Justice League of America

Well. I thought Kim Oja was good. The rest of the movie was barely watchable.

I am a comics collector. This movie did not have much to do with the comics that inspired it. If it had been based on Keith Giffen's run, where was the Blue Beetle? Where was the wacky humor? Why did they use a personality-amputated Guy Gardner as Green Lantern (whose costume, idiotically, was blue)? Why was the Flash (who wasn't in Giffen's run) such a bonehead?

The characters in this pilot acted like they virtually didn't like each other. Their costumes were pretty damn silly, esp. Atom's. The villain didn't seem to have any motivation. The story was semi-coherent, unengaging and holey (what was Arliss' project, that he kept trying to draw attention to?). Maybe I missed some details, I dunno. But that's because they were eminently missable.

Still, since there is such a lack of superhero movies around, I'll be generous and award this a 5 out of 10 rating.

There have been many comic book adaptations, some successful, some not so. This film unfortunately fits into the latter. It feels like it wants to succeed and certainly its heart is in the right place, but it ultimately falls short of it's targets. The characterisation seems to be to create a variety of characters and not necessarily stay faithful to how they were portrayed in the orignal comics- the Flash and Green Lantern particularly so. However, Fire, The Atom and The Martian Manhunter are very much like their comic-book counterparts and are enjoyable to watch. The costumes are also of the highest standard, remaining extremely faithful to their four-color origins. The villain of the piece, Miguel Ferrer's "Weatherman", is indicative of the constraints of the budget and so doesn't present a foe that seems to need the entire JLA to defeat. The plot, driven by the Weatherman and the origin of "Ice" (again, changed to fit the film's format) also reflect the fact its a TV pilot. The most annoying part of the film is the constant "vox-pops" by the Leaguers that intersect the main story- they are neither necessary or that interesting, but do seek to humanise the characters more, helping to show them as a disfunctional family rather than, say, a police force. One can't help but think that were this given a greater canvas to work on, it would have been spectacular, but, as is too often the case, budget and TV guidelines stopped it from being what it should have been. Still, if you want to see some fun super-hero action and big-names working together, seek this out.

Hell, it ain't even your father's. Or your older brother's. Or even yours! The team chosen was a composite of second-string characters (minus the Flash) and missing the big 3; Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Of course, anyone who reads the comics will also notice that the League's origin is completely different.

Of course, changes had to be made to adapt it to TV, the budget and make it accessible to new viewers. But, this wasn't anything special. Basically, the movie is your typical 90s superhero TV fare with a predictable plot, cheesy costumes and only halfway decent acting. Basically, it was a buddy movie with powers.

The 1997 Justice League of America Pilot was a fair entry into the world of television pilots. It was a little bland, but it had potential. A lot of really good TV series have had mediocre pilots including MASH, Remington Steele, Magnum PI, and all but the first Star Trek series. So although the first episode was less than an epic piece it might have taken off, and who knows maybe the Martian Manhunter would have given up the nachos and gotten on a treadmill, or at least done a few sit-ups. My only major complaint was that the show tried to be a sitcom, it was trying to ride on the coat tails of Friends. And I don't like Friends. The show would use a lot of the tongue in cheek jokes and it just didn't work.

I liked the plot, and the actors were okay, the characters probably would have developed overtime, so don't jump to conclusions about that just yet. The costumes would have probably been quickly replaced if the show were picked up, and a lot of other sci-fi/fantasy shows have weak special effects in there beginnings.

So hunt down a bootleg copy and give it a try.

Forget the fact that this was a pilot. It was awful. The costumes were ridiculous. Most of the acting was poop. The plot was...more poop. Miguel Ferrer was his typical self, which is good and Fire was a babe, but none of that was enough to salvage a very bad story and the bad idea of a friends/thirtysomething twist to crimefighting.

Bad.