Justice League: Movie Review
Finally!! After all those teasers and trailers and whatnot, it's finally here, the DC comics ensemble of Earth's mightiest warriors – the Justice League!
We move onto the next adventure in the DC timeline following the events of 'Dawn of Justice: Batman v Superman', and Justice League is a better film for sure, but that doesn't mean it's a really good one either. The plot has us following Batman and Wonder Woman recruiting more people with special abilities to defend the Earth from an impending alien invasion. Classic comic stuff, in the right scenario. But as is the problem with having major characters all in the same movie, nobody gets enough character development.
The Ben Affleck Batman was introduced in his fight with Superman, along with Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (moment of happy recollection of her beauty). She got her solo film to explain her character and origin story and we got Henry Cavill's Superman story in 'Man Of Steel'. That leaves room for the new guys - Jason Momoa as a very appealing Aquaman, Ray Fisher as the badass Cyborg and Ezra Miller as the young and inexperienced Flash. All of them bring an entertaining personality along with their abilities to make for an entertaining story and offer fun banter between the team.
While I'd love for all of those characters to get their solo films, Justice League does get a crucial element right. All the characters have good chemistry on screen and the script keeps throwing in bits of humour which stops it from being dull or too dark. Zack Snyder has a pretty good record of action flicks, which he carries forward in his DC films as well, balancing out the storytelling with the fistfights. Just one thing, am I wrong to say there's a noticeable amount of Nite Owl elements to the new Batman? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Back to the Justice League movie now, and it's very hard to give you a fair review without revealing any of the surprises. The movie is fast-paced, slowing only when matters of troubled families or talks of Superman crop up. We also get a worthy yet underdeveloped antagonist in the form of a planet-conquering alien by the name of Steppenwolf, brilliantly voiced by Ciaran Hinds. The romantic distractions are kept to a minimum but Diana and Bruce's scenes are short enough to avoid cringe moments.
We get to see a little more of the Amazonians and get a glimpse of the Atlanteans too with Diana and Arthur, as well as their role in Earth's history. It's also good to see Jeremy Irons' Alfred get a fair amount of time in this star-studded superhero flick and contribute to the story without just being a gag to give the audience a break from the muscle flexing and latex tights. There are particularly impactful moments between battles when we are reminded that in all the madness of superheroes and aliens, Batman is after all still limited as a human, in his form if not spirit and the toll it takes on him to keep up with the rest of the team.
The action sequences are spectacular both in choreography and in visual effects. Though they could take a leaf from 'Thor: Ragnarok' for queueing awesome music into the mash and bash scenes, like the brilliant trailer song. We also get some hints of what to expect in the sequel with some really big names appearing in the post credit scenes, so stay in your seats till the very last credit scrolls by.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!
The story falls flat in what has always been the DC Universe's Achilles heel - Superman being too overpowered to make battles interesting enough. It works in his solo films when his enemies are aliens of equal or superior strength but not so much in a team film with only one villain. For that reason, the film slides down a few notches and I give it a rating of 9 slices of pizza out of 12.
We move onto the next adventure in the DC timeline following the events of 'Dawn of Justice: Batman v Superman', and Justice League is a better film for sure, but that doesn't mean it's a really good one either. The plot has us following Batman and Wonder Woman recruiting more people with special abilities to defend the Earth from an impending alien invasion. Classic comic stuff, in the right scenario. But as is the problem with having major characters all in the same movie, nobody gets enough character development.
The Ben Affleck Batman was introduced in his fight with Superman, along with Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (moment of happy recollection of her beauty). She got her solo film to explain her character and origin story and we got Henry Cavill's Superman story in 'Man Of Steel'. That leaves room for the new guys - Jason Momoa as a very appealing Aquaman, Ray Fisher as the badass Cyborg and Ezra Miller as the young and inexperienced Flash. All of them bring an entertaining personality along with their abilities to make for an entertaining story and offer fun banter between the team.
While I'd love for all of those characters to get their solo films, Justice League does get a crucial element right. All the characters have good chemistry on screen and the script keeps throwing in bits of humour which stops it from being dull or too dark. Zack Snyder has a pretty good record of action flicks, which he carries forward in his DC films as well, balancing out the storytelling with the fistfights. Just one thing, am I wrong to say there's a noticeable amount of Nite Owl elements to the new Batman? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Back to the Justice League movie now, and it's very hard to give you a fair review without revealing any of the surprises. The movie is fast-paced, slowing only when matters of troubled families or talks of Superman crop up. We also get a worthy yet underdeveloped antagonist in the form of a planet-conquering alien by the name of Steppenwolf, brilliantly voiced by Ciaran Hinds. The romantic distractions are kept to a minimum but Diana and Bruce's scenes are short enough to avoid cringe moments.
We get to see a little more of the Amazonians and get a glimpse of the Atlanteans too with Diana and Arthur, as well as their role in Earth's history. It's also good to see Jeremy Irons' Alfred get a fair amount of time in this star-studded superhero flick and contribute to the story without just being a gag to give the audience a break from the muscle flexing and latex tights. There are particularly impactful moments between battles when we are reminded that in all the madness of superheroes and aliens, Batman is after all still limited as a human, in his form if not spirit and the toll it takes on him to keep up with the rest of the team.
The action sequences are spectacular both in choreography and in visual effects. Though they could take a leaf from 'Thor: Ragnarok' for queueing awesome music into the mash and bash scenes, like the brilliant trailer song. We also get some hints of what to expect in the sequel with some really big names appearing in the post credit scenes, so stay in your seats till the very last credit scrolls by.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!
The story falls flat in what has always been the DC Universe's Achilles heel - Superman being too overpowered to make battles interesting enough. It works in his solo films when his enemies are aliens of equal or superior strength but not so much in a team film with only one villain. For that reason, the film slides down a few notches and I give it a rating of 9 slices of pizza out of 12.
EDIT: After watching the 2021 Zack Snyder's extended cut for this movie, I have to bring my rating down to 7 slices out of 12.
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