My review of Justice League without spoilers

Justice League 11-2017

Pros:

Story:

This movie is fun and funny, not somber like some previous DC movies. The story is slim, true enough, though no slimmer than any other movie in this genre, and it is coherent. I was never lost as to what was happening. In a nutshell the bad guy, Steppenwolf, wants to turn our world into his world as revenge to redeem himself for a past defeat, and the way he’ll do it is by collecting and using three boxes of great power. Batman and Wonder Woman recruit the team to get to them first and help fight him. Along the way they start to gel but realize they still need more fire power (which is where Superman comes in).

Characters/actors:

There’s great chemistry between the characters, and there’s distinctive characterizations for each. You can tell that the actors were having a great time and also have great chemistry. Everyone delivers nice performances even if their characters are not exactly what you think they should be from the comics. The Cyborg character in particular has a great scene with his father early in the film where it was clear what his emotional state was. Aquaman also delivers as a loner with a backstory of being cast aside. The Flash was fun, but he’s not the Flash of the comics or the TV show. This version is its own fledgling rendition and Ezra Miller delivers most of the films humor. I am very much looking forward to seeing solo films of these characters especially since the glimpses into their respective corners of the DCEU seem interesting.

Wonder Woman is still wonderful. Nuff said. Folks who thought Batman was off in BvS will have something to be glad for as his character has grown. The Batman of BvS was angry and vengeful. The Batman of JL is fighting out of guilt and in search of hope. And speaking of hope, yes, Superman is back, no mystery there. His return is one of the movies high notes. He adds some of the movie’s most emotionally resonant scenes. And he does bring the hope. Its too bad that it took three movies and the inclusion of Joss Whedon to get there, but its here nonetheless and I am so looking forward to more Superman if they keep doing him like this.

Highlights: Aside from Superman there are great scenes with the Amazons, scenes with gods, yes gods, and scenes in Atlantis which introduces us to Mera in a much more organic way than the JL characters were introduced in BvS. Actress Amber Heard as Mera delivers in her short scene. All of the action sequences are dazzling eye candy and it was especially nice to see the characters work as a team in their fight scenes. Oh, and I forgot to mention... Green Lanterns.

Cons:

The villain:

Steppenwolf is a slim character, no dispute there. But this is a continuing problem with the genre, not specifically DCEU movies. He has been compared unfavorably to Thor: The Dark Worlds villain Malekith, who is probably the MCU’s least regarded villain. Steppenwolf gets more screen time and lines than Malekith, and his motivation is clearer. He also gets much more significant scenes with the rest of cast. He’s a much more hands on villain. The comparison to Malekith is unfair at best.

Editing: Though the pace of the movie is brisk (you’re never bored) there are scenes that are slower and some that are clearly rushed. Personally I was never lost per se, but I did feel where there were perhaps too many hands stirring the pot, or rather the lack of a singular vision. It was sometimes obvious which director directed what scene as the movie moves back and forth between muscular action and emotional dialogue.

Music:

Though Danny Elfman is a talented musician and has a great track record with this sort of movie, I felt that his execution here was muddy. He uses snippets of music from other DC movies outside the DCEU but their effect is fleeting at best. Perhaps he didn’t have enough time to truly throw himself into this project as he was the second directors choice. Speaking of music there is the use of a new version of an older pop song that plays early in the movies only truly somber scenes, a montage that establishes Supermans absence. I felt that bit of music actually detracted from the intent of the montage.

FX:

There is an abundance of FX. Some will say an overabundance. They’re not wrong, but some of the FX work so well that it can be forgiven. Others are a bit much. For example early in the movie Batman has some solo action that happens in Gotham and you just feel the CGI thick in the atmosphere of the scene. By contrast other filmmakers have been wise enough to shoot scenes like those in more realistic looking sets if not actual locations. Later on where the movie moves to some more spectacular locales the FX work somewhat better. The Flash on the other hand is surrounded by FX that establishes a unique language specific to the character and make him different (better?) than the two Quicksilvers we’ve seen in other movies. The movie is pretty to look at, not all as dark as Snyders previous use of palette, but one wouldn’t be wrong to complain that there was an overuse of CGI. Not all skies need to be gloomy or red.

Bottom line:

I’ve said before that Snyder is probably out of the DCEU after this movie, and that’s probably for the best. He may have been starting to burn out. But if they did decide to go with him again I would be willing to give it a chance if this movie is the direction he was going to continue with. Justice League is indeed a movie that moves things in the right direction for the DCEU.

p.s. Stay until the credits stop rolling. Worth the wait.

Thanks for reading.