Justice League

Justice League

Starring Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa

Directed by Zack Snyder

The Story:
After the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), the world is a much darker place, a world without hope.  As crime runs rampant, Batman (Ben Affleck) discovers winged demons invading, and learn that a new, evil force is at hand.  Diana (Gal Gadot) learns that this new evil is Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds), who once tried to rule the world with the help of three Mother Boxes, but failed.  Now he's back to try it again, and Batman realizes he can't do it alone.

He, along with Diana, gather three other meta-humans: Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) who is the fastest man alive, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) who resides in Atlantis and can survive underwater, and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), who was in an accident and survived when his father combined alien parts to his body, making him a Cyborg.  Together they go against Steppenwolf, but even their combined abilities might not be enough to take him down.  If only there was another who could help them...

The Synopsis:
I grew up as an only child, but I can imagine what it would be having a younger brother.  Standing on the shore of a lake and tossing a big rock, while my little brother would throw a much smaller one.  Walking in front and turning to see him walking in my shadow.  Making my parents a homemade present cut from wood and stone, while he would make a macaroni picture.

This is the perfect analogy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe.  In 2008, Marvel re-shaped what it meant to have a cinematic universe with "Iron Man," a film that we didn't even know was going to be a stepping stone for such a monumental series.  They followed with "Captain America: The First Avenger," "Thor," and "Iron Man 2" (with "The Incredible Hulk" kinda thrown in, but not really).  Finally, in 2012, Marvel brought together all their heroes for "The Avengers," and the rest is history.  Basically, Marvel is the bigger brother, the one with the bigger rock, who led the way, and created something fascinating and beautiful.

DC, on the other hand, is the little brother.  They're the one throwing the smaller stone, walking in the immerse shadow of Marvel, and crafts the simplest of gifts.  "Man of Steel" was nothing more than a CGI-induced action-adventure with no real heart.  "Batman v. Superman" was an unmitigated mess from start to finish.  "Suicide Squad" was squashed by poor story writing and again over-use of CGI.  Only "Wonder Woman" is the lone shining example of an amazing superhero story brought by the DCEU.  Unfortunately, while "Justice League" is not as bad as "Batman v. Superman" or "Suicide Squad," it pales in comparison to "Wonder Woman" or pretty much any Marvel movie to date.

With "Justice League," there was a lot of issues that happened behind the scenes.  Zack Snyder endured the tragic loss of his daughter, who killed herself at age twenty.  He had to pull away from production, and Joss Whedon took over for re-shoots and post production work.  Whedon is best known for creating the television series "Buffy" as well as directing the first two "Avengers" films, and his own unique brand of comedy is seen in "Justice League," which serves as the first problem for the film - it's diametrically opposed to itself.  There's moments you can tell are purely Snyder, and others that are purely Whedon, and the two men's directorial methods are as opposite as oil and water.  This leads to a disjointed effort where you don't fully know which direction the film is going at any given moment.

Another issue is that the film relies way too much on CGI effects - an issue that's been plaguing the DCEU since its inception.  We're given dazzling set pieces and engaging action sequences, but without a pure story backbone to support it, all it is is window dressing.  It's pretty to look at and we can gaze at its beauty, but it's not worth the sticker price.  Steppenwolf especially is pretty awful looking, and resembled more a video game villain than an actual living, breathing villain.

Then there's the rushed film itself.  While Marvel took its time to introduce the four main characters (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk), DC rushed this film to production with only having two real origin stories ("Man of Steel" and "Wonder Woman," while "Batman v. Superman" was more of a tie-in).  We've seen many different iterations of Batman throughout the decades, but this is only the second time Affleck donned the cape.  We never got his own personal film, and might never get the chance to.  Ben Affleck and DC have had differences as of late (pulling out of directing his own "Batman" movie because Warner Bros. wanted it to be done ASAP over substance), and it looks like his career with DC is in jeopardy.  Then there's Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg.  We never really know how these people came to be, don't know much about their history, and therefore no real reason to care about any of them (with the exception of The Flash, which I'll explain later).  If DC had taken its time like Marvel and fully released solo films for all their heroes, maybe "Justice League" would've fared better.

