Justice League Review

Let's be perfectly clear before I begin, I am an absolute fan of comic books and comic book movies. I remember a time when we never got hardly anything comic book related in the theaters and I do not take this era of films for granted. I go in every single one of these movies looking to enjoy myself and because of that, I am not the harshest critic of these films.

That being said, I believe that DC really did want to do something different and lighthearted with Justice League. After all, the entire concept of the original JLA comic and Justice Society before that back in the Golden Age of comics was to be something lighthearted and hopeful in a dark time. And if I'm honest, this film reflects that. Or at least tries to.

Justice League is a mixed bag of good and bad. And that has sort of been the deal with all of the DCEU films. Wherever there are glimpses of great stuff, something seems to get in there that makes us groan. And that repeatedly happened while watching this film. The only thing with JL is that the bad isn't overwhelming, and the good is pretty darn good.

*SPOILERS DEFINITELY WILL HAPPEN....BECAUSE THE BEST STUFF IN THE MOVIE ARE SPOILERS!*

Basically, the film takes off from Batman v. Superman where the Man of Steel is dead and the world is seeing the impact of that. The opening sequence is actually really well done with the world climate in a tense state, with racial fueled violence at an all time high, not to mention people are generally depressed (sound familiar?). The world needs heroes. And while they are out there, they keep to themselves and defend the defenceless in secret. Batman and Wonder Woman honor their agreement to find the metahumans from Lex Luthor's files and form a team.

At the same time, an alien danger looms. If you are privileged to have watched the extended cut of BVS (you should, it's a lot better than the theatrical version), then you got a glimpse of this movie's big bad, Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf was a creation of Jack Kirby's when he left Marvel for DC and developed his New Gods comics and he was Darkseid's top general leading his army. He was never a major villain for the Justice League and mostly a character seen in flashbacks. This version is more or less derived from the Earth 2 version during the New 52 where he leaded Darkseid's parademons in an invasion of that reality. At any rate, there is no part of this film where I thought “WOW! Steppenwolf is a worthy villain, he looks great and deserves to be the first ever threat the JL should face!”

I just have no idea why Steppenwolf needed to be an entirely CGI motion performance. Villains in comic book movies are SO important if not the MOST important, and it was pretty darn important that the first JLA film had a VERY good one. Ciaran Hinds is a great veteran actor and we deserved to see him play this character in all his glory. A healthy mix of CGI and real acting would have been perfect. In the end, Steppenwolf is the worst blunder of this movie and a true shame. If they were going to have a big CG villain, they might as well have had Darkseid! We don't even get a glimpse of him in the film at all! Clearly they are saving him for a future film, but do we NEED to have more villains from Apokolips in another movie? No, we don't. We've had our fill. There is an AMAZING after credits scene that sets up bigger and better things and something even Marvel hasn't done yet and nobody even cares about Darkseid anymore. I know they are trying to reflect the New 52, but I would have MUCH preferred this film's villain to be the JLA's ORIGINAL first big bad in the comics: Starro! It would have had literally the same effect of this movie: a big CGI villain, a good one-off villain and at the same time the concept of Starro is infinitely creepier, with how he enslaves people and turns them into zombies with freaky alien starfish on their faces! Who wouldn't want to see that slight horror element?! The villain didn't have to be all that complicated, because the movie's purpose is that these heroes find eachother and realize that there are threats that they will need to band together to defeat.

Also, I just don't understand DC's raging love affair with CGI bad guys. EVERY film ends up with the heroes battling some huge scary CGI monster and it's getting oh, so tired. DC has some really good, wily, smart bad guys and those ones are the best. Sure, Marvel uses a lot of CGI as well, but at least there's a healthy mix of CGI and good acting. If the audience can't feel like a villain is real and attainable, then chances are they can't see him or her as a real threat. I'm not saying that this is called for with ALL movie baddies (Apocalypse certainly should have been entirely CGI in the last X-Men movie), but STEPPENWOLF? A character who has a visible face the entire time and the original incarnation looked like just a normal guy? Give me just some good acting by a good actor. It's not too much to ask for.

Steppenwolf's evil plot is a bit vague as well. He essentially is searching for the mother boxes, three boxes that hold a cosmic power of some kind (we are never sure what exactly). In a flashback sequence we find out that Steppenwolf and Darkseid's parademons have invaded Earth before and Earth's armies banded together to stop them. The Amazons, the Atlanteans, humans and ......THE GREEN LANTERN OF SECTOR 2814 (major geekout moment! At the time it was apparently Yalan Gar)!!! Once the threat was stopped, each tribe took a mother box for safe keeping. We also get a glimpse of who I believe to be DC's King Arthur and his knights from Camelot 3000 (one of my favorite miniseries' as a kid), but we can't be sure. Now we know that Steppenwolf is back to try again, but we have no idea really what the endgame is. Are we supposed to care about that? I don't know. See? If Starro was the villain we wouldn't HAVE to care about that.

