave over serious family issues. Batman is now a grump who quips, The Flash is the comedic relief, Aquaman is just… the cool one?, Cyborg is actually better than I thought he’d be – he has more of a personal struggle within the film while Wonder Woman is just the mother of the group. It’s because we don’t know the characters that we don’t care for them.
The film tries to tug at our heartstrings from Barry Allen’s wrongly incarcerated father for killing his mother to Cyborg’s Victor Frankenstein-like father… actually they all have some emotional issues connected to their parents. But it is the heart of the film that is missing, where the characters desperately hope that Superman can save them because he’s a really good guy. We are quickly thrust into the action, observing the heroes from the outside as they band together to stop the indescribable bad guy, Steppenwolf.
This CGI alien/God doesn’t do anything except fill the role of the villain archetype. He’s bad, he’s powerful, he just wants to take over the world.
The plot is so simple that it seems like it was put together following a paint-by-numbers kit. It spends far too much time explaining characters action through exposition rather than revealing who the characters are through proper characterisation, which in turn has an affect on the actors. Ben Affleck appears at odds with what he should be doing as Bruce Wayne, as it seems the studio won’t let him be dark and broody anymore, so instead Affleck stands around in a suit with his hands in his pockets. Gal Gadot is still a painful actress; the fact that other reviews are praising her is mindboggling.
The film reminds me of the Justice League animated television series from 2001. Where what you know and understand about the characters doesn’t actually come through the story but is associated with what audiences already know through the zeitgeist.
Spoiler Warning. One of the biggest plot points is the return of Superman. The scenes and reasoning’s behind this are fairly ludicrous but the film acknowledges this, allowing characters to comment on how surreal digging up his grave actually is.
One of the most laughable moments comes from Supes return where he throws Batman to the ground off screen. We don’t see or even hear him land as our, and Superman’s focus is elsewhere but at the end of the scene we have Batman rolling around like an old man who fell over and cant get back up.
I could go on with the negatives: Henry Cavill’s CGI mouth, his shiny and ultra blue suit, mixed editing that leads to a structure that makes the audience think WTF is going on? As well as the Danny Elfman and John Williams scores from 1989’s Batman and 1978’s Superman mixed in for what can only be assumed is for nostalgic effect as classic rock songs certainly weren’t cutting it in the trailers.
I should highlight some of the positives. Good chemistry between the cast, never did I think that they weren’t working well together but some of the quips needed to be removed. There’s also this awesome flashback sequence that made me really want to watch THAT film while overall the action sequences were unexpectedly pretty good.
It’s worth? As an audience you’re brought of the experience far too often to be submersed. Warner Bros. and the whole DCEU team are definitely learning on the job. It’s not great but it’s not the worst. That spot goes to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016). It’s definitely enjoyable enough but if you don’t care about superheroes don’t see it. For the comic fans the two post-credit scenes are probably the highlight of the film.
