Justice League

Imagine history backwards. Imagine that you were lucky enough to watch the Edward J. Olmos' version of Battlestar Galactica first, and then, after a while, they came back with the Lorne Green's version of it. That's exactly what happened with this Marvel-infected version of the Justice League.

Gone is the brooding menace of what people with these special skills would harbor in real life. Gone is the sense of peril when you have the whole world at risk of being destroyed by god-like forces. Gone is the beauty of imagination beyond what Marvel would ever deliver.

This is a parody of what the DCEU gave us before.

We were THAT close to have a Justice League movie worthy of being called art; instead, we got another forgettable Marvel movie.

Thanks for what you gave us, Mr. Snyder.

Shame on you, Weldon, for ruining the art of bringing comic books to life.

When an alien invasion, led by the sinister Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds in a motion capture performance), seems imminent, Batman (Ben Affleck) recruits the world's heroes to stop it. He seeks out Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), but their combined power may not be enough, and they realize the one missing factor that could turn the tide of battle: the recently deceased Superman (Henry Cavill).

This was another tortured production, with director Zack Snyder leaving the project either due to a death in the family or by the studio's insistence, depending on the source. Joss Whedon was brought on to finish the movie and ended up reshooting some earlier scenes. The final product seems rushed, under cooked, and dreadfully overloaded with too much unnecessary CGI effects. The common weakness in many of these superhero movies is the villain, and this is yet another example of that. The character is fully CGI and looks it, and it's difficult to feel menace from a cartoon in a non-animated movie. And the worst part is, it wasn't even needed, as the character was a normal human-looking person in the comic books, and the actor hired to basically just provide the voice, Ciaran Hinds, is a very good actor and would have been fine without the CGI embellishment. Another glaring visual flaw lies in Superman's mouth. Since the shoot ran over, Superman actor Henry Cavill was contractually obligated to start his filming on the upcoming Mission: Impossible film, a role that requires him to grow a bushy mustache. When he had to come back for reshoots on Justice League, the producers decided to just CGI out his mustache, with the end result a laughable, often deformed upper lip.

On the plus side, Ezra Miller is amusing as The Flash, Gal Gadot continues to look great as Wonder Woman, and Momoa makes for an interesting twist on Aquaman, who is nothing like his comic book counterpart. Many of the acting heavy-hitters, including Amy Adams, Diane Lane, and Jeremy Irons, are just cameo window dressing.

Here we are. The Justice League. DC's greatest superheroes come together to save the world...and what is the first scene you ask? Henry Cavill's CGI'd shaved face. Ohhh dear...yup...we're in for quite a ride. So with Superman dead, Batman and Wonder Woman must arrange a team of gifted individuals to stop the world destroyer Steppenwolf from, you guessed it, destroying the world. Sighhhh...I kinda just want to hug this film and repeatedly whisper "there, there...it'll all be alright.". Apprehensively, I went into this unmotivated and expecting the worst superhero film since Suicide Squad. Fortunately, this isn't that bad. But, it's not great either. The film's greatest achievement is the coalition of the Justice League members. Their interactions, mannerisms and even their physicality was pretty much on point. Aquaman, although absolutely useless in this, had the physical prowess of a beastly underwater warrior. The Flash was quirky and provided several comedic moments. Cyborg was essentially the technological logistics manager. Wonder Woman and Batman were the parents who lead their children into battle. Heck, she even refers to them as children! Yet it all worked so well. Remember, this is a comic book adaptation, so the humour and light hearted nature of its source material does show. The human CGI for the most part was actually executed well (far better than "Thor Ragnarok") and the slow motion scenes with The Flash were gorgeous to watch. Snyder is typically style over substance, which is apparent here. The story is so boringly uninspired that it defines the word "lazy". I cannot be dealing with another 'save the world' situation. I'm also becoming irritated with underused, bland and weak villains who are supposed to be absurdly powerful. Steppenwolf was wasted potential. Constant use of green screen, hit and miss script, rushed third act...just too many flaws I'm afraid. Was it too soon for a Justice League film considering no origins for Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg yet? Personally, I think so.

Justice League felt like going through a list of specifications with no identity whatsoever. It's not a bad movie per se, it's just extremely dull. Of course there's nothing new in the photo department but that's to be expected, it's kind of an identity for the whole DCEU. I don't like it but hey, that's an artistic choice I won't criticize here, at least it's coherent. But some flaws are more crippling than that.

Every single characterization was a bit off and some of them felt like they were forced, especially Barry Allen. Still, the actors do the best they can with the material so it's not unbearable.

