JUSTICE LEAGUE - NON-SPOILER REVIEW

PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE.

“One misses the days when one's biggest concerns were exploding wind-up penguins”

We are currently in a Golden age of comic book properties being made, watched and accepted by the maintstream population. And it is fair to say that when it comes to movies and combined cinematic universes, Marvel rules the roost; they are 17 movies in and are a successful well-oiled machine. Meanwhile, DC is playing catch-up.

Now, even the most stubborn comic book fans should be able to accept that when it comes to TV and animation, DC are hugely successful and are running rings around Marvel. But, when it comes to the movies, DC have faltered, with their releases so far being mixed and uneven. Some would say that the DCEU has been built on a poor foundation, with the majority of the films being perceived (rightly or wrongly) as too dark and unfunny, especially when compared to their big rivals, and only Wonder Woman has actually lived up to it’s box office potential.

Admittedly, the course correction towards something more beloved by audiences is underway with the popular, successful and well-received Wonder Woman. So we now have the fifth release that will give us DC’s premier superhero team on the big screen for the first time ever and if you have been following the production you will know that it has had some behind-the-scenes problems; Zack Snyder left the production at the beginning of the year due to his daughter committing suicide and he was replaced by MCU directing alum Joss Whedon.

So, will having had two separate directors work on the movie affect it positively/negatively?
Following all the positive good will generated by Wonder Woman, how will this movie be received? How will it compare to The Avengers (and is it that fair to do?).

THE STORY
Following the events of Batman vs Superman, Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) create a team of superpowers meta-humans (Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg) to defend the planet against the invasion of villain Steppenwolf and his horde of para-demons.

OVERALL OPINION
As a comic book fan I fully admit that I am swayed more towards Marvel than DC. However, that being said, I like good movies and would be the first to admit if a movie is bad regardless who made it. I have been very mixed on the DCEU movies so far. I feel some of the reasons why the movies have not enjoyed the same success as the MCU is partly due to not having one clear vision as to the overall direction for the cinematic universe as a whole, partly relying too much on Zack Synder to control the overall direction of the universe and partly due to rushing to “catch up” with Marvel.

With all that in mind however, I absolutely loved Wonder Woman and was cautiously optimistic going into this movie. I really loved the second trailer (Aquaman surfing a para-demon through a building and casually shaking off his hair as he exits the building - totes badass) but couldn’t help having an overwhelming feeling that the movie just wouldn’t be the mind-blowing cinematic experience I would want it to be.

Having now seen the movie (and seen the Rotten Tomatoes score) I can say that I was left disappointed. Do not misunderstand, the movie is not awful. However, it is not the uplifting, entertaining, joy inducing film that I was expecting.

As unfair as this may be, let me bring up The Avengers for minute in comparison. Remember how exhilarating and exciting it was to see the whole team together for the first time as the camera panned round them? Remember that epic one shot going through the city, seeing them work together as a team to take down the Chitari? Remember how amazing it was in Age of Ultron seeing them defend the machine in the church, and then Thor, Ironman and Vision combine to attack Ultron? Justice League does not have any moments like that at all I’m afraid.

Let me focus on the bad parts for a moment. The CGI is some scenes is really awful and in some cases, extremely distracting. As with most Marvel movies, the villain is awful, forgettable and underwhelming. The story is kinda basic and there are times that you wished we had had solo movies for Aquaman and Flash before we had got to this, just to explain a few expositional pieces of information that are mentioned.

However, it is not all bad. Some critics have mentioned that you cannot tell which parts of the film were filmed by Zack Snyder and which parts were filmed by Joss Whedon. I feel as though you could tell (anything with bright colours and witty banter = Whedon. Anything with slo-mo shots, goggles or saturated colour = Synder). Does this take anything away from the viewing experience? Not at all.

There are some genuinely funny moments throughout, although not every joke landed, and the way the whole team came together felt natural and believable. Some of the set pieces were great (one battle scene in particular was a stand-out highlight) although some set pieces didn’t really give the impression of them working as a team. However, the chemistry between the team is on-point and a joy to watch.

As someone who tends to watch maybe the first two trailers for a movie online and then avoids everything else until i watch the movie, I must say that all the best parts from the trailers didn’t seem as exciting as expected when they appeared in the film. Is that because I could see them coming and knew what to expect? Possibly. However, I will say that, with one or two exceptions, most of the best things parts of the movie were featured in the trailers.

I know this review may make it sound like the movie is awful, but it really isn’t. it’s just underwhelming and didn’t leave me with that feeling of childhood glee that I got from watching something like The Avengers for the first time. In terms of the DCEU, this is the second best movie they have done so far (behind Wonder Woman). It has course corrected the cinematic universe massively and it is clear the direction DC wants to take things. Are they there yet? Not quite. But this movie helped. I am interested in seeing future solo outings from Aquaman, Flash and Wonder Woman though.

THE PERFORMANCES
Ben Affleck - Bruce Wayne/Batman
Batfleck is back!! (maybe for the final time?). As with Gal Gadot, Affleck was one of the better things in Batman vs Superman. His portrayal was totally unique and a close rendition of the Batman we have come to know and love from the Arkham series of video games. Despite all his personal struggles in real life, Affleck brings his A-game to the table again. Although not quite as dark this time round, he still perfectly embodies many parts of what makes Batman such a compelling character, although personally, I felt it was out of place hearing Batman make the odd joke.

