Review: Justice League
- Tom
- Nov 19, 2017
- 6 min read
Despite a troubled production and larger-than-life expectations, the much anticipated debut of DC's superhero team manages to deliver a fun, action-packed adventure that is sure to please long time fans...and most everybody else.
"Justice League" is the fifth film in the DC Extended Universe and picks up roughly a year after the death of Superman. With the world still in mourning, Batman investigates a series of ominous abductions committed by strange creatures. After discovering that an invasion is imminent, Batman and Wonder Woman put together a team of other meta-humans to fight off the enemy from another world to save ours.
Now let me start off by saying that as much as I love the Marvel Universe, my heart truly lies with DC. That being said, I'm not oblivious to the negative critical and fan reactions to a lot of the DC universe movies. Ever since 2008's "Iron Man," Marvel has been a well-oiled machine, cranking out hit after hit of beloved superhero movies. Marvel spent a lot of time introducing their characters in their own movies before leading up to 2012's acclaimed "The Avengers." Facing that stiff competition, DC took pretty much the opposite approach using last year's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" to really just set the stage for now. While I am actually a fan of most of the previous DC movies I understood audience frustrations. I'll admit that I was skeptical. "Justice League" had a lot to prove and I'm happy to say that while it's not perfect, it exceeded my expectations.
"Justice League's" biggest challenge was going to be responding to the criticisms of the previous DC films. Fans and critics found them stiff, humorless, bloated, disjointed and too dark. Earlier this year "Wonder Woman" surprised everyone by being none of those things and was critically acclaimed. While JL might not soar to those same heights, it still manages to improve on many of the previous complaints and I think fans will be impressed. The movie is directed by Zack Snyder who also directed "Man of Steel"and "BvS." However, Snyder had to take a leave of absence from working on the film in order to deal with a family tragedy. The studio then brought in "Avengers" director Joss Whedon to handle much of the post-production work. Whedon also oversaw two months of re-shoots and had previously reworked some of the script. With all this going on folks were rightfully concerned about what the finished product would look like. Re-shoots are rarely ever a good thing in the movie business. I'm proud to say that somehow all this ended up working. The movie walks like a Zack Snyder film but talks like a Joss Whedon film.
The movie still carries Snyder's trademark dark color scheme and filming techniques but it also has a much lighter tone overall and is filled with plenty of humorous moments and dialogue. The editors did a great job of blending the work of the two directors together. Usually with re-shoots in the final product, it's pretty obvious which scenes were filmed at a later time and then spliced into the original footage. With JL I honestly couldn't tell. While not perfect, the script also delivers. This movie had a lot to do with not only introducing the new characters, but bring them together to fight an otherworldly evil. At 1 hour and 50 minutes, "Justice League" is notably shorter that previous DC films but still manages to accomplish those goals. Let's discuss how.
Starting with the cast, I can say that the titular team and the actors who portray them are really what make the movie great. The characters all play off each other in a way that makes them entertaining to watch whether it's in battle or just interacting. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot continue to shine as Batman and Wonder Woman. These two actors have great chemistry on screen and their relationship serves as the heart of the team as they work together to recruit/inspire the others. Now introducing three new superheroes in a movie that also has a lot of other things going on is no small feat, but all together it works out pretty painlessly. Ezra Miller's Flash serves as the main comic relief. I was most unexcited about his introduction because I didn't see Miller playing a good Barry Allen/Flash. I was happily surprised. His quirks, one-liners and reactions to the others are a lot of fun to watch and his powers are really cool looking in action. However to be honest, some of his humor does feel a bit forced and out of place.
Jason Momoa's Aquaman comes off more as "Aquabro" but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can tell he had a lot of fun playing the sassy, tough-as-nails Atlantean and he probably has the funniest scene in the whole movie. The sad thing is he has the least amount of backstory explained and he ends up the least relatable of the team. That being said, it does make me excited for next year's Aquaman movie. Ray Fisher's Cyborg had surprisingly more depth to him than I was expecting. He plays a pretty key role in the movie's plot and you end up rooting for him as he wrestles with his unwanted situation. I said before that introducing three new characters is no small feat, but "Justice League" does a great job of bringing in Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg and it makes me very excited to see their solo outings in the coming years.
One of the big complaints about "Man of Steel" and "BvS" was that they were too slow and downright boring in some parts. While I do admit that the first third of "Justice League" is a bit choppy while it introduces the plot and new characters, watching the movie I found myself excited to see what was going to happen next. Beautifully shot and choreographed action scenes help keep the viewer engaged and, as I mentioned above, the team has such great chemistry when interacting with each other that you actually care about what they're doing. I do have to admit that it helps to be a little bit of a DC nerd. The movie throws out a lot of fun Easter eggs that mainstream viewers might not catch if they're not big DC fans. However I think the story, action and characters will be enough to satisfy.
Now for the negatives. As far as CGI goes, the movie has a lot of it and for the most part it all looks great. My first complaint is that while Cyborg's CGI body looks better than it did in the trailers, there are a few scenes where it looks pretty wonky. The films main villain, Steppenwolf, is also completely CGI similar to Ares in "Wonder Woman" and Doomsday from "BvS" While he doesn't look terrible, you do get tired of looking at him pretty early on. As far as villains go, for mainstream audiences, Steppenwolf comes off as kind of a generic evil guy with a generic evil plan. However, if you're a DC nerd, you'll get what's really going on in the background. But hey, good comic book movie villains are tough to come by for both Marvel and DC.
I already mentioned the choppy first act above. The rest of the movie's pace flows pretty well but the last act seems to wrap up a bit too quickly for my liking. Now there can't be a Justice League without Superman can there? Superman is my all time favorite superhero and I was eager to see what they would do with him in this movie after his death last year. I won't ruin it for you but I'm very happy with what ends up happening and the circumstances surrounding it. Truth, Justice and the American Way!
So while "Justice League" might not be as amazing and awe-inspiring as "Wonder Woman" it does improve on a lot of the criticisms of previous entries in the DC Extended Universe. It's lighter in tone and more fast paced than "BvS" and not as over-the-top and crazy as "Suicide Squad." As a standalone movie, it somehow manages to introduce new characters and set up future movies while still delivering an exciting story, great action and fun dialogue. Be sure to stay for both after credits scenes!
Final Thoughts: While not perfect, "Justice League" is an exciting superhero team-up movie that satisfies with likable characters, heart-pounding action and all-around geeky fun.
Overall Grade: B+
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