Justice League
/"No protectors here. No Lanterns. No Kryptonian. This world will fall, like all the others."
Filmology Rating: 2 out of 4
It has taken nearly 60 years for the League to unite on the silver screen. Some will cry out with joy for it has taken over half a generation for the heroes to appear, others will scream out in terror because the heroes are uniting too quickly in a computer generated hellscape.
After the events in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Bruce Wayne, played by Ben Affleck, is gathering a team to help defend the world against evil threats.
After Wonder Woman I was given a shot of hope that I had not felt in a long time, I had hope that we could finally strive to be the best that we could be, but also hope for the DC Extended Universe. Going into Justice League I was hoping for a film that would show compelling and coherent characters; the world of Gotham and Metropolis might be rather lackluster but if the characters that reside in those worlds are developed I would follow them anywhere. If given developed characters you hypothetically would be willing to follow them anywhere even if the world is a rather dark and gritty one. Justice League decides to not give the characters anytime to develop and makes them completely one dimensional. Most film goers do not read comics or watch shows on The CW, so this will be their first time seeing characters like Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg.
Casting actors who are generally unknown like Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Ray Fisher in title roles is something that most big studios would never do, they normally go for the big name stars to carry a film. Miller, who was outstanding in We Need to Talk about Kevin and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, plays Barry Allen. Barry Allen is a social outcast who is always tripping over his own feet. It’s funny because Barry Allen is The Flash who is The Fastest Man Alive but he can’t actually keep himself together. It’s actually not humorous but the film would like you to believe that it’s the funniest joke on the planet. Miller does an adequate job at playing the social outcast but he has basically been playing that type for all of his films. It would be a welcome change to see Miller branch out and be the amazing actor everyone knows that he is. While Jason Momoa has built a cult following after appearing on Game of Thrones, his film acting career has been rather lackluster, filled with films like Conan the Barbarian (2011) and Bullet to the Head. I personally have never seen the appeal of Momoa. His surfer dude Aquaman has helped cement my opinion of him being a one dimensional actor. Ray Fisher, as Cyborg, is problematic and I don’t believe it’s the fault of the actor. Fisher had never acted in a movie before his cameo in BvS, so for a first time actor I feel that he holds his own with the other testosterone on screen but the character is the let down. Besides how terrible Cyborg looks in the film, the character offers no growth and is incredibly bland. For those hoping for a psychological drama contemplating if he is more human than machine will be sadly disappointed.
Normally I feel calling people out in a review is rather a low blow, since I know that no one steps into a film with the intention of making a poor film, but if an aspect of a film is horrid it must be addressed. The computer generated aspects of this film are atrocious. With the climax of the film looking like an early 2000s video game filled with half-rendered monsters who will stop at nothing to kill the players. The companies involved with making this callous world are: BUF, who also worked on Blade Runner 2049 and Kingsman: The Golden Circle; Double Negative, who also worked on Thor: Ragnarok and Dunkirk; Moving Picture Company, who also worked on Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and The Mountain Between Us, Rodeo FX, who also worked on It and Kong: Skull Island; ScanlineVFX, who also worked on King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Power Rangers; and Weta Digital, who also worked on War for the Planet of the Apes and The Jungle Book (2016). Looking over the filmography of those companies, many visually appealing films standout, films that took us to worlds we have only dreamed about yet the only world that we see in Justice League is a red skylined hellscape that looks as lifeless as the plot of the film.
I’m still amazed that I actually saw Justice League. The film was being rushed through like an express train by Warner Brothers. I had thought that the train would certainly derail before it’s 2017 release date. The vast amount of negative reaction to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad seemed to have perplexed Warner Brothers and when Wonder Woman became a critical and box office hit, it seemed that it only bewildered them even more. The issue with BvS and Suicide Squad had nothing to do with the fact that the films were dark and gritty. It had to do with the fact that they were incoherent and lifeless. The main issue with the DC Extended Universe is that it desperately wants to beat Marvel Studios, and it will make rash decisions to try and prove that they are better. The biggest difference between the Marvel and the DC films is that Marvel played the long game establishing all of the characters before giving the feast that was The Avengers while DC tried to shove every flavor down your throat and kept asking if you were still hungry. Playing the long game while trying to build a cinematic universe should be the rule not the exception.