One thing I thought I'd never say about a DC film - it's too short!  Despite the fact that the franchise faced continual criticism over the length of their other outings ("Man of Steel" is 2 hours, 23 minutes; "Suicide Squad" is 2 hours, 17 minutes; "Wonder Woman" is 2 hours, 21 minutes; "Batman v. Superman" is a whopping 3 hours long), "Justice League" clocks in at a minute under two hours.  For a film that tries to tell the stories of three heroes we've never seen on screen before - as well as the combining of said heroes with other heroes - this timeframe is way too short to tell the story adequately.  It should've been longer.  Again, never thought I'd say that.

Finally there was the story itself.  It's so basic and typical you'd find it in any superhero subgenre film.  Good guys come together to defeat the Big Bad.  Save the world.  Come together, fight, come together again.  We've seen it before, and with a much better story.  Steppenwolf is supposed to be this harbinger of doom and death, who tried to take over earth once before.  Diana even tells the story, saying he was stopped by an alliance of men and elves...sorry, that was "Lord of the Rings"...it was actually an alliance of Amazonians, Atlantians and humans.  He was stopped and they took the Mother Boxes to the different ends of the earth for safe keeping.  Except no one really found out about them until now.  Plus Steppenwolf decides to try again now because...reasons?  He said it's because Superman was dead and the world had no hope, but he tried taking over the world decades (maybe even eons) before Superman even came to earth.  He could've came back way before now.  Then there's the worst kept secret in cinematic history, which I guess I'll spoil for you here, so if you don't want to know the big spoiler...it's not that big, it's actually very practical and common sense...but still if you don't want to know (seriously, it's not a big spoiler, because pretty much every marketing campaign has it in it), then don't read any further...but seriously, it's not that big of a spoiler...




Superman returns!  Shocking, I know.  We all thought he was dead, gone, and will forever be dead and gone after "Batman v. Superman," a rotting corpse in a casket to never grace the big screen again.  Despite the fact that Henry Cavill signed on for more Superman.  Despite the fact that his face is plastered on toy standees and other marketing paraphernalia.  Despite the fact that...oh, you get the picture.  So they decide to bring Superman back to life, yet it seems that no one in the world really seems to care, despite the fact that they've been in continual mourning since his supposed death.  Oh, and then there's Steppenwolf's hideout, which is as subtle as having a huge neon sign in the sky that says, "Secret Headquarters Here," yet there's no government armies at the ready.

Anyway, I've spent enough time nagging on the film, now to tell where it went right.  The action - no matter how CGI-related - is exciting and fun.  It's the most fun the DCEU has had (save for the many wonderful set pieces in "Wonder Woman"), and the cast works well together.    Ben Affleck does dutiful work as Batman, the Nick Fury who assembles the team.  Jason Momoa as Aquaman is cool, a rebel who left his homeland for...again...reasons?  Maybe we'll get an answer with his own movie coming out next year.  Ray Fisher is fine as Cyborg, despite his lack of origin story.  Gal Gadot truly shines again as the all-powerful Wonder Woman.  Ezra Miller, however, is the scene stealer of the group as The Flash.  He's constantly star-struck over the other meta-humans he's working with, and provides the humorous antidotes that make you laugh.  I was worried he wouldn't be able to hold a candle compared to Grant Gustin's Flash from the television series, but he more than holds his own.

So it may seem I've joined the bandwagon of dumping on a DC film, and I guess I am, but I was still enjoyed by it. 

The Summary:
While the film has a lot of negatives going for it, it's still a fairly enjoyable movie for the DCEU, filled with action and humor, and serves its purpose - even if it doesn't tread any new ground.

The Score: B+