Jason Momoa - Arthur Curry/Aquaman
He was once Ronan in Stargate: Atlantis, Conan the Barbarian and Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. Originally, fans were shocked and unsure what to think when the initial promotional photos of the revamped Aquaman were released (tattoos? long dark hair? guy-liner?). However, once clips were released and people heard him speak I think everyone was won over, especially with the second trailer. So, how does Aquaman fair on his first big screen outing? He. Was. AWESOME!! Criminally underused, I think they are saving all his best parts for his solo movie. His banter with the rest of the team is very enjoyable and his scene holding the lasso of truth is hilarious.

Gal Galdot - Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
She was one of the most liked parts of Batman vs Superman, her solo outing was a huge critical and box office success and in Justice League she proves that she IS Wonder Woman. I feel the movie would have benefited with having her in it more, but she completely owns the role. Her opening scene is totally badass too, really highlighting just how powerful she can be.

Ezra Miller - Barry Allen/Flash
Fans of Grant Gustin’s tv portrayal of Barry Allen were initially upset when it was announced that a different actor would be portraying him in the Justice League film. However, that anger subsided slightly when Ezra Miller was announced in the role. And he does a fair job as the comic relief. I think they were trying to make him the “Spiderman” of the team (quips, jokes, a couple of insecurities) and it worked. More or less. I found him a little clumsy at times and a fair percentage of his jokes fell flat. Is it far to compare the movie version to the tv version? Perhaps not. However, if you were to ask which version is better, I would have to say the tv version is much better and probably would have fit really well into this film.

Ray Fisher - Victor Stone/Cyborg
Most well known as a stage actor, BvS and Justice League are his first two appearances in film. I understand that the Cyborg character is really popular from fans of DC’s animated offerings, but I personally do not know much about him beyond a brief online search. That being said, Fisher does a decent job with the character. He isn’t given much to do beyond being the character development beyond telling the group about “the thing” or where the next thing is happening. DC had announced a solo movie for Cyborg, but those plans have changed so many times in recent month it’s impossible to know if that movie is still happening.

Henry Cavill - Superman
Yes, he is back (which isn’t a spoiler as he is was in one of the trailers). And, believe it or not, the frown has gone. And he actually smiles!!! A lot. Seriously though, for the first time since he was cast, Cavill is allowed to play Superman the way most people wanted to see him. At many points throughout the film you will notice his mouth looks a bit weird. this is down to reshoots; Cavill is currently shooting Mission Impossible 6 and sports a moustache in the film. Paramount (who are moving that film) refused to allow Cavill to shave the moustache for his Superman reshoots, forcing Warner Bros. to digitally removed the moustache in post-production. It is VERY noticeable and is very distracting.

Ciaran Hinds - Steppenwolf
If you do not know who Ciaran Hinds is, he played Mance Rayder in Game of Thrones. Those of you who watch the show should now be able to picture his face. However, you would not be able to tell it is the actor as he is presented as a CG character. This is not motion capture in the same way as Paul Bettany as Vision, where you can still recognise the actor. Hinds is totally unrecognisable underneath the effects. He does the best he can with the character, but as villain, he just wasn’t given any good material to work with. A bad and totally forgettable villain.

Amy Adams - Lois Lane
Reliable as always, although she is not in the film for that long.

Jeremy Irons - Alfred Pennyworth
Jeremy Irons is arguably one of the best British actors of his generation. His version Alfred is much more sardonic and sarcastic than previous versions, but that works well against the Affleck version of Bruce Wayne. Another reliable performance building on the good work he did in BvS.

J. K. Simmons - Jim Gordon
Spiderman’s J Jonah Jameson is now in DC as Batman’s loyal police commissioner! LOL. In all seriousness though, J K Simmons is an Oscar winning actor and can always be relied upon to bring a reliable performance. However, as he was only in two scenes it is far too soon to say if he is better than Gary Oldman’s rendition of the character.

OTHER STUFF
The Action
Two set pieces really standout as amazing (one is a flashback and the other takes place in Metropolis). However, for many of the others, they are kind of repetitive and uninspiring.

The CGI/Effects
For the most part, they are not good. The best CGI is that which you cannot even tell is CGI. However, there are many shots where it is extremely noticeable. I feel the VFX artists just weren’t given enough time to make everything better (especially with Cyborg and Superman’s mouth) which is a shame.

The Cinematography
If there is one positive thing you can say about Zack Synder is that all his movies always look amazing; he has an amazing eye for visuals. However, his DC movies thus far have been noticeably desaturated, colour wise. So while this movie technically has two directors, Whedon did a great job of seamlessly making the reshoots match Synders vision. Except for the colour. About 35 mins in the colour saturation is ramped up in a very striking way. This is not a bad thing though.

The Pacing
The movie moves along at a brisk pace and tends not to have any time for slower moments. This is due to a mandate from the head of Warner Bros who decreed the film could not be any longer than 2 hours. It doesn’t drag at all, although I feel it could have been a maybe 20 mins longer to give us some more characters development.

Musical Score
Danny Elfman did a fine job with the score, although the only things that stood out was the way he reworked the original 1978 Superman score and his 1989 Batman score and fit them both into the movie seamlessly.

Post Credit Scene
There are two post credit scenes. The first one is a fun throwaway scene and the second is trying to further expand on future films. Are they any good? Meh.

FINAL VERDICT
Not awful but nowhere near the fun, exciting uplifting film the studio was hoping for. It does course correct the DCEU a lot and I am curious to see what direction future solo films take.

Score: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes rating (at time of writing) 39%

MY MOVIE RATING SYSTEM
10- Citizen F*%king Kane (A+)
9- Bloody Great (A)
8- Really rather good (A-)
7- Pretty decent (B+)
6- Definitely above average (B)
5- Middle of the road average (C)
4- Mediocre (D)
3- Meh (E)
2- Crap (F)
1- Why the hell did I waste my time and money on this abomination (Unrated)