Before all else, I must say that I’ve always been more of a
Marvel Comics fan, never really getting into the DC Comics side of the
books. Seeing that Marvel used real
world cities in their stories—mainly having New York as the backdrop to most of
their heroes—I‘ve always felt it was hard to engage myself in made-up worlds
like Gotham or Metropolis. Don’t get me
wrong, I do have my share of Batman
comics as well as Superman and others of that side of the house, but Marvel is
always where my heart had resided. When
it comes to movies, however, as long as it’s a superhero adaptation it doesn’t
matter what comic book publisher it comes from—as long as they’re put upon the
big screen, I’ll plop down my money to see it.
With that said, I was fairly excited about DC coming out
with their own ensemble of characters sharing the screen, much like we’d gotten
with Marvel’s The Avengers. But as time went on—but in a quick way as not
to induce anxiety in the fanboys—I had become less and less enchanted with the
eventual release of this film. Man of
Steel was—in my opinion—a very good film, dare I say very well done. Henry Cavill was an excellent choice to play
Superman and I’d really liked Zack Snyder’s vision in that film. However, after watching Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, I saw how convoluted a movie
can become, with too many threadbare subplots and impossible conclusions that
made me a little uneasy about where this DC cinematic universe was going.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy the film and thought there were some highlights that
exceeded my expectations, but left me wanting more overall.
Now…finally…we get Justice League, and I can’t help but
think this was coming at us way too fast…but let’s get the plot summary out of
the way…
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by
Superman’s (Henry Cavill) selfless act, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck)
enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot),
to face an even greater enemy—Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarán Hinds). Together, they work quickly to find and
recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this
unprecedented league of heroes—including Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray
Fisher), and The Flash (Ezra Miller)—it may already be too late to save the
planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
So…the team-up we’ve all been waiting for, right? Well…in a way…I guess.
The film starts off nicely with a burglar (an uncredited
Holt McCallany) leaving some apartment with Batman coming in to apprehend
him. It’s a great scene, being a
callback to the beginning of 1989’s Batman,
but here’s where my confusion starts.
Turns out that Batman is here, not to capture this crook, but to use him
to lure a parademon out into the open.
What? Did I miss something? I know we get a vision or dream sequence in BvS regarding these creatures, but when
did they become a known threat? Either
something was cut out in the beginning of this film or this is just lazy
screenwriting.
Although their introductions into this superhero universe
was totally forced into BvS, the
inclusion of Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash are done a bit better here. Each intro still lacks a little and needs a
bit of finesse, but we’re given enough to care for them and realize their
importance in this film.
My thoughts on Aquaman?
When it was announced that Jason Momoa was cast as the underwater hero,
I thought it was a little weird, seeing that I knew the character to be this
clean-shaven blonde man who swam with whales and communicated with all the sea
creatures in the ocean. But I’m
accepting of casting such as this, trying to spice up the vision to make it
cooler and to give the hero a bad boy look.
However, it still seems a bit unusual to include this superhero to
engage in battles that take place on land and in the air. With Batman requiring to give Aquaman a ride
on the car or Cyborg needing to catch him in midair to throw him into another
fight, he seems more like a hindrance than a hero.
The Flash was always a hero that I liked in the DC Comics,
probably because the thought of being able to move that fast would be
awesome. Although I don’t think I’ve
ever purchased a comic book containing this character, the TV show that ran in
the 90s was a favorite of mine. I do
enjoy the new show and wished they would’ve just incorporated it into this
film, but Ezra Miller fills in the role just fine here. He’s definitely the comic relief in this
movie as he has some of the best lines spoken throughout.
Cyborg is a character I’m not too familiar with but took a
liking to right away in this film. The
story—which we can kind of get in bits and pieces here—of how he became this
half man-half machine is very interesting and has the potential for a great
standalone movie (yet another strike against Warner Bros.). The design of the character leaves a bit to
be desired, but gets a little better by the end of the film (you’ll see what I
mean when you see it). Ray Fisher plays
the part fantastically and it’s hard to believe that this guy has barely a
résumé in IMDb.com.
Gal Gadot continues her role as Wonder Woman, displaying her
heroics early on in the film as she stops some terrorists from blowing up a
bank filled with innocent people. She
unquestionably shows her leadership throughout this story and definitely
doesn’t take the backseat anywhere in this flick. I still don’t agree with the casting decision
of Gal Gadot in this role because her accent is a little off-putting. It’s just that I have fond memories of
watching Lynda Carter in the role back in the 70s and seeing the cartoons over
the years with the character never speaking with any accent. But Gadot is clearly making this role her own
and I guess time will tell if I’ll be able to finally accept her as Wonder
Woman.
Once again, Ben Affleck nails it as Bruce Wayne/Batman. It’s a shame we’re hearing stories about him
not wanting to continue his role as the hero and how Warner Bros. may need to
recast someone else as Batman, but what we’ve seen in BvS and here in Justice League, it’s pretty
upsetting to hear there may be such a change to come. As is with Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Affleck’s
Batman is quite a leader as he recruits the new members to join as a team to
fight the coming threat to the world.
Finally…it’s no secret that Superman makes his return in
this film—even if the trailers didn’t give us this info, all you have to do is
check IMDb.com to see that Henry Cavill is included in the cast, so I don’t
think I’m giving out any spoilers by stating this. All that as a given, I’d say that Cavill
gives us a much better Superman than he had given us in BvS. He’s a confident figure
and leader, with a more lighthearted way about him. I won’t even get into the much maligned
complaint about his CGI’d upper lip—which, for the record, I couldn’t tell
where this work was done.
My final “bit” on Justice League?
My overall thought when the third act began—and even as I
thought about the film shortly after it ended—was that it felt rushed. The film clocks in at around two hours and
with a large ensemble film like this one, you need to give it a little more
time. I’d already mentioned the
mysterious introduction of the parademons and how it seemed like Batman and
Wonder Woman already knew about the danger, but that was probably the only gleaming
issue I had with the film. So, besides
the short run time and unexplained presentation of the planetary threat, I
actually liked this movie a lot. Dare I
say, I may have enjoyed this film more than The
Last Jedi (I’ll get to that post shortly).
I’d mentioned earlier that there must have been some scenes cut from the
movie and it’s most evident especially if you’ve seen the last trailer. Most notably, there’s a shot where Cyborg
saves a police officer from getting crushed by a tank, Barry Allen/The Flash is
shown to push his finger through some glass to make it bubble out then explode,
and the teaser at the end of the trailer shows someone walking up to Alfred
(Jeremy Irons) though we never see this individual’s face. But none of those scenes were in the film
that was released to us…boo! All in all,
Warner Bros. just needs to take their time with this filmic world, put more
trust into the filmmakers and cease their constant interference, stop putting
all their eggs in one basket (having Zack Snyder directing multiple movies is a
mistake), and they can truly have an awesome DC Cinematic Universe that would
give Marvel Studios some competition.
All that aside, Justice League is a good time and
worth a watch.
Thanks for reading!