So, onto the next thing that bothered me. Batman. I've given Ben Affleck the chance to impress me, and while I do like his costume and he's the most comic accurate looking Batman yet, he STILL doesn't FEEL like Batman whatsoever. In BVS he was too dark and moody and in this movie he wasn't grumpy enough! I would have written Batman's role in this film entirely different. I actually don't think that he should have been the one to bring the team together. It could have very well have been Wonder Woman with the help of Alfred (without Bruce's knowledge). Batman is mostly a loner and he would never really want (or trust) these different metahumans each with their own personalities and agendas. Especially an older Batman would not even put himself in that sort of stressful situation! I know we sort of had that scenario in BVS with not trusting Superman, but now he's completely gone 180 and wants “super friends”. I just don't buy it. He's the damn Batman and doesn't need anyone. After saying that though, he would come around in the end and show up to help and kick all kinds of ass leaving all the other heroes gasping at how he does what he does without any powers at all. We sadly do not get that badass Batman moment at all and to be honest, he seems left in the dust of the other characters. And that made me so sad. He also jokes a bit too much and that also is WAY out of character for Batman. Not saying Batman should never make a joke, but it has to be sparse and very cynical and leave everyone else confused that “BATMAN ACTUALLY MADE A JOKE?!” He doesn't go FULL CLOONEY with the jokes, but they need to watch it a little bit. He's not a naturally funny person. He was literally BRANDING criminals in his last movie! The humor should be a bit more delicate with him.

Okay, that's all I didn't like. That's it! That's not so bad, was it? Only over 1,400 words! Now for the fun stuff! And contrary to what some people are saying, this movie does break the DC movie stigma of being too “gloom and doom” and there's a lot of fun elements, good nods to the comics and fan service.

The cat's out of the bag and Superman DOES return! I'm not entirely on board with how it's done however...it was a bit reaching, and all they had to do was use the exact same method the comics used when he returned in the 90's, and even THAT was pretty vague! Anyhoo, I actually really liked Superman in this film. Gone are the dark days of Man of Steel and BVS and here we get a brighter, happier Superman that shows up just in the nick of time to battle Steppenwolf and his army. Even his costume seems brighter and more in tune to what we are used to Superman being. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when he returns from the dead and is confused and has a small scrap with the League. You get to see him take on every character and for the first time, it felt like a true DC Comics film. I can't say for sure, but I would bet money that this specific scene is what Joss Whedon worked on in the movie. It really felt like his handiwork. There's another great mid-credits scene that involves Superman and it is a clear homage to the old school comic books and again just feels like Whedon's touch.

Wonder Woman once again just steals the movie and Gal Gadot is ever so captivating. I really hope she stays on as Diana for quite some time because she understands the character and embodies her. Diana really is the driving force of the movie and such an important element in bringing the League together, as she should be. She keeps the boys in check.

I'm on the fence with Ezra Miller's Flash. Clearly they have him as comic relief, and he does have some pretty funny lines that made me chuckle, but he oftentimes comes off as a bit much and sort of annoying. And after seeing his costume in an entire movie, I've decided I'm not a fan of it. It looks too clunky and I just don't see why The Flash needs so much armor, or why a speedster would want to be weighed down by it. That being said, I think mainstream moviegoers and kids will really like him and his solo movie will do well.

I also am not so sure about Cyborg. Ray Fisher seems to be a good casting and I get the feeling he is a really good actor (I can't think of anything I've seen him in before), but the character is way over CGI'd. Again, a mix of CG and actual creature effects would have been essential for this character. I do want to see more of him though. I see a potential there for a really great, heartfelt story.

The breakout character is Jason Mamoa's Aquaman. I am certainly not a big fan of Aquaman, but Mamoa brings his “too cool for school” swag to the character and makes it all his own. Sort of like what Robert Downey Jr. did for Iron Man. The entire movie he seems like the quiet dude in the corner who becomes the voice of logic whenever he does speak. We all know the type. There's a scene with him and Diana's lasso that is pretty hilarious. And all of that is not talking about his popularity with the ladies. Guys, your girlfriends and spouses will enjoy watching this guy in this movie, there's no doubt about it. I get the feeling his solo movie will do well too. I wasn't sure about this casting at first, but now I see why it was so brilliant. This dude's a true star.

I just wish DC did what Marvel did and gave most of these characters their first solo movies before this. It would have accentuated this movie a whole lot more. Everyone would have known who everyone was and their backgrounds and this is the movie where we see our favorite heroes on screen at the same time. Sure it would have been done before, but it's a formula that works. We get to meet each of the new character's supporting cast like Commissioner Gordon (J.K. Simmons), Mera (Amber Heard), Silas Stone (Joe Morton) and Henry Allen (Billy Crudup) but we never really get to spend enough time with them to enjoy their characters. I really, really liked what I saw of Jim Gordon, though. J.K. Simmons is perfect and looks and acts like he leapt off the pages of a Batman comic book.

The best thing about comic book movies at the end of it all is that they capture the feel and spirit of the comic book they are based on. Even for people that don't read comics, when a movie adapts the characters and core story very well, they can sense it. So, that is so important. And if they leave the theater feeling good it's also important. This movie feels like a JLA movie when all is said and done and with all of this film's flaws....and there are more than a few, I think by the end of the movie (and it's important that you stay to the end of the credits because they set up something magnificent!!!), everyone gets a good feeling that the DCEU is headed in a bright and most importantly HOPEFUL direction. We can believe in our heroes again and that is a good feeling that the movie leaves us with. That's what I think I liked most about the film.

The DC Comics fans deserved a lot more from the first Justice League outing, but it's also not very hard to find the good in the movie if you don't let all its flaws disappoint you.