Mother Boxing The Critics
I saw Justice League on its opening weekend. I waited for over a week to put my thoughts on the film in a post for a few reasons. For one, I wanted to see what others thought about the film first. I knew how I felt, but opinions seemed to be so mixed right out of the box that I wanted to see if I might have missed something in the film. I also knew that there would be fanboys on both sides of the comic and/or movie spectrum screaming about how much DC sucked and Marvel ruled and vice versa, and I wanted those folks to vent as much as possible to see exactly what their pros and cons were about the movie. Finally, it was the Thanksgiving holiday and I just felt like waiting a bit before revealing my thoughts.
My short review is this: Go see this movie. If you are a fan of the Justice League or any of the characters in this film, go see it. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it is definitely a wild ride and my second favorite comic book based film from this year. Wonder Woman was tops, with Spider-Man: Homecoming coming in third and Thor: Ragnarok way back in fourth.
This film has some excellent action, well-developed characters (especially considering the run time), a decent dose of humor, and more Easter eggs than you can shake a stick at. As usual, DC injected plenty of hints, winks, and name drops that only their comic book readers will catch, but none of that takes away from the enjoyment of the film for the general crowd.
Go. See. It.
My longer, more in depth review follows. A few spoilers might pop up, but nothing too major.
So what makes Justice League such a cool film to check out on the big screen? Here are my pros plus a few cons that may turn some away.
Pros:
The Heroes: Say what you want, but it just doesn’t get any bigger in the comic book world than Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. The Holy Trinity of Comics coupled with three awesome characters that are just as excellent in their own right means that you’re going to see some excellent action on the screen. Ben Affleck is the best Bat since Michael Keaton, and this is coming from a man who literally talks in Christian Bale Batvoice when he goes to conventions. Gal Gadot has become the face of Wonder Woman for a whole generation. Henry Cavill is given a little more room to breathe in this film despite having less camera time than his friends. He’s a bit more lighthearted and a lot less grumpy (except when he’s freshly resurrected, but I don’t blame him there). Ezra Miller brings a ton of laughs to the film as the Flash/Barry Allen, and I have a feeling that he actually might be the breakout star of the film. Jason Momoa chews through the scenery as Aquaman/Arthur Curry. I initially had doubts about him, but all of my worries were put to rest after seeing him in the film. Ray Fisher portrays Cyborg/Victor Stone with a bit of reservations (intentionally) at first, but as he comes to accept what he is, he opens up to the rest of the group.
The Action: There is a lot of action in this film. From our heroes fighting each other to taking on Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) and his parademons, the action is as big as you’d expect from such larger than life characters.
The Supporting Cast: In all honesty, the supporting cast didn’t have a lot to do in this film, but they all gave solid performances. Amy Adams has gotten better as Lois Lane. Diane Lane is always reliable as Martha Kent. Jeremy Irons gets in a few solid laughs as Alfred, and new addition J.K. Simmons (comic film fans know him as J. Jonah Jameson from the Tobey Maguire Spidey flicks) does a solid turn as Commissioner Gordon.
The Plot: The plot is very basic. An evil force is coming to take over the world and Batman and Wonder Woman know that they can’t defeat it alone. They gather up some super friends and take on the big bad, Steppenwolf. I was glad to see that WB and DC somewhat simplified the story line. In my experience with these recent DC films, they culled a lot of their material from the books (which is a good thing in my opinion), but dug a bit too deep for the general public and comic fans that don’t read DC to keep up.
Cons:
The Lack Of Certain Heroes: As big and bombastic as the group was, a part of me missed characters such as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, J’onn J’onnz/Martian Manhunter, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, and Captain Marvel/Billy Batson (or for you New 52 and beyond folks, Shazam). There are hints at the Lantern Corps (but I’m not spoiling it), but I really missed all of these guys. Captain Marvel is getting his own film sooner or later, and I hope that this means that he’ll eventually join the League.
The Rushed Resurrection of Superman: While the way that Superman is brought back makes sense in the film, it seemed to happen entirely too quick. Plus, the end of Batman V. Superman hinted that Superman was going to be able to rise on his own, but I guess that was tossed away in the build up to this film.
The Film Length: Clocking in at just under two hours, this was the shortest new DC film so far. Was it due to Joss Whedon’s involvement? Maybe Zack Snyder was told to cut back because so many people said that BvS and Man of Steel were too long? I don’t know, but I do wish that a little more time was given to develop the story. Still, it’s not enough to deter me from watching and enjoying this film.
What others are saying
I’ve seen a ton of gripes, compliments, complaints, and glowing reviews about certain aspects of this film on the web. One of the biggest gripes is the CGI used for Steppenwolf, Superman, and Cyborg. While I can definitely see the reasoning behind the gripes over Superman and understand why many disliked the CGI on Steppenwolf, I don’t get the CGI hate for Cyborg. I thought that they did an excellent job with that animation.
Superman’s chin looks wonky in a lot of scenes and downright terrible in others, but it doesn’t take away from the film in my opinion. Neither does the appearance of Steppenwolf. I’ve seen CGI characters in other films that looked a lot worse than Steppenwolf, but hardly anybody griped about them. He could have looked better but, again, his appearance didn’t take away from the film.
Another major gripe (and this came from a lot of Marvel fanboys) is that Steppenwolf was a boring villain. Apparently the folks griping about this have never watched any Marvel film that didn’t feature Loki (as the main villain), Vulture, the Winter Soldier, or Ego. Ronan, Hela, Obadiah Stane, Mandarin, Malekith, Red Skull, Whiplash, Justin Hammer, Aldrich Killian, Ultron, etc., etc., while all (for the most part) excellent villains on the page, were reduced to one dimensional characters in their respective films.
Of course, there’s always criticism of Batfleck. You already know my opinion of Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight Detective, but many people believed that the violent aspect of the character was dialed back in this film and I have to agree with them. Batman actually got in a couple of excellent one-liners and I must admit that while refreshing to see him lighten up a bit, I missed the excessively grumpy, head-bashing Batman we saw in BvS. Part of me has to wonder, though, if some of the people griping about the lighter Bat in Justice League were the same people that griped about the Bat being too violent in BvS???
There was also some praise on the web for the film as well. A lot of it, rightfully so, was pointed at the performance of Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa. Both of those guys did excellent jobs in the film. Miller was the main source of comedy in the film, and his wide-eyed gaze brought both a childlike wonder to the character and a lighter tone to the film in general.
Aquaman, long the butt of many jokes in pop culture, was portrayed as a gritty loner with a big heart by Momoa. The character’s attitude was definitely culled from Geoff John’s New 52 version of Arthur Curry, and I’d love to see someone make fun of Aquaman in front of Momoa now and see what happens to them!
Final Thoughts
Again, it’s the Holy Trinity of Comics and three other legendary DC characters in a film that’s opening wide the door to the arrival of Darkseid. Why wouldn’t you see this film? Danny Elfman’s score was solid (and resurrected my favorite Batman theme), the action was nonstop, and it whets the appetite for more. Go see this film. I promise that you’ll enjoy it.
Oh, and if nothing else, check it out for the scene where Flash realizes that Superman can see him in the Speed Force…..and those two scenes in and after the credits!
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