directed by Zack Snyder (with a little help from Joss Whedon)
written by Chris Terrio, Whedon and Snyder
With all that's going on in the world, it seems wrong to exert as much energy as a number of film critics have thrashing the film Justice League (even if giving their opinions is their job), but if nothing else, I appreciate the slew of bad reviews that savaged this movie because they helped me keep my own expectations firmly in check.
Following the events of Batman vs. Superman, which ended with Superman (Henry Cavill) saving the world from Doomsday and dying in the process, the world is in mourning for the fallen Krytponian. Worse still, with the death of its greatest defender, the earth is now vulnerable to a new, terrifying threat in the form of Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarin Hinds) and his army of parademons, who come in search of three items of power that could destroy the whole world. Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck), recognizing the threat, and remorseful for what he feels was his role in Superman's demise in BvS, decides, together with Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to recruit several other heroes such as Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Barry Allen, aka the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Victor Stone, aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher), all of whom have unique abilities that, together, may just be key to saving the world from annihilation. Getting the team together, though, proves to be a somewhat challenging task.
Really, as action movies in general, and comic-book movies in particular go, it really isn't that bad. It doesn't have the quasi-religious pretensions or the overall dour tone of Batman vs. Superman (though the characters being referred to as gods does happen at certain points of the movie), the action moved along with reasonable briskness, and overall, the movie manages to project an overall sense of fun, which is more than I can say for just about every other movie in the "DCEU" catalog aside from Wonder Woman. Of course, the film does what it can to milk Gal Gadot's newfound popularity as the world's only female superhero with a blockbuster solo movie to her name, but Affleck is still the film's lead. As far as the characters introduced in this movie are concerned, Miller, who had brief appearances in BvS and Suicide Squad, stood out, not only for the fact that he was basically the film's comic relief, but also because he was the only new character with an actual story arc, unlike Momoa's Aquaman and Fisher's Cyborg.
I also found myself enjoying this film more than most of the previous DCEU installments because of the welcome return of elements of past WB/DC movies, like Commissioner Gordon, now played by one-time J. Jonah Jameson actor J.K. Simmons, and well-loved old musical cues, like composer Danny Elfman's own theme from the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film (which, I'd argue, is still the definitive Batman theme), as well as John Williams' legendary Superman theme from 1978. Even without the multiple homages, I humbly submit that Elfman has turned in the best score ever heard in a DCEU film.
Also, this may seem strange considering I didn't particularly enjoy 2013's Man of Steel, but I genuinely enjoyed Superman's brief appearance in this film (and anyone who accuses me of spoiling plot points by revealing that Supes is in this movie is either disingenuous or has simply been living under a rock); it felt more consistent with the character that I know from the comics.
Basically, watching this movie I got the impression that critics had spent a little too much time sharpening their knives for this one, as they had with Suicide Squad, a movie for which I cared little, but which I would hardly consider one of the worst I've ever seen.
That said, Justice League has way too many problems for me to give it the effusive praise that some...enthusiasts have been only too eager to heap on this movie. Reading some of the pieces in praise of this movie I was reminded of myself, back when I was making excuses for the awful Spider-Man 3.
I had no problem with the whole alien invasion plot, but the execution was glaringly slipshod. The big bad guy, Steppenwolf, was just all-around atrocious, with risible dialogue and really dodgy CGI which made him look only slightly more convincing than the poorly-realized orcs in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy from a few years back. He was supposed to be the big threat that brought the team together, but at no point did he seem even remotely menacing.
Speaking of bad CGI, it pretty much permeated the production from start to finish, and considering how heavily Snyder and Whedon leaned on it for their big action sequences, it was highlighted repeatedly throughout the movie. I'm not even talking about Cavill's awkwardly "shaven" upper lip, which was the topic of quite a lot of pre-release chatter. It was like watching an extended video game cutscene, or spending an inordinate amount of time in the much-reviled "uncanny valley." The CGI that brought Cyborg to life looked like really bad test footage for a Transformers movie.
This wouldn't have been as much of a problem if the characters had been better fleshed out, but as I said, with the exception of Miller's Flash, none of the characters who hadn't been previously-introduced had any real development. Momoa's Aquaman came across as a self-absorbed jackass with mommy issues, and Cyborg felt more like a plot device than an actual character as, apart from the fact that he was saved from almost certain death and turned into a robot-human hybrid, we the viewers are told next to nothing about him. Fisher gave the role his best, but the script gave him precious little to work with, and as a result, the laughable rendering of his mechanized body was all the more conspicuous.
Sadly, not even Affleck's Batman was exempted from some shockingly shoddy treatment. His lack of superpowers was repeatedly pointed out, and instead of him saving the team's bacon with his brains and tactical capability, as he regularly does in the comics, all he brought to the table here was the tech that the Wayne fortune could buy. It kind of grated on me that there was even a sequence in which Cyborg described Batman as an "asshole," and not because of Bruce's fabled aloofness, but because he was, in that sequence, actually being an asshole. Even Affleck, who managed to turn in a respectable performance in BvS, looked distinctly uninterested in playing this character again. That feels profoundly wrong; Batman was WB's bread and butter for years, and yet Snyder et al seem all too willing to trample all over him in favor of their newer, more colorful heroes.
What probably peeved me the most was a moment in the film in which the team experienced a collective brain fart and basically handed a decisive advantage to the bad guy. I won't spoil it but suffice it to say that it wouldn't have caused them that much trouble to pick up a certain item before they went to meet a certain someone, especially given the importance of that item. It's one of those really irritating moments in which the plot moves forward simply because the heroes are morons. It felt like egregiously lazy writing.
This film, while an improvement over BvS, is definitely a step down from Wonder Woman which, whatever its flaws, was still a solid piece of entertainment. Unlike that film, which felt very much like Patty Jenkins' vision, albeit with a few studio tweaks here and there, this film has the fingerprints of studio executives all over it.
While the box office grosses of this movie have left a lingering question mark over the future of the DCEU as a shared universe, I, for one, still hope that Matt Reeves' Batman solo movie gets made, and becomes the home run people expect it to be. After the raw deal WB gave Batman with this movie, they owe the character, who's raked in billions for them over the years, at least that much.
6.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment