Justice League of America

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF America (1+ outta 5 stars) Really dreadful live-action version of the DC comic... the popular humorous 90s version written by J. M. DeMatties and Keith Giffen. The movie might be entertaining for 9-year-olds but fans of the comics are going to be awfully disappointed in this misbegotten abortion. Almsot everything that could be done wrong, is! The actors are all terrible with the exception of Kimberly Oja as a newbie who gets initiated into the team after a freak accident gives her the power of... making things cold... oooooh! She kind of reminds me of Stephnie Weir from Mad TV. Miguel Ferrer and David Ogden Stiers (as J'Onn J'Onzz Martian Manhunter of all people!) are pretty much the only "names" in the cast and they are totally wasted. The characterizations of the familiar DC heroes (Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom) are embarrassing... but not nearly as much so as the dreadful costumes! Green Lantern's suit isn't even green, for crying out loud... it's some kinda pale blue! The dialogue is written in the same humorous style as the 90s incarnation of The Justice League... but the actual lines used are so incredibly LAME! (To tell the truth, the script is probably no worse than that of the recent "Fantastic Four" movie... which is the most backhanded of compliments, believe me.) And what is up with the female heroes chosen for this team? Fire? Ice? If they are DC Comics characters at all, they are very minor ones. (I sure don't remember ever seeing them in the comics.) I understand that rights issues probably kept them from using Wonder Woman... but surely they could have used some *actual* female JLA members? Black Canary? Zatanna? Well, the movie is bad enough to be amusing to those who like bad movies... but that's about it.

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.

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.

I just have to say that this is a truly awful film. I thought that I'd seen the worst adaptation of a comic book character (Captain America) and then this came along. Can anyone please explain why film makers find it impossible to keep to original origins/stories etc and keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Also, the constant interruptions to the story to go to interviews with the heroes do nothing for the film. This is a film with no redeeming features and should be avoided like the plague. If it were possible, I would give this a minus 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.