Justice League marks DC Films'
fifth time up to bat for their Extended Universe. Most of their films
so far haven't been all that great, but this year's Wonder Woman
showed signs of promise. Which direction will Justice League
try taking this universe? Let's take a look.
JL's plot is rather standard. Some
intergalactic bad guy shows up to take over Earth using the power of
the ancient MacGuffin(s) and a smart guy with access to lots of money
and advanced technology tries to put together a team of superheroes
to stop him. Are you starting to see the similarities to 2012's
Avengers yet? While there are a few huge battle scenes the
film doesn't have the same epic weight that that
film did. There's also a few plot holes towards the end;
namely what happened to the Mother Boxes after the final battle? Did
they just disappear? And where did the aliens go afterwards? One good
thing Justice League ripped off from the Avengers is the
overall lighter tone, making it more fun and less serious than other
films of the series like Batman v Superman (2016). It also
includes subtle nods to the heroes' backstories and lore.
Now let's talk about the characters.
Some are great, some aren't. Ben Affleck is still a strong and
charismatic Batman. Gal Gadot is quite comfortable playing Wonder
Woman for a third outing, a real highlight. Ezra Miller brings
enthusiasm and quipiness to his role as the Flash. Although his jokes
don't always land well, he grows on you after a while. Aquaman/Arthur
Curry, played by Jason Momoa, is rather amusing and cool. It sure was
nice of them to name him after a Canadian First World War general,
and he doesn't suck nearly as much as he does in the cartoons. The
same can't be said of Cyborg, whose actor is pretty wooden. But the
biggest failure in the character department is the main villain,
Steppenwolf. He is about as bland as you can get and his physical
appearance isn't all that impressive, not helped by the overabundance
of CG effects used to render him.
Yes, like the other DCEU films Justice
League is drenched with computer-generated effects, some of which
look like they haven't quite dried yet. I mean, why did they have to
CG Cyborg's tracksuit? Is it truly that hard to find a real tracksuit
these days? At least the effects team did a good job of wiping away
Henry Cavill's moustache. When you take all special effects into
consideration it isn't hard to understand why JL is one of the most
expensive movies ever made.
You may have heard about director Zack
Snyder having to leave the project halfway through, entrusting the
post-production's directing/writing/reshoots to Joss Whedon. And it
shows. The difference doesn't wreck the overall film but there are
times when you can tell who did which scene based on the scene's
tone, cinematography, and/or use of slow-mo.
On the whole, Justice League is
an OK movie without any dull moments (and it's only 2 hours long,
btw). It has its issues but I believe it does more things right than
wrong. Seeing (most of) these heroes done justice on the big screen
is gratifying and watching them interact and fight evil together is
pretty fun. For now at least it seems as if the DCEU has taken a turn
for the better. Superfans, rejoice!
Grade:
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