Every situation (and even the chain of events) is so predictable (cliché even) that it gets you out of the movie. This level of "nothing new" is damaging to the story as it stops you from caring about anything. And it seems like the producers knew this cause they threw in the mandatory helpless family so that you could sense the danger a bit more. After all, it's just the end of the world, how could you care if there was no kid in immediate danger ? Oh wait... Still, even that falls flat as their scenes (and they're not the only ones) are filled with incoherent behaviors that were put there just so that the plot can go forward.

I attended a screening where the only bursts of joy (or emotions at all) occurred when a new character appeared. Kind of a "fanboy effect" that fills you with hope at the sight of one of your beloved comics characters. But the rest of the time, everyone was quite bored and numerous sighs were heard. In a sense, it reassured me as I understood I was not the only one who was disappointed in the movie.

*****The following paragraph might contain a minor SPOILER (depending on what you consider a spoiler)*****

Plus, something else bothered me. But I know everyone won't agree on this one cause it's kind of a speculation. All the points above still stand even if I'm wrong about it. So here it is : Justice League felt like it was a failed attempt to adapt the Avengers in the DCEU. And I'm not talking about the strangely similar theme. Nor am I referring to the tension inside the team before they reconcile that felt like a watered-down version of what we saw in the 2012 movie by Whedon. But the characters are bent so that they match their Marvel counterparts. The Flash takes the place of the slightly weaker and wisecracking Hawkeye, Aquaman clearly corresponds to Thor with his royal and out-of-place persona, Wonder Woman goes through the same soldier- leader dilemma as Cap did and even Batman is slightly changed so that he's closer to Tony Stark (making decisions that make absolutely no sense for the world's best detective that we all know and love). That's a shame cause DC characters are interesting and have a lot more to offer than a mere copy.

*****END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER*****

As of 11/16/2017, this movie has an 8.1 score here on IMDb. Now I'm not a hater and won't say it's the worst movie in history but more than 8 ? Seriously ? It barely does the job so it's a 5 out of 10 for me.

You have to feel sorry for DC Comics.

Sure they've made more than a bucket load of cash with many of their releases, including of course this year's box office behemoth and critical darling Wonder Woman, but overall the company has been living in the shadows of Marvel for a number of years now and have been late to the party when it comes to superhero team-up events until now.

Suffering a troubled production that saw original director Zack Snyder depart the project late in the piece due to a family tragedy and replaced by Avenger's mastermind Joss Whedon, Justice League has had a far from smooth run to cinemas, that includes the fact we've never truly been properly introduced to its new main players, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg, with DC keen to get this ensemble together as quickly as possible.

Considering all of this, Justice League is not what I'd call a "bad" movie, in the sense that I'd warn everyone against seeing it, but this often jumbled and sometimes just not that interesting blockbuster is still far from the all-round winner DC would've been hoping for with Snyder and Whedon's film lacking both a genuinely good story arc (new villain Steppenwolf is just generic baddie 101 or even worse) and any true memorable set-pieces or set-ups.

At what feels like a fairly brisk 120 minute runtime, Justice League is always on the move as we initially get to witness the first meetings between this collection of new friends (the highlight of which is probably Ezra Miller's pizza eating Barry Allen/The Flash) but with so many people, so many different arcs to play out, Snyder and Whedon struggle to bring it all home and action scenes often feel haphazard, some scenes feel rushed or unwanted (a Russian family is given far too much screen time), while all the films colourful characters don't get the airtime they perhaps needed.

After the middling response so far to his take on Batman, Affleck won't be gaining or losing too many supporters here, the verdict is well and truly still out on Cavill's take on Superman, while Gadot is once again great as Wonder Woman. Of the new cast Miller is a fine addition as the awkward Allen, Jason Momoa gives fans hope that his standalone Aquaman will be a lot of fun, while it's surprising just how affecting Ray Fisher is as Cyborg even if his character doesn't seem cut out to get his own standalone feature.

It's a shame then that we don't ever feel like this team is given the scenarios they needed to really gel together. There's chemistry to be found here, even Cavill and Affleck benefit from the likes of Gadot and the new additions, their rather tiresome portrayals enlivened by the fresh, energetic nature of their co-stars but overall the film lacks an energy or pizazz that would've been the kicker to elevate this genuine middle of the road experience to something else entirely.

Final Say –

All in all huge fans of DC will be kept happy with this sometimes enjoyable, sometimes downright bad big screen culmination of hero's and one badly CGI'd and generic villain.

Devoid of anything of true note and without a memorable set-piece, Justice League is unquestionably the poor cousin of The Avenger's but with the talented cast involved, there is enough hope here to suggest that this band of hero's have some room to grow into something special if all the stars align.

2 1/2 terrorised Russian families out of 5