Honestly anyone who says that they had fun must enjoy sadistic activities. The amount of incoherence and flavorlessness that Justice League offers is enough to throw in the towel on the DCEU and start over. However, still seeing these characters appear on the silver screen together will always give me a sense of joy even if they aren’t the representations that I would like to see. The biggest issue with Justice League is that those who have waited the nearly 60 years for the league to unite deserved better, and even for those who haven’t been waiting for half a generation deserved better. Normally the superheroes save the world, this is now a case in which the world needs to save our superheroes.
Rating: Skip It
-Jonny G
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists newfound ally Diana Prince to face an even greater threat. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to recruit a team to stand against this newly awakened enemy Steppenwolf, destroyer of worlds. Despite the formation of this league of heroes including Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash, it might not be enough without the help of a fallen friend.
I have learned to be very cautious with DCU films. While Wonder Woman was a breath of fresh air, there is still is a fowl stench left behind from Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad. If Justice League followed suite with the same formula as Wonder Woman did, then we should be right back on track and at the level that Marvel has been operating on as of late. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Before you start to hate this review already, just know that I was entertained and this movie was not all bad…..
Let me start with a positive, I feel like this movie sets up successful future films. With the introduction of new characters such as Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg, I feel like the future of DCU films should be decent at least. Each one of these new characters offered a little something to this film that made me think that a future solo film could be successful. The flash was quirky and funny, Aquaman was jacked and a badass, and the Cyborg was dealing with some emotional turmoil that could establish an emotional film of self-discovery and acceptance. The issue with these characters boil down to two major things…
Justice League is a reverse Avengers film. I mean this in the sense of instead of giving characters solo films to truly establish the characters both as a person, a hero, and to build an emotional connection with its audience, they threw them all together at once. Yes I know that Superman, Wonder Woman, and kind of Batman had solo films but that was only half the crew. This leads me to the next big issue.
Blame the producers of Justice League because they gave a very strict 2 hour runtime for the developers to enforce. So let me get this straight, you want to have a DCU film with the most characters to date, including and introducing 3 new heroes to build franchises off of, and you want to make it the shortest DCU film? How does that make any sense!?! Because of this short runtime, everything feels extremely rushed with little backstory and character development.
Even with this rushed feeling, there wasn’t ever any tension. Never did I feel a true sense of urgency or even a real threat to be had. This is LARGELY due to a very weak villain. While being powerful, he, or the CGI character, lacked any power onscreen. Never was I in awe of what he could do, never was I nervous about what this character would do next, and never did I ever give a rat’s ass about what would happen to him because I knew that every hero would beat him and they would be just fine.
One last criticism is something I won’t spend too much time on and that is there was a lot of REALLY clunky dialogue, some of which was laughable. There were several times where I physically moved my hands in the WTF motion and looked very confused at the screen as if to say, did they really just say that!?! If you see/saw the movie, you know what I mean….
Now I know that I’ve said a lot of negatives but as I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t all bad. There was a good amount of humor sprinkled throughout (sadly a lot of bad dialogue and missed jokes as well). I really look forward to a solo Flash film because Ezra Miller is a very strong actor and he added a great flair and humor to the character. On top of the humor, there were some really cool action sequences, specifically an action sequence involving the Amazonians at the beginning and a fantastic fight in the middle of the film which I won’t spoil. (it involves the worst kept secret ever involving a fallen hero). The final battle was a snooze fest, plain and simple; an overuse of CGI, no tension, and bland action, nothing more.
Justice League was a missed opportunity but was still entertaining to say the least.
Rating: Rent It
-Nick