Movie Info
Movie Name: Justice League
Studio: DC Films
Genre(s): Comic Book/Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): October 26, 2017 (Premiere)/November 17, 2017 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Yep…this can’t be good.
Superman (Henry Cavill) is dead and the Earth is in mourning…but it is also open to attack. Batman (Ben Affleck) has found strange scouts all around the world that seem to be the first wave of an invasion. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) learns that the Amazons have been attacked for a device they’ve guarded for centuries and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) learns that his people have come under attack as well. The attackers are Parademons, and they work for a world destroyer known as Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). Batman realizes the world needs new heroes, and with a human-robot combination named Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and a speeder named Flash (Ezra Miller), they may pull off the impossible.
Justice League is directed by Zach Snyder with help from Joss Whedon after Snyder stepped down due to the death of his daughter. Following Wonder Woman also released in 2017, the film went through a lot of production changes including the cancelling of plans to divide the film into two parts. The movie was released to polarizing reviews and a strong box office return but underperformed especially in the United States market.
Oh Mother…I love you!
Super Friends was one of my favorite shows growing up and though I was always a Marvel fan, DC heroes were my first introduction to superheroes. As a result, the Justice League always had a soft spot in my heart, and though the Avengers was maybe a better team book, the Justice League worked almost better as a team movie.
The Avengers felt like all the characters were there doing their own thing during their final battle with some structure in the fight. Justice League felt more like a team battle and they had a plan (that they were able to alter and fight). The process to getting to the battle was sometimes a bit sticky, but I thought the final fight was better than the final Avengers battle (from both the first and second film). I also was surprised that Superman was involved in the story as much as he was which was a pleasant surprise. I knew the story was built around his death, but almost believed his rebirth would be an afterthought of the film and not the thrust.
The winner of the Quicksilver award for spirit…FLASH!
The cast actually works well together. I like the chemistry between Affleck and Gadot (despite threats from Affleck’s own personal behavior which threatened to derail the film before its release). The movie also is a mini-Superman movie with involvement of Amy Adams and Diane Lane, and Henry Cavill is really starting to grow into his role as Superman as well. Ray Fisher is an interesting Cyborg (who still needs development) and Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller get to be the fun guys for the movie with most of the one lines (which Ezra’s bubbling personality winning that battle). J.K. Simmons is underused as Commissioner Gordon (in this film) and Ciarán Hinds could have used more screentime. Amber Heard and Jeremy Irons do the most with their short scenes, and the movie also features a cameo by Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and introduces Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke…now if only there were more Green Lantern cameos.
Batman v Superman: Round 2
Visually the movie does look a lot like a Zack Snyder film. There is a lot done with light and dark and the visuals are really computer generated. That is one drawback to Justice League. It is over generated at points and loses realism (The Avengers also suffers from it as well at points). I do however like that the movie generally sticks with the character’s classic costumes (minus Aquaman’s orange and green outfit). A lot of criticism was drawn to the more sexualized Amazon costumes (which was too bad) and the digitally removed Henry Cavill mustache (which wasn’t as distracting as I was led to believe).
Justice League has faults but so does The Avengers and lots of other Marvel movies. Justice League is still probably better than a number of the Marvel movies, but unlike the Marvel movies which started with a bang with one of their best films (Iron Man), the DC films have struggled to find a balance in their films. I think Justice League shows improvement on the DC Extended Universe and I look forward to where it goes. Justice League is followed by Aquaman in 2018.
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